HS10 - Can Write Time be Fixed via Firmware Update?

NO. They would have optimised it before it went on sale, you can bet it was even slower at one point.

Paul.

el_brio, could you go and hang yourself, instead of babbling nonsenses about the things you have admitted yourself you don't have a clue about? I am a software engineer too, and the sheer amount of nonsenses you posted in that thread already is beyond belief.

There are many reasons why "fuji engineers", that seems to have at least half-gods status in your eyes might mess up the transfer rates. Being rushed to deliver a working product out of the door being a no.1.

But yes you are accidentally right on one thing - we don't know for sure if it can be done in background, or speeded up (likely, it could). Because there might be physical restrictions to the buffer - like it not being able to be read-write simultaneously, for example. Unlikely, but we just don't know this.

And I assure you, engineers are only humans (even Fuji ones), and they feck up things on a regular basis, especially when given conflicted goals, too short deadlines, and cut to the bones price requirements.

And I assure you another thing too - judging by the amount and the types of inconsistencies/bugs/annoyances in that firmware, it could not be further away from "polished" and "squeezed the very last bit of performance" out of the hardware. That's just the hunch and experience in a software development, but it tells me this firmware is half backed and pushed out of the door as soon as possible. You can see the rough corners and lack of the proper quality assurance everywhere.

Thanks Bernie. Not a software Engineer, but a ME.

Well put Bushi. One thing that could have prevented Fuji's engineers from taking this to a higher degree of write speed is budget and time. In many projects that I have been involved in, the bean counters and lawyers always are wanting the project completed yesterday with a lot less money. This attitude drives engineers, in any field, crazy.

Wow. Since it has been suggested that I hang myself, I think it's time to leave this thread to the the HS10 cult. Enjoy your cameras guys. Even though they are poor performers right now, they will surely kick-ass once that new firmware comes out. I am starting to reconsider the decision to return mine. I could have lived with the USB port that pushed inside the camera after connecting it to the computer about 5 times. Oh well. Enjoy your firmware update guys. I'm sure I will be eating my words before too long.

Generally I would say no it couldn't as write speeds are normally hardware based. However, I noticed something yesterday which is causing me to be unsure about this. In JPG only, I found write times were faster shooting in AUTO mode versus P mode. I don't know if I'm imagining things, but I find a noticeable difference.

Does anyone else notice this?

If this is the case, there must be some software issue causing the delay in P mode and possibly similar issues in other modes.

Regards,
Brian

ME???? Maybe you can fix el brio's usb connector????

Wow, what a discussion! Thanks for clearing it up. This issue is obviously complicated and knowing how corporations are bottom-line driven, I am betting there will be no major fixes to this model that would require a significant investment by the company. That's my guess, with the world economy as it is.

The issue now is about being realistic, whether I want to buy a camera with all the 'buyer's beware' warnings attached. I have to decide now whether I want to wait to see what Canon, Lumix, Sony, Casio, and others have to say about the +20X zoom, or do I want to be out taking pictures next week? If I do go for it, I'll have plenty of time to contemplate my choice, as I'm waiting for the camera to finishing writing in RAW.

I again played with an HS10 today. I didnt find the write times super slow in daylight auto mode on the cam. But I havent tried all settings. But I dont take pics in raw (even though my cameras have it) so it wouldnt be an issue for me. Anything to cut down on PP

I wondered however, whether perhaps the issue with the lens focusing is actually a problem with not being able to image stabilise the long zoom enough to get sharp photos.

When I tried , although the pics werent pin sharp, they were occasionally focused at the long zoom end. However, my main problem was trying to stop handshake, which was very amplified, on the full extended zoom. That to me was more the issue with my out of focus shots

In fact I wish I had used a tripod to see if the amount of pics in focus went up dramatically at the 480mm end. If it was just that , then possibly the lens problem is really a lack of sufficient Image stabilisation, rather than a total inability to focus, consistently with or without tripod.

Also can that be fixed? Night time must be a real problem.

Apart from that the camera is quite nice to hold, it has a great LCD , with v good resolution, which tilts up. Photo Colours are quite good at wide angle. Video was ok in daylight indoors, but I anticipate problems in v low light because of only smaller apertures at telephoto end. Not a buy for me without the IS resolved . Panorama is nice but had an issue with Blown highlights on the window side. If I get a chance i'll upload some pics I took on . Not a buy for me, but its a nice cam & it would be great if it was improved. Its not tremendously heavy, bearing in mind the lens length. I can understand why lots of people have fun with it.

elena
http://www.flickr.com/photos/40207062@N08/

No - cheap and slow processor can't be fixed with firmware
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1/25sec. and thats all...anything can fit in it

Yanko Kitanov
Янко Китанов

Here are some might shots I took Note the low shutter speeds but still in focus.

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1012&message=35076782

how long do yo wait between two shots? 1 hour? 2 hour? 3?

Mr.Kimble? The Fugitive?

(Sorry if this is resurrecting a dead post, but it took 4 days to get my registration password)

Write time cant be improved significantly because its based on the bandwidth of the storage bus and the bus frequency. You can bet that these have already been pushed to the limit in the camera. Any increase would likley reduce the life of the camera.

There is a way in which the situation can be improved - progressive buffering. Even if the camera lacks the processing power to buffer and run the focusing and evf systems at the same time, then it could use a switching system:

Lets say a shot has been taken, and is in the buffer being processed and written to card. The user half presses the shutter button - This immediately cancels all buffer operations until the shutter button is released or a picture is taken. The second picture is then added to the buffer and buffer operations resume on the first picture. This can continue untill the buffer is too full to accept new pictures.

Finally, an option could be added called 'buffer hold' in which the user is in control of when shots in the buffer are processed and transfered. This would be useful if you want to take 3 bursts of 2 shots, with a small gap in between for example.

All this is possible, but its very doubtful it'll be implemented now, as mentioned elsewhere on the forum, the new firmware is out.

Fuji haven't really got the most out of this camera in terms of speed (the sensor is capable of 50 frames per second at full resolution: http://www.sony.net/Products/SC-HP/cx_news/vol59/pdf/imx050cqk.pdf ) and they dont really have a reason to as its already unique.