"Picky Details" for the Sony DSC-P9 digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)
Timing
I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times for cameras I test, using
a special test system I built for the purpose. Here are the numbers I collected
for the Sony DSC-P9:
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| Power On -> First shot |
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About average for telescoping lens camera.
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| Shutdown |
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About average for telescoping lens camera.
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| Play to Record, first shot |
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Time until first shot is captured. Pretty fast.
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| Record to play |
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Time to display a large/fine file after capture. About
average. (First number is for when camera has already finished saving
the image to the memory card. Second number is for immediate switch
to playback mode after capture.)
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| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
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About average. (Average is 0.8-1.0) |
| Shutter lag, manual focus |
0.48
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About average. (Average is ~0.5) |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
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Time to capture, after half-pressing shutter button.
Somewhat faster than average. (Average is ~0.3)
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| Cycle Time, max/min resolution |
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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 P9 is a pretty fast camera, about average in startup and shutdown times, but very quick between shots. Shutter delay is about average.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
Like other recent Sony digicams, the P9 is also very fast when it comes
to downloading images from it to a host computer. I clocked it at 659 KBytes/second
on my aging Pentium II workhorse, making it one of the very fastest cameras
on the market in terms of file transfer.
Power
Like most other Sony digicams, the P9 uses an InfoLITHIUM battery. The camera
reports time remaining, so the numbers below for capture and playback modes
with the LCD enabled are based on the camera's own estimates. (Which I've generally
found to be quite accurate.) The figure for capture mode with the LCD turned
off is based on power measurements made via the external power jack.
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(Sony NP-FC10 battery pack) |
| Capture Mode, w/LCD |
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| Capture Mode, no LCD |
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| Image Playback |
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Overall, this is pretty good performance for a subcompact camera, although record time with the LCD enabled is still pretty short. As always though, I strongly recommend purchasing a second battery.
Storage Capacity
The DSC-P9 stores its photos on a Sony Memory Stick. A 16MB stick is shipped
with it. The chart below shows the number of images at each size/quality that
can be stored on a 16MB stick.
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Resolution/Quality 8 MB Memory Card |
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| Full Resolution 2272 x 1704 | Images (Avg size) |
8 2.0 MB |
15 1.1 MB |
| Approx. Compression |
6:1 | 11:1 | |
| High Resolution 1600 x 1200 | Images (Avg size) |
970 KB |
525 KB |
| Approx. Compression |
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1280 x 960 |
Images (Avg size) |
640 KB |
344 KB |
| Approx. Compression |
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640 x 480 |
Images (Avg size) |
164 KB |
66 KB |
| Approx. Compression |
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