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A710 slow recharge time???--Not quite!

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Hello Everybody,

I read all over the forum about a slow flash recharge time of the A710. Since I want to buy the A720 I really looked into this matter since it's an important one.

My father owns a A710 so we did a check to see how long is the recharge time of the flash. What I can tell you is that it is no where near the 8 second recharge time.

In a dark room it took it 2-2.5 seconds to recharge. We used a Duracell 2500 mAh nihm battery which was not fully charged and hasn't been charged for a while now.

This makes me wonder, how is it possible that everybody writes about a slow recharge time?
Maybe I'm doing something wrong?

Cheers
 
I'd say it depends on the circumstances. The A710 review here says:

http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/canona710is/page11.asp

Shot to Shot, Flash on (red eye reduction on / off): 2.7 / 3.8

"The DIGIC II processor helps lift the A710's performance out of the 'budget' category, and in use it feels fairly snappy, with our only real complaint being the slow flash recycle times (due no doubt to the use of two AA batteries instead of four) - at distances over more than a few feet, at the long end of the zoom range or when the batteries are not at full charge the shot to shot times with flash can stretch to as much as 8 seconds - sometimes more with very tired batteries - which is a pain in social situations."
 
You were probablly in a smallish room. Also, notice that A710 will go to ISO 400 in auto ISO + flash on. Fix the ISO to 80 and go to a room 4mx4m, and then you will see how weak and slow the flash actually is. Or better yet, set the camera to 'M', then adjust flash output to 'full', and then try to time flash recovery. With batteries that took more than say 20-30 pictures, the recovery time will be 10 seconds or so.
 
do max zoom, then take a picture of ur kitchen or something. u'll see around 10s recharge time.
 
I haven't tested this, but someone here stated that the flash doesn't actually charge when the LCD in on. So shutting off the auto preview should improve the recycle time, again, I took mental note of it, but haven't tested it.
 
I haven't done any tests but I've taken some flash pictures of the family around the house. Take my word for it, the flash recycle time is veeeeeery slow. It's like watching paint dry.

I don't know what the status of the LCD is on the 720 but on the 710 it's worthless for outdoor shooting. Fortunately, the OVF works fine.

Other than those two problems, the A710 is a very nice little camera.
 
Don Glenn said:
I haven't tested this, but someone here stated that the flash doesn't
actually charge when the LCD in on. So shutting off the auto preview
should improve the recycle time, again, I took mental note of it, but
haven't tested it.
Click to expand...
The flash does recharge during preview. The preview settings have no effect on flash charging time.
 
So all been said, there is for sure a slow recharge time, do you think the A720 will be any better?
 
As I have the A710 I was interested in doing the flash recharge test myself. I made 2 shots in both M and P with flash at "Full" and at full zoom, ISO400. I had my Sanyo 2700 at 62% charge (shown by CHKD battery display).

The flash recharge time was 5 sec. I started the countdown when the LCD display blacked out, and that's when the flash charging LED starts blinking. The display Preview is set to 4 sec. So if the flash recharging takes place right after taking the shot even during the Preview, then the total time would be 4+5=9 sec.

So the correct time depends when actually the recharge starts- right after the shot or rather when the LCD blacks out and the Flash charging LED starts blinking.

Every digital camera is saving the image to jpg file after the shot as well. So to compare the timings we must know how they are measured in the tests.
--
Marinjo; Latvia, Riga
A 710IS
 
Break said:
So all been said, there is for sure a slow recharge time, do you
think the A720 will be any better?
Click to expand...
Nope.........it still takes 2 AAs.

If features and IQ are important I'd consider the A650IS which also has 6X and IS but with 4 AAs and a swivel LCD, however that will make it slightly larger if size isn't much of an issue.
--
Regards,
Hank

 
Don´t forget the larger sensor on the 650, but why push it to 12 Mpixels, why?
7 or 8 would have been so fine!

About the flash on the 710, an useful tip I´ve learned from this forum is to set the auto review time to off, so when you shoot you keep pressing the trigger and reviewing your last shot while flash recharges. At least you can use the camera for something during that...
--
RogerioBF
 
RogerioBF said:
About the flash on the 710, an useful tip I´ve learned from this
forum is to set the auto review time to off, so when you shoot you
keep pressing the trigger and reviewing your last shot while flash
recharges. At least you can use the camera for something during
that...
Click to expand...
I set my review to "Hold". I like to review images and I like to use the zoom lever to zoom into the image. You can't do that while holding the shutter. Also you can't really hand the camera to someone to let them look at the shot when you're trying to keep the shutter depressed. If I don't like the image I can delete it with the + - button. A half-press of the shutter clears the screen. All the while the flash is charging.

The various review options have no effect on flash charging times.
 
Graystar wrote:
I like to review images and I like to use
Graystar said:
the zoom lever to zoom into the image. You can't do that while
holding the shutter. Also you can't really hand the camera to
someone to let them look at the shot when you're trying to keep the
shutter depressed.
Click to expand...
Atually you can. While holding down the shutter release, press func. Then you can stop holding down the shutter release, but the review image will stay on the LCD. When you want to go to record mode, just half-press the shutter release and there you go.
 
Bunbury said:
Atually you can. While holding down the shutter release, press func.
Then you can stop holding down the shutter release, but the review
image will stay on the LCD. When you want to go to record mode, just
half-press the shutter release and there you go.
Click to expand...
Yeah, I know. There are two problem I have with that method. First, it's more work than necessary for me, since, as I said, I like to review each pic. Second, it doesn't work with the timer if you need to prop the camera up on a post or car roof to take a pic of yourself with your friends. A sub-problem to that second one is that you can't review a pic taken by a helpful passerby without having to switch to playback mode.

I don't know...I've tried all the review settings and I find hold works out best for me. But that's me :)
 
Graystar said:
I set my review to "Hold". A half-press of the shutter clears the screen. All
the while the flash is charging.
The various review options have no effect on flash charging times.
Click to expand...
But the flash charging LED starts blinking only after the review. So that means that it is disinformative a little?

--
Marinjo; Latvia, Riga
A 710IS
 
The recharge time of a flash depends of battery used and of flash power. If you have 4xAA the recharge time is 1/2 of A710.

The energy needed for flash = Power x time; The Power capability is given by battery used.

Some cameras with 2xAA have fast recharge, but look at flash power: 2,5/3m; A510 have a god flash: 5m.

I prefer to have slow recharge and powerful flash than fast recharge and weak flash.

If you want fast recharge, set the flash to 2/3 or 1/3; Than you have the same flash like all other 2xAA cameras.
 
So actually if I set the flash power to 2/3 or 1/3 I can get a much faster recharge time? 3-4 seconds? I will use two Ansmann 2700 mAh batteries which are very good (so I read). Those two circumstances combined will give me a faster recharge in the A720?

Cheers
 
Marinjo said:
But the flash charging LED starts blinking only after the review. So
that means that it is disinformative a little?
Click to expand...
Yes, but I think it's better than having a distracting LED flashing in you eyes while you're trying to review an image.
 
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