Digital Photography Review
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| Legend for CF card timings | |
| Noticeably quicker | |
| Noticeably slower | |
| Action | Details | Time,
seconds (Supplied CF) |
Time,
seconds (Viking CF) |
Time,
seconds (Microdrive) |
|
Power: Off to Record |
2.5 | 2.5 | 2.3 | |
| Power: Off to Play *1 |
Accessing |
n/a | n/a | 2.5 |
|
Power: Off to Play *1 |
Displayed | 3.1 | 2.5 | 5.9 |
| Power: Record to Off *2 | 2.5 | 2.5 | 2.5 | |
| Power: Play to Off | 2.2 | 2.2 | 2.3 | |
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| Mode: Record to Play | 2.1 | 1.5 | 3.0 | |
| Mode: Play to Record | 1.4 | 1.3 | 1.4 | |
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| Play: Magnify to x2.0 | 5.1 | 3.5 | 5.1 | |
| Rec: Thumbnail view 3 x 3 | 1.1 | 0.9 | 1.0 | |
| Action | Details | Time,
seconds (average) |
| Auto Focus LAG *4 | Full wide angle (28 mm equiv.) | 0.9 *3 |
| Auto Focus LAG *4 | Full telephoto (200 mm equiv.) | 1.1 *3 |
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| Shutter Release LAG *5 | Using LCD monitor / EVF | 0.1 |
| Total LAG *6 | Lens @ 50 mm equiv. | 0.8 - 1.2 |
| Off to Shot Taken | Media: 512 MB Viking CF card | 3.0 |
| Off to Shot Taken | Media: 1 GB IBM Microdrive | 5.4 |
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| Shot to Shot | Instant playback enabled | 1.5 |
| Shot to Shot | Instant playback disabled | 1.4 |
| *1 | First timing is the time (from OFF) before "Accessing files..." is shown the LCD. Second timing is the time (from OFF) before the first image is displayed. |
| *2 | No images remaining in internal buffer. Timer is stopped when top LCD display disappears. |
| *3 | Add approximately 0.5 seconds in lower light. |
| *4 | Auto Focus LAG is (roughly) the amount of time it takes the camera to autofocus (a half-press and hold of the shutter release button), this timing is normally the most variable as its affected by the subject matter, current focus position, still or moving subject etc.This timing is an average. |
| *5 | Shutter Release LAG is the amount of time it takes to take the shot after autofocus, this timing assumes you have already focused (half-pressed the shutter release) and now press the shutter release button all the way down to take the shot. This timing is an average. |
| *6 | Total LAG is the total time it takes (not just the two above added together) if you haven't pre-focused, that is no finger touching the shutter release button, press it all the way down in one movement, this new timing is how long it'd take if you were in one of those spur-of-the-moment situations.This timing is an average. |
Continuous modes
The table below shows 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 the 512 MB Viking CF card.
Standard Continuous drive mode
Standard continuous drive mode shoots as quickly as the camera can respond, between each shot the LCD/EVF live view returns momentarily before the next shot is taken. RAW and TIFF (Super-Fine) modes are not available when continuous drive mode is selected.
| Image Type | Frames per sec | Frames in one burst *1 |
Wait before |
| 2560 x 1920 FINE | 3.0 fps | 3 | 6.8 secs |
| 2560 x 1920 STANDARD | 2.5 fps | 4 | 3.7 secs |
| 2560 x 1920 ECONOMY | 2.4 fps | 5 | 2.6 secs |
| 1600 x 1200 STANDARD | 1.4 fps | 15 | 1.6 secs |
| 1280 x 960 STANDARD | 1.4 fps | 37 | 1.6 secs |
UHS Continuous drive mode
UHS Continuous drive mode appears to use the CCD's ability to capture images using an 'electronic shutter'. That is you do not hear the mechanical shutter opening and closing during the burst of shots. After capturing a burst of shots the LCD screen goes blank while images are stored. UHS mode does capture very quickly and also provides the ability to turn the captured sequence into a movie file instead of separate JPEG images.
| Image Type | Frames per sec | Frames in one burst *1 |
Wait before |
| 1280 x 960 FINE | 8.0 fps | 9 | 11.8 |
| 1280 x 960 STANDARD | 7.6 fps | 17 | 12.8 |
| 1280 x 960 ECONOMY | 7.5 fps | 25 | 14.0 |
| *1 | In a single "burst" (finger held down on shutter release), exact number of frames may vary depending on size of JPEG file (detail in the image). |
| *2 | You can take a frame as soon as there is space in the cameras internal buffer (writing continues "in the background"). |
File Flush 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 the storage compartment went out. This means the timings also include the cameras processing time and as such are more representative of the actual time to "complete the task".
The media used for these tests were:
- 16 MB SanDisk Type I Compact Flash card (as supplied)
- 512 MB Viking Type I Compact Flash card
- 1 GB IBM Microdrive Type II Compact Flash card
| Image Type | Time
to store *1 (seconds) |
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| Supplied CF | Viking CF | Microdrive | ||
| 2560 x 1920 | S.FINE TIFF | 35.9 | 15.6 | 18.8 |
| 2560 x 1920 | RAW | 25.4 | 11.8 | 14.8 |
| 2560 x 1920 | FINE | 11.2 | 6.0 | 10.8 |
| 2560 x 1920 | STANDARD | 7.6 | 4.7 | 9.2 |
| 2560 x 1920 | ECONOMY | 6.5 | 4.3 | 9.2 |
| 1600 x 1200 | FINE | 6.8 | 4.4 | 8.8 |
| 1280 x 960 | FINE | 6.2 | 4.1 | 8.3 |
| 640 x 480 | FINE | 4.8 | 3.5 | 8.0 |
| *1 | This is the amount of time it takes to write a single image away, it is taken from the moment of shutter release to the activity indicator LED beside the storage compartment going out. RAW and TIFF modes both blank the LCD/EVF during this time and no more shots can be taken until this time has elapsed. |
It's fairly clear to see that the supplied SanDisk card is a pretty poor performer, outpaced by an 'affordable brand' card like the Viking. The Microdrive does better with large files and less well if you take lots and lots of small images. Still, Microdrive performance should be acceptable enough for those who plan to shoot a lot of RAW files.
File Sizes
Here's a comparison of the average byte size of each of different image size / quality combinations.
| Image Size | Quality | Image format | File
size (~ = approx.) |
No. on supplied 16 MB CF Card | No.
on 1 GB Microdrive |
| 2560 x 1920 | S. FINE | TIFF | 14,438 KB | 1 | 72 |
| 2560 x 1920 | RAW | MRW | 9,704 KB | 1 | 107 |
| 2560 x 1920 | FINE | JPEG | ~1,900 KB | 7 | 520 |
| 2560 x 1920 | STANDARD | JPEG | ~900 KB | 14 | 994 |
| 2560 x 1920 | ECONOMY | JPEG | ~530 KB | 21 | 1,491 |
| 1600 x 1200 | FINE | JPEG | ~780 KB | 17 | 1,207 |
| 1280 x 960 | FINE | JPEG | ~500 KB | 27 | 1,917 |
| 640 x 480 | FINE | JPEG | ~190 KB | 76 | 5,396 |
| * | All file sizes are an average of three files. As is the case with JPEG it's difficult to predict the size of an image because it will vary a fair amount depending on the content of the image (especially the amount of detail captured). For example, take a photograph of a fairly empty wall and you'll get a small JPEG, take a photograph of a bush with a lot of detail and you'll get a larger image. File sizes here are closer to the later, the larger size of file you should expect. |
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:
What a big difference. The DiMAGE 7i managed to last over twice as long as its predecessor, Minolta has clearly taken the power usage issue very seriously and have resolved the problem. Battery life is now in line with the average for a camera which uses AA NiMH batteries.
From:
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/MinoltaDimage7i/
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