"Picky Details" for the Fuji FinePix S3100 digital
camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)
Timing
When you press the shutter release on a camera, there's usually a lag time or delay before the shutter actually fires. This corresponds to the time required for the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms time to do their work, and can amount to a fairly long delay in some situations. Since this number is rarely reported on (and even more rarely reported accurately), and can significantly affect the picture taking experience, I routinely measure both shutter delay and shot to shot cycle times for all cameras I test, using a test system I designed and built for the purpose. (Crystal-controlled, with a resolution of 0.001 second.) Here are the numbers I collected for the Fuji FinePix S3100:
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(secs) |
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| Power On -> First shot |
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LCD turns on and lens extends forward. Fairly fast.
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| Shutdown |
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First time is time to retract lens, second time is shutdown immediately after capturing an image. A little slow.
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| Play to Record, first shot |
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Time until first shot is captured. A little slow.
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| Record to play |
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First time is that required to display a large/fine file immediately after capture, second time is that needed to display a large/fine file that has already been processed and stored on the memory card. A little slow.
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| Shutter lag, full autofocus |
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First time is at full wide-angle, second is full telephoto. Ranges from faster than average to slower than average, but pretty good overall for a long-zoom model. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus |
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Time to capture, after half-pressing shutter button. Very fast.
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| Cycle Time, max/min resolution |
2.24 / |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for "TV" mode (640x480) images. Times are averages. No buffer memory to clear, every shot is this fast. Average. |
Good to slightly slow shutter lag, average cycle times. With shutter lag that ranged from 0.68 to 1.11 second, the Fuji S3100 spanned the range from faster than average to a bit slower than average. - But it did pretty well when compared with other long-zoom digicam models. Prefocus lag was 0.12 second, a very good number. Shot to shot times were average, at 2.2 seconds/shot for large/fine images. (All shots happened that fast though, there was no delay after a buffer memory filled.) The S3100 has no continuous shooting mode.
Power
The Fuji FinePix S3100 uses four AA batteries for power. Here are its power consumption and projected run times in various operating modes:
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(@5 volts on the external power terminal) |
(four 1600 mA cells) |
| Capture Mode, w/LCD |
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| Capture Mode, w/EVF |
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| Half-pressed shutter w/LCD |
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| Half-pressed w/EVF |
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| Memory Write (transient) |
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| Flash Recharge (transient) |
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| Image Playback |
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Really excellent battery life. With a worst-case run time of 4.3 hours with "standard" 1600 mAh NiMH cells, and a run time of over 8 hours in playback mode, the Fuji S3100's battery life is much better than average. I still recommend that you purchase a good set of high-capacity NiMH batteries and a good-quality charger, but the S3100 does much better than average in the battery life department.
Storage Capacity
The Fuji FinePix stores its photos on Compact Flash memory cards, and a 32 MB card is included with the camera. (I strongly recommend buying at least a 64 MB card, preferably a 128 MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.) The chart below shows how many images can be stored on the included 32 MB card at each size/quality setting.
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Resolution/Quality 32 MB Memory Card |
Fine | Normal | |
| 2,272 x 1,704 | Images (Avg size) |
8 1.9 MB |
16 962 KB |
| Approx. Compression |
6:1 | 12:1 | |
| 1,600 x 1,200 | Images (Avg size) |
- | 25 626 KB |
| Approx. Compression |
- | 9:1 | |
| 1,280 x 960 | Images (Avg size) |
- | 34 465 KB |
| Approx. Compression |
- | 8:1 | |
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Images (Avg size) |
- | 124 128 KB |
| Approx. Compression |
- | 7:1 | |
Download Speed
The Fuji FinePix connects to a host computer via a USB interface. Downloading files to my Sony desktop running Windows XP (Pentium IV, 2.4 GHz), I clocked it at 814 KBytes/second, a pretty good rate. (Cameras with slow USB interfaces run as low as 300 KB/s, cameras with fast v1.1 interfaces run as high as 600 KB/s. Cameras with USB v2.0 interfaces run as fast as several megabytes/second.)
S3100 Test Images
S3100 Specifications
S3100 "Picky Details"
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