Canon 80D Performance

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Canon 80D Performance

Timing and Performance

Good to excellent performance for a prosumer DSLR.

Startup/Play to Record
Power on to first shot	~0.5 second	Time it takes to turn on and capture a shot.
Play to Record, first shot	~0.1 second	Time until first shot is captured.

Powering on and taking a shot was fast, at about 0.5 second. Switching from Play to Record mode and taking a shot was even faster, at only about 0.1 second. Excellent performance here.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus Single-point (center) AF	0.076 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture. All AF timing tested with the Canon 50mm f/1.8 STM lens.
Full Autofocus Single-point AF TTL flash enabled	0.265 second	Time to capture while forcing flash to fire. Preflash metering pulses from flash often slow shutter response.
Manual Focus	0.061 second	For most cameras, shutter lag is less in manual focus than autofocus, but usually not as fast as when the camera is "prefocused".
Prefocused	0.057 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.
Prefocused Live View	0.060 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

In terms of the Canon 80D's ability to determine that it's properly focused when shooting the same target multiple times using the optical viewfinder, its full autofocus shutter response was very fast. We measured 0.076 second for full AF lag using single point (center) AF, about the same as the 70D. Enabling the flash increased full AF lag significantly though, to 0.265 second, thanks to pre-flash metering.

Shutter lag with manual focus was faster at 0.061 second, a little faster than the 70D's 0.075 second. "Prefocusing" the camera by half-pressing and holding down the shutter button before the final exposure resulted in a lag time of 0.057 second, which is quite good for a DSLR and also a little faster than the 70D tested (0.059s).

The Canon 80D's prefocused shutter lag in Live View mode was almost identical to using the optical viewfinder: a very fast 0.060 second. (We no longer test full AF shutter lag in Live View mode, as it is usually very lens dependent.)

To minimize the effect of different lens' focusing speed, we test AF-active shutter lag with the lens already set to the correct focal distance.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large/Fine JPEG	0.37 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames (we no longer test for buffer depths in single-shot mode).
Single Shot mode RAW + L/F JPEG	0.36 second	Time per shot, averaged over a few frames (we no longer test for buffer depths in single-shot mode).
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/Fine JPEG	0.15 second (6.76 frames per second); 53 frames total; 4 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 53 shot buffer capacity, then slowed to an average of 0.21s or 4.85 fps when buffer was full.
Continuous mode RAW	0.15 second (6.71 frames per second); 24 frames total; 7 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 24 shot buffer capacity, then slowed to an average of 0.42s or 2.38 fps when buffer was full.
Continuous mode RAW + Large/Fine JPEG	0.15 second (6.77 frames per second); 19 frames total; 13 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 19 shot buffer capacity, then slowed to an average of 0.74s or 1.35 fps when buffer was full.
Flash recycling	2.8 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I SDHC card. Slower cards will produce correspondingly slower clearing times. Slow cards may also limit length of bursts in continuous mode. ISO sensitivity and noise reduction settings can also affect cycle times and burst mode performance.

Single-shot cycle times were very fast, at just over a third of a second for both JPEGs and RAW+JPEG files. (Note that we no longer test single-shot mode with just RAW files, as the results are usually somewhere in between.)

Full-resolution continuous mode speeds were good, at between 6.7 and 6.8 frames-per-second depending on the file type, which is very similar to the 70D's burst speed despite the larger files, and just a little short of Canon's 7.0 fps spec.

Buffer depth for best quality JPEGs was very good at 53 frames, and note that we use a difficult to compress target for this test for worst-case results, so typical buffer depths would likely be even higher. When shooting RAW files, buffer depths were of course lower than with just JPEGs but still quite good, at 24 frames for RAW files, and 19 frames for RAW+JPEG files, compared to only 14 RAW and 7 RAW+JPEG frames for the 70D.

Buffer clearing times were quite good considering buffer depths, ranging from only 4 seconds after a max-length burst of best quality JPEGs, to 13 seconds after a burst of RAW+JPEG frames with a fast UHS-I card. The camera allows you make setting changes and shoot additional shots while the buffer is clearing, but you can't view just-shot images while the buffer is clearing.

The Canon 80D's built-in flash took an average of 2.8 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge, which is good.

Bottom line, the Canon 80D offers good to excellent performance for a prosumer DSLR, providing fast power-up & mode switching, fast AF speeds, low shutter lag, fast cycle times, and decent burst speeds with generous buffer depths.

Battery

Battery Life
Very good battery life when using the optical viewfinder.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery, (CIPA standard, Optical Viewfinder)	960
Lithium-ion Rechargeable Battery, (CIPA standard, Live View LCD)	300

The Canon 80D uses a custom LP-E6N rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power, and ships with a dedicated battery charger. Battery life is quite good using the optical viewfinder, rated at 960 shots with 50% using flash, but of course Live View mode draws more power reducing battery life considerably. We recommend you pick up a spare battery and keep it freshly charged and on-hand for extended outings or when using Live View mode a lot, or consider the optional BG-E14 battery grip which accepts two LP-E6N battery packs or 6 AA/LR6 batteries.

The table above shows the number of shots the Canon 80D is capable of (on a fully-charged rechargeable battery), 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))