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 01 second.) Here are the numbers I collected for the Stylus 300 Digital:

NOTE: My qualitative characterizations of camera performance below (that is, "reasonably fast," "about average," etc.) are meant to be relative to other cameras of similar price and general capabilities. Thus, the same shutter lag that's "very fast" for a low-end consumer camera might be characterized as "quite slow" if I encountered it on a professional model. The comments are also intended as only a quick reference: If performance specs are critical for you, rely on the absolute numbers to compare cameras, rather than my purely qualitative comments.

The table below shows the Stylus 300 Digital's power consumption in various modes, and approximate run times for each, based on a lithium-ion battery with a 1090 mAh capacity:

Storage Capacity
The Stylus 300 Digital stores its photos on xD-Picture Cards, and a 16MB card is included with the camera. (I strongly recommend buying at least a 32MB card, preferably a 64MB one, to give yourself extra space for extended outings.) The chart below shows how many images can be stored on the included 16MB card at each size/quality setting, along with the average images sizes and approximate compression ratios..