Sony W130 Performance


Timing and Performance

Good to average speed for a consumer camera.

Startup/Shutdown

Power on
to first shot

1.9 seconds

Time it takes for LCD to turn on and lens to deploy.

Shutdown

1.4 seconds

How long it takes to retract lens.

Buffer clearing time

0.5 second
(0.5 seconds buffer clearing after Large JPEG)

Worst case buffer clearing time. -- This is the delay after a set of shots before you can remove the card. Some cameras won't retract their lenses and shut down until the buffer is cleared.

Startup and shutdown times are above average, with good buffer clearing.

 

Mode switching

Play to Record,
first shot

1.9 seconds

Time until first shot is captured.

Record to play

1.3 seconds

Time to display a large file immediately after capture.

Display
recorded image

1.3 seconds

Time to display a large file already on the memory card.

Mode switching times are a bit on the slow side of average.

 

Shutter response (Lag Time)

Full Autofocus Wide

0.31 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide angle position.

Full Autofocus Tele

0.39 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at telephoto position.

Full Autofocus with flash enabled

0.65 second

Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, with flash enabled.

Prefocused

0.088 second

Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

Continuous AF
0.34 second
This mode usually shows no speed increase with our static subject; we have no way to measure performance with moving subjects.

Shutter response is better than average at both wide angle and telephoto, at 0.31s and 0.39s respectively, and "prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure results in a lag time of only 0.088 second. Very good.

 

Cycle time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode
Large JPEG
1.41 seconds

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.

Single Shot mode
640x480 JPEG

1.57 seconds

Time per shot, averaged over 20 shots.

Early shutter
penalty?

No

Some cameras don't snap another shot if you release and press the shutter too quickly in Single Shot mode, making "No" the preferred answer.

Continuous mode
Large JPEG

0.52 second (1.94 frames per second);
20+ frames total;
0.5 seconds to clear

Time per shot, averaged over buffer length or 20 shots, whichever came first.

Continuous mode
640x480 JPEG

0.52 second (1.94 frames per second);
20+ frames total;
0.5 seconds to clear

Time per shot, averaged over buffer length or 20 shots, whichever came first.

Flash recycling

4.9 seconds

Flash at maximum output.

*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme III PRO Duo memory card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity also affects cycle times and burst mode performance, with higher ISOs generally increasing cycle times and reducing burst performance.

Shot-to-shot cycle times are good, at about 1.41 seconds for large JPEGs, and the camera does capture frames continuously at this rate. (That is, given a fast enough memory card, it doesn't have to pause every few frames to wait for the card to catch up.) The DSC-W130's Continuous modes perform about average, capturing 20 large frames at 1.94 frames per second with no signs of slowing down. Times are the same at the lowest resolution as well. The flash takes 4.9 seconds to recharge after a full-power shot, also good.

 

Download speed

Windows Computer, USB 2.0

9,370 KBytes/sec

Typical Values:
Less than 600=USB 1.1;
600-769=USB 2.0 Low;
Above 770=USB 2.0 High

Connected to a computer or printer with USB 2.0, download speeds are very good.


Bottom line, the Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W130 is fast enough for most average situations, and should handle wiggly kids and sporting events fairly well also in its Continuous mode.

Battery and Storage Capacity

Battery
Above average battery life for a lithium-ion design.

Operating Mode Number of Shots
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery,
(CIPA standard)
370

The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W130 uses a custom rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a charger. Although battery life is above average, we recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on either a fresh set of disposable batteries or a fully-charged rechargeable battery as appropriate), based on CIPA battery-life and/or manufacturer standard test conditions.

(Interested readers can find an English translation of the CIPA DC-002 standards document here. (180K PDF document))

Storage
The Sony Cyber-shot DSC-W130 accepts Memory Stick Pro Duo memory cards, and includes about 15MB of internal memory. The table below shows the approximate capacity of the internal memory at different resolution settings. (The Sony W130 does not have a compression level option.)

Image Capacity with
15MB Internal Memory
JPEG
3,264 x 2,448
Images
4
File Size
3.2 MB
2,592 x 1,944
Images
5
File Size
2.5 MB
2,048 x 1,536
Images
9
File Size
1.6 MB
640 x 480
Images
95
File Size
158 KB

We strongly recommend buying a large-capacity Memory Stick PRO Duo at least a 1 or 2GB card, preferably a 4GB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings. (We recommend the PRO version of the Memory Stick Duo, because it supports non-stop video as well as longer sequences of continuous still-image shooting.) (Check the shopping link above, cards are really cheap these days, so no reason to skimp.)

 

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