Speed
This point is never stressed in a product’s characteristics and still for us it’s essential. In the beginning, you may be quite forgiving as we are with our latest purchases. The problem of speed comes with long term use, when you start to get tired of missing pictures because of the time to switch on or too long to wait between pictures.
Initially, there were two groups; those under 1.6 seconds to switch on and those above 2 seconds. The Olympus FE-5500 / D-630 was very problematic. We don’t know if it was slow from the beginning or if it’s because the objective spins while going out. This movement looks great but is completely useless.
The time between two pictures is how long the wait is to take a picture after a previous one, except in burst mode or high definition JPEG. The first picture is recorded in memory. None of the compacts have the buffer memory available in reflex cameras, which is quite unfortunate. Unless you activate the burst mode, you can’t quickly take one picture after another. It is best to have a small amount of time between pictures.
Here again, there are those under 2 seconds and those above. Results are even less homogenous than in the previous test, but there is an overall classification. First, there is Fujifilm followed by Canon and Sony. The last ones, as before, are the two Acers and the Olympus. This trio is completed this time by the Casio S500 and the Konica Minolta X60. The S500 seems to be fast, because you can focus one second after the first picture but it isn’t possible to start the second picture as long as the green LED flashes. The user has to wait 4 seconds at best and sometimes even more!
Autofocus is one area where cameras have made some serious progress. This improvement followed shutter release latency. Still problematic two years ago, this latency is now very short. It’s not equal to zero, but is also too short to be measured accurately. Some cameras still have problems here but none of the ones tested here.
Focus speed has improved considerably and numerous compact cameras are now under 1 second. Of course this time must be reduced as much as possible. Adding the time to turn on to this and you get an idea of how much you have to wait before taking your first picture. It ranges from 1.6 s (well done FujiFilm Z1!) to 4,5 seconds for the Olympus FE-5500 / D-630. For one picture taken with the Olympus, three are taken with the Fuji.
This last test is focusing in a poorly lighted scene (by candlelight). We only give this as additional information and the result is not included in the speed calculation grade.
Only one camera is really fast, the Fujifilm Z1. Two other cameras provide honourable results, the Canon Ixus 50 /SD400 and Sony T7. The others are slow to very slow (the Olympus FE-5500 D-630).
