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Sony Cyber-shot DSC-P71
"Picky Details" for the Sony DSC-P71 digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)
Timing
I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times, using a special test system
I built for the purpose. Here are the numbers I collected for the Sony DSC-P71:
|
Sony DSC-P71 Timings
|
|
Operation
|
Time (secs)
|
Notes
|
| Power On ->
First shot |
3.8
|
About average for telescoping lens camera.
|
| Shutdown |
2.3
|
About average for telescoping lens camera.
|
| Play to Record,
first shot |
0.78
|
Time until first shot is captured. Pretty fast.
|
| Record to
play |
1.2
|
Time to display a large/fine file after capture. About
average.
|
| Shutter lag,
full autofocus |
0.76-0.86
|
Somewhat faster than average.
(Average is 0.8-1.0) |
| Shutter lag,
manual focus |
0.44
|
Slightly faster than average.
(Average is ~0.5) |
| Shutter lag,
prefocus |
0.17
|
Time to capture, after half-pressing shutter button.
Quite fast. (Average is ~0.3)
|
| Cycle Time,
max/min resolution |
1.72/1.67
|
Quite fast. First number is
for large/fine files, second is for small/normal ones. There's either
no buffer memory, or it has a capacity of more than 13 shots: There was
no slowdown up to 13 shots. |
Overall, the P71 is a pretty fast camera, about average in startup and shutdown
times, but very quick between shots, and with better than average shutter
delay.While I didn't try to exercise it beyond a 13-shot series, it appears
that there's either no buffer memory, or the buffer holds more than 13 large/fine
shots. Whatever the case, up to at least the 13 shot limit I tested, there
was no slowdown in the very fast 1.7 second shot to shot cycle time. Quite
impressive.
File Download
The P71 is also very fast when it comes to downloading images from it
to a host computer. I clocked it at 632 KBytes/second on my aging Pentium
II workhorse, making it one of the fastest cameras on the market in terms
of file transfer.
Power
Unlike most Sony digicams, the P71 uses two AA cells for its power source.
This normally means rather short run times, but Sony seems to have done an unusually
good job of controlling power consumption in these latest P-series cameras.
Worst-case runtime is about an hour and a half with high-capacity NiMH batteries
and the camera operating in capture mode with the LCD left on. With the LCD
off, capture-mode power drops by about half, yielding nearly 3 hours of run
time in that mode. Playback time is also a bit over 3 hours. Not bad at all,
but as always, I strongly recommend buying several sets of high-capacity
NiMH batteries and a good charger.
|
Operating Mode
|
Power
(@4.2 volts)
|
Est. Minutes
(2 1600mAh AAs)
|
| Capture Mode, w/LCD |
586 mA
|
93
|
| Capture Mode, no LCD |
289 mA
|
189
|
| Half-pressed shutter w/LCD |
497 mA
|
110
|
| Half-pressed w/o LCD |
305 mA
|
179
|
| Memory Write (transient) |
614 mA
|
n/a
|
| Flash Recharge (transient) |
1156 mA
|
n/a
|
| Image Playback |
282 mA
|
193
|
Overall, not too bad for a 2-battery camera. Get an extra set of high-capacity
NiMH batteries and you'll be able to shoot for quite a while on one charge.
Storage Capacity
Here's a table showing the number of images that can be stored on the included
16 MB Memory Stick, the corresponding file sizes, and the approximate compression
ratios.
Image Capacity vs
Resolution/Quality
16 MB Memory Stick
|
Fine
|
Normal
|
| Full
Resolution 1600x1200 |
Images
(Avg size) |
10
1600 KB |
18
865 KB |
Approx.
Compression |
6:1 |
11:1 |
| XGA
Resolution 1024x768 |
Images
(Avg size) |
16
970 KB
|
30
525 KB
|
Approx.
Compression |
6:1
|
11:1
|
|
VGA Resolution 640x480
|
Images
(Avg size) |
25
640 KB
|
46
342 KB
|
Approx.
Compression |
6:1
|
11:1
|
| |
Images
(Avg size) |
98
163 KB
|
245
65 KB |
Approx.
Compression |
6:1 |
14:1 |
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