Sony DSC-V3By: Shawn Barnett and Dave Etchells(none) <<Exposure & Flash :(Previous) | (Next): Operation & User Interface>> Page 7:Shutter Lag & Cycle Time TestsReview First Posted: 09/09/2004, Updated: 11/30/2004 |
Shutter Lag/Cycle Times
When you press the shutter release on a digital camera, there's usually a lag or delay before the shutter actually fires. This represents the time required for the autofocus and autoexposure mechanisms to do their work and can amount to a significant delay in some situations. Since this number is rarely reported by manufacturers or reviewers, and can significantly affect the picture-taking experience, I routinely measure these times with a proprietary electronic test system I designed and built for the purpose. (Timing is crystal-controlled, and accurate to 1/1000 of a second.)
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(secs) |
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| Power On -> First shot | |
LCD turns
on and lens extends forward. |
| Shutdown | |
First time is time to retract
lens, second time is worst-case buffer-clearing time. |
| Play to Record, first shot | |
Time until
first shot is captured. |
| Record to play | |
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. |
| Shutter lag, full autofocus | |
First time is at full wide-angle, second is full telephoto. |
| Shutter lag, prefocus | |
Time to capture, after half-pressing
shutter button. |
| Cycle Time, max/min resolution | 1.10 / |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for "TV" mode (640x480) images. Times are averages. In large/fine mode, shoots 65 shots at this rate, slows only slightly, and keeps on shooting. In TV mode, continues at this speed indefinitely. Buffer clears after each shot. |
| Cycle Time, continuous Burst mode, max/min resolution | 0.96 / 0.83 (1.04 / 1.20 fps) |
First number is for large/fine files, second number is time for "TV" size images. Times are averages. In large/fine mode, shoots 15 shots this fast and clears the buffer in 18 seconds. In TV mode, shoots 100 shots this fast and clears the buffer in 11 seconds. |
| Cycle Time, Speed Burst mode, max/min resolution | 0.40 (2.50 fps) |
Takes a maximum of 8 shots at about the same rate for large/fine or small/basic images. Times are averages. Clears the buffer in 13 seconds in large/fine mode, 4 seconds in TV mode. |
| Cycle Time, Multi Burst mode | 0.03 (30 fps) |
Camera captures 16 320 x 240 pixel images, stores them in 4x4 arrays inside normal 1280 x 960 files. Frame rate can be set to 7.5, 15 or 30 frames/second. Buffer clears in less than a second. |
By almost every measure, the Sony DSC-V3 is a very fast camera. Full-autofocus
shutter lag ranges from 0.28-0.66 seconds, much faster than average, and shutter
lag when prefocused (by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button
before the shot itself) is an amazing 0.011 second. (That's right, just over
1/100 second.) Shot to shot cycle times are excellent as well, at 1.1 second
for large/fine images, more or less to the limits of the capacity of a Memory
Stick Pro or high-speed CompactFlash memory card. In "Speed Burst"
mode, the camera can capture up to eight large/fine images at a rate of 2.4
frames/second. (The 8-frame buffer capacity is a particularly welcome upgrade
from the 3-frame buffer limit of the earlier V1.) Bottom line, this is one
of the faster cameras on the market today.
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