Olympus Stylus 720 SW Timing
Good to average speed for a consumer camera.

The Stylus 720 SW's performance starts up fairly quickly, taking only 1.8 seconds from power-on to the first shot. Shutter response is quite sluggish by current standards at wide angle and telephoto lens settings though, but "prefocus" (half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure) results in a very fast lag of only 0.087 second. Shot to shot cycle times are average, at about 2.00 seconds for large/fine JPEGs, and it can apparently capture images at this pace indefinitely, without having to slow down and wait for the memory card to catch up. Continuous-mode speed is excellent at the High setting, at about 3.75 frames/second, for up to 13 medium-resolution shots in succession. (High-speed continuous mode only supports a maximum resolution of 2,048 x 1,536 pixels.) In Low speed continuous mode, the capture rate slows to 1.03 frames per second for the largest JPEG setting, capturing only four frames before needing to wait for the memory card. The flash takes about six seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, about average for this class of camera. Connected to a computer, download speeds are fast enough that you probably won't feel a need for a separate card reader, but nonetheless aren't as fast as many cameras currently on the market. Bottom line, while its continuous-mode speed is good when shooting with the "Hi" option, the Stylus 720 SW's sluggish shutter response will make it difficult to capture fast-paced action. (Unless of course, the shooting conditions are such that you can use the trick of prefocusing the camera before the critical moment arrives.)

Battery
Fairly short battery life.

The Olympus Stylus 720 SW uses a custom rechargeable LiIon battery for power. The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), based on CIPA battery-life standard test conditions. Given the short run time with the LCD enabled, you should definitely consider purchasing a second battery to pack along on extended outings. (Remember that you're likely to spend some time looking at the photos you've captured on the camera's LCD, which isn't factored into the shot count listed above.)

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
No card is included with the Olympus Stylus 720 SW, although it accepts xD-Picture Cards; 20MB RAM is built into the camera.

We strongly recommend buying at least a 256MB card, preferably a 512MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.