Olympus TG-5 Performance

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Olympus TG-5 Performance

Tested with firmware version 1.1

Timing and Performance

Good to excellent performance for its class.

Startup/Play to Record
Power on to first shot	~1.3 seconds	Time it takes for LCD to turn on and lens to deploy and capture a picture.
Play to Record, first shot	~0.7 second	Time until first shot is captured.

Startup to first shot time was faster than average for its class, at a fairly quick 1.3 seconds. Play to Record mode switching was good at well under a second.

Shutter Response (Lag Time)
Full Autofocus Center-area AF Wide Angle	0.175 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at wide angle position.
Full Autofocus Center-area AF Telephoto	0.188 second	Time from fully pressing shutter button to image capture, zoom lens at telephoto position.
Full Autofocus Center-area AF Flash enabled	0.248 second	Time to capture while forcing flash to fire, zoom lens at medium focal length.
Manual Focus	0.094 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	0.047 second	Time to capture, after half-pressing and holding shutter button.

The Olympus TG-5's full autofocus shutter lag when shooting the same target multiple times was fast for a rugged compact camera. The TG-5's full AF shutter lag clocked in at about 0.18 second at wide angle using center AF mode. Full AF shutter lag was just a bit slower at full telephoto, at about 0.19 second. Enabling the flash raised shutter lag to 0.25 seconds, to account for the metering preflash. Manual focus shutter lag was pretty quick at 94 milliseconds, and prefocused shutter lag was fast at 47 milliseconds though some compact cameras are even faster.

Cycle Time (shot to shot)
Single Shot mode Large Super Fine JPEG	0.31 second	Average time per shot.
Single Shot mode RAW + LSF JPEG	0.33 second	Average time per shot.
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.
Sequential High LSF JPEG	0.05 second (20.0 fps); 21 frames total; 4.4 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 21 frame buffer, then slows down to 0.18s or 5.7 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Sequential High RAW	0.05 second (20.0 fps); 15 frames total; 4.1 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 15 frame buffer, then slows down to 0.33s or 3.0 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Sequential High RAW + LSF JPEG	0.05 second (20.0 fps); 11 frames total; 6.3 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 11 frame buffer, then slows down to 0.49s or 2.0 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Sequential Low LSF JPEG	0.20 second (5.0 fps); Unlimited (?); 4.0 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, with no apparent limit other than available card capacity.
Sequential Low RAW	0.20 second (5.0 fps); 30 frames total; 4.3 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 30 frame buffer, then slows down to 0.30s or 3.3 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Sequential Low RAW + LSF JPEG	0.20 second (5.0 fps); 17 frames total; 5.9 seconds to clear*	Time per shot, averaged over 17 frame buffer, then slows down to 0.51s or 2.0 fps when buffer is full with a lot of variation.
Flash recycling	3.2 seconds	Flash at maximum output.
*Note: Buffer clearing times measured with a 64GB Lexar Pro 2000x UHS-II SDXC card. 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 were very fast in single shot mode, at about 0.3 second for Large/Super Fine JPEGs or RAW+LSF JPEG files. We no longer test just RAW file cycle time in single-shot mode, as it's usually somewhere in between JPEG and RAW+JPEG.

The Olympus TG-5's full-res Sequential High shooting mode (which uses an electronic shutter) was very fast at 20 frames per second (a 10 fps option is also available), and the JPEG buffer depth was 21 frames when shooting at the best quality Large/Super Fine setting. (Olympus claims unlimited buffer for Large/Normal JPEGs.) Unlike the TG-4, the TG-5 supports RAW and RAW+JPEG capture in sequential mode at up to 20 fps as well. Burst depths of course were less than JPEGs at 15 RAW and 11 RAW+LSF JPEG frames, but that's still not bad, especially for the class. In Sequential Low mode which uses the mechanical shutter, the TG-5 shoots at 5.0 fps. JPEG buffer depth was unlimited at this speed, while RAW and RAW+JPEG buffers increased to 30 and 17 frames respectively.

The TG-5 also offers a Pro Capture mode at 10 fps which begins to take photos as soon as you half-press the shutter release but discards them except for up to 4 frames just before fully pressing the shutter, and of course it keeps the ones captured while the shutter is fully depressed. This helps capture fleeting moments that would be difficult to react in time for.

Buffer clearing was pretty swift with our 64GB Lexar Pro 2000x SDXC card, taking at most 6.3 seconds after max-length bursts of RAW+JPEG frames, and you can adjust settings and take additional shots while it's clearing, though you can't view just-shot images until after they are flushed to the card.

The built-in flash took an average of 3.2 seconds to recharge after a full-power discharge which is not bad.

Bottom line, the Olympus TG-5's performance is good to excellent for its class with fast startup, fast AF, low shutter lag and very fast full-res burst modes at up to 20 fps even for RAW and RAW+JPEGs files, unlike the TG-4 which did not support RAW capture in burst mode.

Battery

Battery Life
Good battery life.

Operating Mode	Number of Shots
Still Capture (CIPA standard, LCD Monitor)	340

The Olympus TG-5 uses a custom LI-92B rechargeable lithium-ion battery for power (the same as the TG-4) and the battery is charged in-camera via the USB port. CIPA battery life is a little lower than the TG-4 but is still good for its class, at 340 shots per charge. Still, we recommend you pick up a spare battery for extended outings.

The table above shows the number of shots the camera is capable of (on 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))