Timing & Performance

The H7's overall performance is roughly the same as the H2 and H5 that came before it (it is also identical to the H9). Although it's a little slower than some direct competitors when it comes to many basic camera operations - startup, power off, playback and so on, the H7 never feels slow in use (and we are talking about differences measured in 1/10ths of a second). Where it really matters - focus speed (in most circumstances), shutter lag, shot-to-shot times (without flash) and so on - the H7 no worse than most super zoom cameras, and is a lot faster than many. The rather lackluster burst mode on the H5 has been beefed up a little, and now offers very nearly 2 frames per second for as many shots as you want.

Although a touch faster than its predecessors, the focus system feels like it could be faster at the long end of the zoom, as even in continuous AF mode the focus hunts every time you half-press the shutter. This means that you can be watching the live preview, everything is perfectly focused, and when you half press the shutter the focus moves in and out briefly - but quite dramatically - before settling exactly where it was before you did anything. The only saving grace is that the focus is - in good light - very fast anyway, and the hunting only really occurs at the extreme long end of the zoom; at wider angles the focus feels almost DSLR-like, it is so fast. In low light or at short subject distances the telephoto focus does get dramatically slower, but if this is the type of photography you're likely to be doing a lot of you really need an SLR.

The only other slightly disappointing results were fairly long shot-to-shot times with flash, especially if using the red-eye reduction mode.

Timing Notes

All times calculated as an average of three operations. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on an 8MP JPEG image (approx. 2210 KB per image). The media used for these tests was a 1.0 GB Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo card.

Action	Details	Time, secs
Power: Off to Record		2.5
Power: Off to Play	Image displayed	1.6
Power: Record to Off	Lens retracted and all activity ceased	2.2
Power: Play to Off	When buffer is empty, lens extended	2.2
Power: Play to Off	When buffer is empty, lens retracted	~0.5
Record Review	Image displayed	0.9
Mode: Record to Play		1.2
Mode: Play to Record	Lens already extended	~ 0.9
Mode: Play to Record	Lens retracted	~ 2.2
Play: Magnify	To full magnification (5x)	~ 4.4
Play: Image to Image	Time to display each saved image	~ 0.2 *1
Play: Thumbnail view	2 x 3 thumbnails	~1.6 *2

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. Media used for these tests was a 1.0 GB Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo card. Shutter speed was kept above 1/160 sec during these tests.

The H7 has a single continuous (burst) mode that averages just under two frames per second (a distinct improvement on its predecessor), and there appears to be no practical limit on the number of shots per burst.

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 Sony Memory Stick PRO Duo card.

With write speeds averaging around 1.7MB/s the H7 is no speed demon, but you'd never know as it is more than made up for by the large, fast buffer and small file sizes.