Timings & File Sizes

For an ultra-compact the IXUS 330 did a commendable job, as is usual with compact extending lens cameras there is an additional delay at startup to allow the lens to extend. The IXUS 330 also requires at least a 1.3 second hold of the power button before it will begin to start up (a safety feature), so although we measured the total startup time as 3.8 seconds (time from first pressing the power button) the camera actually only takes 2.6 seconds to go through its start up sequence. Other timings are very respectable especially shot-to-shot and shutter release LAG using the LCD monitor.

Timing Notes: All times calculated as an average of three operations. A Viking 256 MB Compact Flash card was used for timings. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 1600 x 1200 Super-Fine JPEG image (approx. 960 KB per image).

Action	Details	Time taken (seconds)	Notes
Power: Off to Record	Lens always defaults to wide	3.8	Lens takes 1.2 secs *1
Power: Off to Play		3.1	Image is displayed
Power: Record to Off		2.7	Lens retract *2
Power: Play to Off	Lens already retracted	0.6
Mode: Record to Play		1.9	Image is displayed *3
Mode: Play to Record		2.5
Play: Magnify	To x10.0	1.4
Play: Browse delay	Delay between images	1.1	Maximum *4
Rec: Thumbnail view	3 x 3 thumbnails	0.7
Auto Focus LAG	Wide angle	0.8 - 1.2	Fast *5
Auto Focus LAG	Telephoto	1.2 - 2.2	Average *5
Shutter Release LAG	Using LCD montior	0.1	Fast
Shutter Release LAG	Using viewfinder	0.1	Fast
Total LAG		1.0 - 2.0	Average
Off to Shot Taken		4.4	Fast *1
Shot to Shot	AiAF Auto Focus	2.5	Fast *6
Shot to Shot	AF-Lock	1.8	Very Fast *6

Continuous drive mode

The table below shows the results of our continuous shooting test, indicating the actual frame rate along with maximum number of frames at a selection of image resolution / quality settings and how long you would have to wait after taking the maximum number of frames before you could take the next shot. A Viking 256 MB Compact Flash card was used for this test.

The IXUS 330 performs very differently with the LCD monitor switched off. Leave the monitor on and shoot continuously and you'll only get around 1.1 frames per second frame rate. However, switch the LCD monitor off (press DISP) and the camera will happily shoot at up to 2.9 frames per second.

File Flush / Display Timing

Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera to process and "flush" the image out to the Compact Flash card, the timer was started as soon as the shutter release was pressed (shutter click was heard) and stopped when activity indicator LED beside viewfinder stopped blinking. This means the timings also include the cameras processing time and as such are more representative of the actual time to "complete the task". A Viking 256 MB Compact Flash card was used for this test.

Battery life

We ran the camera through our new battery life test. This test is designed to be fair and comparative to each camera and battery type:

• Take 4 shots without flash
• Wait 2 minutes (50% of the time powering the camera off)
• Take 1 shot with flash
• Wait 1 minute
• Repeat

All batteries had been fully discharged and recharged before the test and all cameras were reset to their factory default settings. Here are the results:

The IXUS 330 uses an updated version of the Lithium-Ion battery used in the IXUS 300 (note the H suffix on the new battery). Capacity has gone up from 680 mAh to 840 mAh, this has provided an additional 22 minutes of battery life in our test (very good considering the small dimensions and weight of this battery).