1. Introduction 2. Specifications 3. Body & Design 4. Body & Design 5. Operation & Controls 6. Operation & Controls 7. Displays 8. Displays 9. Menus 10. Menus 11. Timings & Sizes 12. Features 13. Photographic tests 14. Photographic tests 15. Photographic tests 16. Compared to... 17. Compared to... 18. Compared to... 19. Compared to... 20. Compared to... 21. Conclusion 22. Samples

Timings & File Sizes

As with the F707 the F717 proved to be a very fast camera to use. Startup times are much faster than almost every other digital camera, and certainly any other five megapixel. Using a lower capacity 32 MB Memory Stick reduced startup times to an amazing 1.7 seconds. Auto Focus was very fast at wide angle and only a little slower at telephoto (in good light). Shutter release lag is as we would expect and shot to shot times are very good indeed.

Timing Notes: All times calculated as an average of three operations. A 128 MB Sony Memory Stick card was used for any timings which included file saving. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 2560 x 1920 FINE JPEG image (approx. 2.0 MB per image).

Action	Details	Time, seconds (128 MB MS)	Time, seconds (32 MB MS)
Power: Off to Record		2.6	1.7
Power: Off to Play	Image loading *1	2.6	2.8
Power: Record to Off		1.2	1.2
Power: Play to Off		<0.5	<0.5
Mode: Record to Play	Image loading *1	0.8	0.6
Mode: Play to Record		<0.5	<0.5
Play: Thumbnail view 3 x 3		0.8	0.8

Action	Details	Time, seconds (average)
Auto Focus LAG	Wide angle (38 mm equiv.) *2	0.6
Auto Focus LAG	Telephoto (190 mm equiv.) *2	1.1
Shutter Release LAG	LCD monitor, pre-focused (shutter rel. half-pressed)	0.1
Shutter Release LAG	EVF, pre-focused (shutter rel. half-pressed)	0.1
Shutter Release LAG	LCD monitor, full press, wide angle, AF	0.6
Off to Shot Taken	128 MB Memory Stick	2.9
Off to Shot Taken	32 MB Memory Stick	2.1
Shot to Shot	Wide angle, AF	1.6

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.

Shutter Release LAG is the amount of time it takes to take the shot from the moment you fully depress the shutter release button, measured both as a time including auto focus and a time assuming you have already pre-focused by holding a half-press of the shutter release.

Low Light Focus

Using our new low light focusing tests we measure the minimum amount of light under which the camera can still focus. The focus target is our lens distortion test chart (shown here on the right), camera is positioned exactly 2 m (6.6 ft) away. Light levels are gradually dropped until the camera can no longer focus.

This test target is the optimum type of subject for most "contrast detect" AF systems (as it has a vertical line at its center), if the subject were less easy to focus upon then you would need more light.

• Sony DSC-F717 best low light focus: 0 EV (darkness)

Nothing has changed here so we get the exact same results as the DSC-F707. The F717 was easily capable of focusing in complete darkness thanks to its 'Hologram AF' (laser pattern) focusing mechanism. The laser paints a sharp pattern on to the subject, this pattern is sharp and bright enough for the contrast detection auto focus system to adjust the focus accurately.

The maximum focus distance (the range of the laser) in darkness, this was approximately 5.5 m (18 ft) - this is focusing on the optimum subject, a flat white surface.

Hologram AF Caveats

(This from the DSC-F707 review, all applies to the DSC-F717). In use it became clear that the best way to use Hologram AF for small subjects at close distances or medium subjects at further distances was to 'aim' at something larger nearby which would be covered by more of the laser pattern. In our own tests aiming the camera at a subjects face approximately 3 m away with a wall about 1 m behind the Hologram AF system would occasionally miss and focus on the wall behind (because more of the pattern hit the wall). However aiming initially at the subjects torso (which is can covered by more of the pattern) for the half-press then re-framing before a full press worked every time.

Later tests revealed the 'spread' of the pattern to be approximately 12.6°, the diagram below shows the size of the laser pattern at different distances from the lens (1, 3 and 5 m):

Burst 3 Mode

The F717's dedicated continuous shooting mode is called 'Burst 3', in this mode one press of the shutter release records three frames over a 0.8 second period (thus 2.5 fps). Depending on the selected image size / quality you will have to wait for these images to be written away to the Memory Stick before you can shoot the next burst.

File Flush / Display Timing

There are three timings below, I'll describe each in turn:

• Time to process - this is the amount of time after pressing the shutter release button before the camera returns control to you, the image may still be being written away to the Memory Stick but you can begin to take the next shot.
   
• Time to flush - this is the amount of time it takes the camera to process and flush; complete writing the image to the Memory Stick. It is taken from the moment the shutter release is pressed to the moment the red light beside the Memory Stick slot (inside the compartment) goes out. This timing includes the time to process.
   
• Time to display - this is the amount of time it takes the camera to display the image, as with most digital cameras the F717 first displays a rough version of the image (a thumbnail from the file header) and then loads the full resolution image, you can't manipulate the image until it is fully loaded (magnify etc.) however you can interrupt this loading process skip to the next image.

Just like the F707 the F717 has just enough buffer space to hold a maximum of three images at a time, so it's possible to snap two shots and still have space for one more. The table below includes timings for the F707 (showin in brackets). Timings for which the F717 is faster are highlighted in green, slower in red.

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:

As we expected the F717 performs pretty much identically to the F707, although Sony tell us it should last even longer. I think that four hours in our test is very very good indeed.

1. Introduction 2. Specifications 3. Body & Design 4. Body & Design 5. Operation & Controls 6. Operation & Controls 7. Displays 8. Displays 9. Menus 10. Menus 11. Timings & Sizes 12. Features 13. Photographic tests 14. Photographic tests 15. Photographic tests 16. Compared to... 17. Compared to... 18. Compared to... 19. Compared to... 20. Compared to... 21. Conclusion 22. Samples