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Digital Camera Home > Digital Camera Reviews > Sony Digital Cameras > Sony Cyber-shot DSC-T1

"Picky Details" for the Sony T1 digital camera
(Timing, Power, and Storage Info)

Timing

I measure both cycle times and shutter delay times, 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 Sony T1:

Sony T1 Timings
Operation	Time (secs)	Notes
Power On -> First shot	1.6	Time till first shot is captured. No lens to extend, so startup is pretty fast.
Shutdown	0 - 3.1	Internally contained lens allows immediate shutdown (longer time is that required for memory buffer to clear).
Play to Record, first shot	0.6	Time until first shot is captured. Fairly fast.
Record to play	3.1	Time to display a large/fine file after capture. Average.
Shutter lag, full autofocus	0.28/0.32	First time is at full wide-angle, second is full telephoto. Extremely fast for a digicam, possibly the fastest consumer-level digicam I've tested to date.
Shutter lag, prefocus	0.014	Time to capture, after half-pressing shutter button. Extremely fast, faster than many pro SLRs.
Cycle Time, max/min resolution	3.15 / 3.15	First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for "VGA" mode (640x480) images. Times are averages. Buffer empties after each shot regardless of resolution. On the slow side of average.
Cycle Time, Speed Priority Burst mode, max resolution	0.33 (3 fps)	Times are averages. Four shots are taken, then buffer takes 10 seconds to clear. Images ARE NOT displayed on LCD while shooting. Quite fast.
Cycle Time, Framing Priority Burst mode	0.36 (2.7 fps)	Four shots are taken, then buffer takes 10 seconds to clear. Images ARE displayed on LCD while shooting. Only slightly slower.
Cycle Time, continuous Multi Burst mode	selectable	Camera captures 16 images and stores them in a 4x4 array in one 1MP file. The interval between shots can be set to 1/7.5, 1/15, or 1/30 second. (In other words, 7.5, 15, or 30 frames/second.) Very fast, great for analyzing golf or tennis swings, etc.

The T1 is a bit of a mixed bag speed-wise, but is pretty fast overall. Most impressive is its shutter response, one of the fastest I've measured on a consumer-level digicam. Full-autofocus shutter lag times of 0.28-0.32 seconds are almost unheard of in the consumer arena, and the prefocus-mode lag of only 14 milliseconds (0.014 seconds) is better than any pro SLR I've tested. At 3.15 seconds, shot to shot cycle times in single-shot mode are only average, but continuous-mode speed is again quite good, at 3 frames/second for bursts of four frames.

Power

The Sony T1 uses a custom rechargeable LiIon battery for power. I didn't have the ability to test its power consumption via an AC adapter, but the times reported by Sony's InfoLITHIUM battery system have proven to be quite accurate. The table below thus shows maximum run times as reported by the camera itself, with a freshly-charged battery.

Operating Mode	Battery Life
Still-image capture mode, backlight on	81 minutes
Still-image capture mode, no backlight	102 minutes
Movie capture mode, backlight on	65 minutes (!)
Image playback, backlight on	118 minutes (!)

Overall, battery life on the T1 is about average (maybe slightly better than average) for ultracompact digicams. Turning off the LCD's backlight extends run times only about 25%, and of course there's no option to turn the LCD off entirely, since the camera has no optical viewfinder. Definitely plan on purchasing a second battery along with the T1, so you'll have a spare for extended outings.

Storage Capacity
The Sony T1 stores its photos on Memory Stick Duo 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.

Image Capacity vs Resolution/Quality 32 MB Memory Card		Fine	Normal
2,592 x 1,944	Images (Avg size)	12 2.7 MB	23 1.4 MB
2,592 x 1,944	Approx. Compression	6:1	11:1
2,048 x 1,536	Images (Avg size)	20 1.6 MB	37 865 KB
2,048 x 1,536	Approx. Compression	6:1	11:1
1,280 x 960	Images (Avg size)	50 640 KB	93 344 KB
1,280 x 960	Approx. Compression	6:1	11:1
640 x 480	Images (Avg size)	196 163 KB	491 65 KB
640 x 480	Approx. Compression	6:1	14:1

Download Speed
The Sony T1 connects to a host computer via a USB interface. Downloading files to a Sony VAIO desktop computer running Windows XP, I clocked it at 1306 KBytes/second. This is much faster than cameras with USB v1.1 interfaces can manage. (Cameras with slow USB v1.1 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.)

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