Timing & Performance

The P150 feels very, very fast in use, and the test results bear this out. Startup time, shot to shot times and shutter lag are all outstanding, whilst focusing is not only incredibly fast, but also pretty reliable (especially at the wide end of the zoom). Zooming is slow (as it always is with Sony cameras), but this is more to do with Sony's desire to make the zoom both super-smooth and silent than a performance issue. Overall you cannot help but be impressed with the performance of the camera in everyday snapping. Burst mode (continuous shooting) is less impressive; how much of a problem this presents depends on how often you are likely to want to shoot extended action sequences.

Timing Notes

All times calculated as an average of three operations. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 3072 x 2304 Fine JPEG image (approx. 2,600 KB per image). The media used for these tests was a 512MB Sony Memory Stick PRO.

Action	Details	Time, secs
Power: Off to Record		1.4
Power: Off to Play	Image displayed	2.3
Power: Record to Off	All activity ceased	1.3
Power: Play to Off	When buffer is empty, lens retracted	~0.0
Record Review	Image displayed	~0.9
Mode: Record to Play		~0.4
Mode: Play to Record	Lens already extended	~0.4
Mode: Play to Record	Lens not extended	1.3
Play: Magnify	To full magnification (5x)	3.0
Play: Image to Image	Time to display each saved image	~0.2
Play: Thumbnail view	3 x 3 thumbnails	~0.5

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 512MB Sony Memory Stick PRO card. Shutter speed was kept above 1/200 sec during these tests.

Continuous drive mode

The P150 has a single burst mode plus a 'multi burst' setting, which produces a single 1280x960 pixel image containing a grid of 16 consecutive exposures in around 0.5 seconds. The burst mode is nothing special - at best managing around 0.9 frames per second (7MP, standard JPEG). You can only take a limited number of shots in a single burst - 5 at the 7MP/fine setting, rising to 9 at 3MP/fine. Incidentally, if you drop the resolution all the way to 1MP you can shoot in burst mode indefinitely.

Not a terrible performance, but disappointing given the lightning fast responses the P150 has in just about every other department. Clearing the buffer is obviously a bottleneck, and though there are cameras that will make you wait longer, it's still a shame. Note that the time to clear the buffer will depend on the speed of card you are using; expect a longer delay with a standard Memory Stick, and a shorter one if using a fast SanDisk card (see *3 above).

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 512MB Sony Memory Stick PRO card.

Write times are fast for the big 7MP files, but strangely no quicker as you reduce file size, which would imply that the majority of the time is taken with processing, not the actual writing of the files to the card. Again, the speed of the card will have a direct impact on how long it takes to store each file; when we tried a faster SanDisk Ultra II card the time reduced to around 2 secs. Note also that the camera is ready to take another picture within around 0.9 seconds, as long as the buffer is not full.