Timing & Performance

Canon finally upgraded the ageing DIGIC processor used in the first few 'A' series PowerShots when it launched the A610 and 620 last year. The use of the same DIGIC II processor used in higher-end cameras brought a real, and significant performance boost, and means that the A700 can hold its own against non-budget models. In use it feels fairly snappy, with our only real complaint being the slow flash recycle times (due no doubt to the use of two AA batteries instead of four) - at distances over more than a few feet, at the long end of the zoom range or when the batteries are not at full charge the shot to shot times with flash can stretch to as much as 8 seconds - sometimes more with very tired batteries - which is a pain in social situations.

Timing notes

All times calculated as an average of three operations. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 2816 x 2112 SuperFine JPEG image (approx. 2,500 KB per image). The media used for these tests was a 1.0 GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card.

Action	Details	Time, secs
Power: Off to Record		1.5
Power: Off to Play	Image displayed	0.9
Power: Record to Off	All activity ceased	1.9
Power: Play to Off	When buffer is empty, lens already retracted	~0.2
Power: Play to Off	When buffer is empty, lens extended	1.4
Record Review	Image displayed	~0.7
Mode: Record to Play		1.0
Mode: Play to Record	Lens already extended	1.4
Mode: Play to Record	Lens not extended	2.1
Play: Magnify	To full magnification (10x)	~1.0
Play: Image to Image	Time to display each saved image	~0.3 *1
Play: Thumbnail view	3 x 3 thumbnails	~0.3

Lag Timing Definitions

Half-press Lag (0->S1) Many digital camera users prime the AF and AE systems on their camera by half-pressing the shutter release. This is the amount of time between a half-press of the shutter release and the camera indicating an auto focus & auto exposure lock on the LCD monitor / viewfinder (ready to shoot).	(Prime AF/AE)
Half to Full-press Lag (S1->S2) The amount of time it takes from a full depression of the shutter release button (assuming you have already primed the camera with a half-press) to the image being taken.	(Take shot, AF/AE primed)
Full-press Lag (0->S2) The amount of time it takes from a full depression of the shutter release button (without performing a half-press of the shutter release beforehand) to the image being taken. This is more representative of the use of the camera in a spur of the moment 'point and shoot' situation.	(Take shot, AF/AE not primed)

Continuous Mode

The tables below show the results of our continuous shooting test, indicating the actual frame rate along with maximum number of frames and how long you would have to wait after taking the maximum number of frames before you could take another shot. The media used for these tests was a 1.0 GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card. Shutter speed was kept above 1/200 sec during these tests.

Continuous drive mode

The A700 has only a single continuous shooting modes, which in our tests averaged around 2.0 fps. In continuous shooting mode the A700 does not show a live preview, but does display a brief review image for each picture taken. With a fast card it appears to be impossible to fill the buffer, so you can keep shooting until you run out of card space.

Not a bad performance at all for a camera in this class - and certainly capable enough for most of the target market.

File Write / Display and Sizes

Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera to process and "flush" the image out to the storage card, the timer was started as soon as the shutter release was pressed and stopped when activity indicator went out. This means the timings also include the camera's processing time and as such are more representative of the actual time to "complete the task". The media used for these tests was a 1.0 GB SanDisk Extreme III SD card.

Read/write performance is excellent - certainly over 5MB/s - and the A700 will definitely benefit from a fast SD card if you shoot a lot of pictures in rapid succession.