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#1
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Who makes the fastest super-zoom camerea?
I was about to purchase the FZ20 till I saw the lag times/write speeds.
This is just unacceptable to me; I can deal with a slow start-up, but having to wait sereval seconds between shots is a deal breaker. Much of the photos I'll be done while mountain biking with friends... imagine getting a picture of one friend, but missing the next one because the dang camera wasn't ready :-( Anyway, it's a shame because the FZ20 looks to be a great deal in all other respects. So, who makes the fastest acting (shutter lag & write speeds) P & S or am I limiting myself to a DSLR? -- Slack |
#2
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Slack wrote:
I was about to purchase the FZ20 till I saw the lag times/write speeds. This is just unacceptable to me; I can deal with a slow start-up, but having to wait sereval seconds between shots is a deal breaker. Much of the photos I'll be done while mountain biking with friends... imagine getting a picture of one friend, but missing the next one because the dang camera wasn't ready :-( Anyway, it's a shame because the FZ20 looks to be a great deal in all other respects. So, who makes the fastest acting (shutter lag & write speeds) P & S or am I limiting myself to a DSLR? I don't know that "seeing" lag times and write speed is all that useful in gauging the real-world performance of a digital camera. In 2003 I took a series of a couple dozen photos of racing cars as they entered the track, one after another. According to the EXIF data they were as little as two seconds apart, averaging something right under three seconds. I don't remember having to wait for the camera to prepare itself. The buffer seemed to be emptying itself fast enough to accept another image by the time I was ready to give it one. That was "old" technology: Nikon Coolpix 5700. I reckon you could find lag time and write speed data on that one. Whatever it is, one picture every three seconds or so is about all you're going to be ready to take, your own self. Have a look at the difference in bulk between a CoolPix 8700 (close to the same size as a CP5700) and a 20D Canon. Lotsa weight difference, too. Comparison of the 20D with 24-70 (38.4-112 equiv) and CP8700 with 35-280mm equivalent zoom range: http://www.fototime.com/C898491FBD2A2CB/orig.jpg front http://www.fototime.com/A71907824F117BA/orig.jpg top http://www.fototime.com/4DED1BD0306F225/orig.jpg rear http://www.fototime.com/CBF8735023E6ED7/orig.jpg Left -- Frank ess |
#3
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On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 16:27:16 -0800, Frank ess wrote:
Slack wrote: I was about to purchase the FZ20 till I saw the lag times/write speeds. This is just unacceptable to me; I can deal with a slow start-up, but having to wait sereval seconds between shots is a deal breaker. Much of the photos I'll be done while mountain biking with friends... imagine getting a picture of one friend, but missing the next one because the dang camera wasn't ready :-( Anyway, it's a shame because the FZ20 looks to be a great deal in all other respects. So, who makes the fastest acting (shutter lag & write speeds) P & S or am I limiting myself to a DSLR? I don't know that "seeing" lag times and write speed is all that useful in gauging the real-world performance of a digital camera. In 2003 I took a series of a couple dozen photos of racing cars as they entered the track, one after another. According to the EXIF data they were as little as two seconds apart, averaging something right under three seconds. I don't remember having to wait for the camera to prepare itself. The buffer seemed to be emptying itself fast enough to accept another image by the time I was ready to give it one. That was "old" technology: Nikon Coolpix 5700. I reckon you could find lag time and write speed data on that one. Whatever it is, one picture every three seconds or so is about all you're going to be ready to take, your own self. Have a look at the difference in bulk between a CoolPix 8700 (close to the same size as a CP5700) and a 20D Canon. Lotsa weight difference, too. Comparison of the 20D with 24-70 (38.4-112 equiv) and CP8700 with 35-280mm equivalent zoom range: http://www.fototime.com/C898491FBD2A2CB/orig.jpg front http://www.fototime.com/A71907824F117BA/orig.jpg top http://www.fototime.com/4DED1BD0306F225/orig.jpg rear http://www.fototime.com/CBF8735023E6ED7/orig.jpg Left Hmmm... maybe I'm being unrealistic with my expectations. Thanks for the comparison; the 20d looks like a monster, albeit a beautiful monster. I haven't seen the 20d in person, but I have played with Nikon's d70. I really liked the feel and it fit my hand like a glove. -- Slack |
#4
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On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 14:51:54 -0800, Slack
wrote: I was about to purchase the FZ20 till I saw the lag times/write speeds. This is just unacceptable to me; I can deal with a slow start-up, but having to wait sereval seconds between shots is a deal breaker. Much of the photos I'll be done while mountain biking with friends... imagine getting a picture of one friend, but missing the next one because the dang camera wasn't ready :-( Anyway, it's a shame because the FZ20 looks to be a great deal in all other respects. So, who makes the fastest acting (shutter lag & write speeds) P & S or am I limiting myself to a DSLR? Stick one of the Ultra speed SD cards in the FZ20 and lag time shouldn't be an issue. Burst mode set to High Speed can capture jpg images at 3 per second with a max of 4 or 7 images depending on the image quality selected. At Low Speed it can capture images at 2 per second with a max of 4 or 7 images depending on the image quality selected. When Burst Mode is set to Infinity it can capture images at roughly two per second up to the capacity limit of the memory card. Using a 512 meg SD card capturing JPG's in Fine mode, the capacity of the card will be about 205 images. You can also combine Panning Mode with Burst mode if you are standing beside a bike trail or road and want to take pictures of friends as they approach and bike past you. |
#5
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On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 18:43:41 -0800, wrote:
Stick one of the Ultra speed SD cards in the FZ20 and lag time shouldn't be an issue. Burst mode set to High Speed can capture jpg images at 3 per second with a max of 4 or 7 images depending on the image quality selected. At Low Speed it can capture images at 2 per second with a max of 4 or 7 images depending on the image quality selected. When Burst Mode is set to Infinity it can capture images at roughly two per second up to the capacity limit of the memory card. Using a 512 meg SD card capturing JPG's in Fine mode, the capacity of the card will be about 205 images. You can also combine Panning Mode with Burst mode if you are standing beside a bike trail or road and want to take pictures of friends as they approach and bike past you. Thank you very much. -- Slack |
#6
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"Slack" wrote in message news:1110754100.593cb9c7cd5232290643072c87def614@t eranews... I was about to purchase the FZ20 till I saw the lag times/write speeds. This is just unacceptable to me; I can deal with a slow start-up, but having to wait sereval seconds between shots is a deal breaker. Much of the photos I'll be done while mountain biking with friends... imagine getting a picture of one friend, but missing the next one because the dang camera wasn't ready :-( Anyway, it's a shame because the FZ20 looks to be a great deal in all other respects. I recently went down to the local airport to shoot jets landing. I captured a 737 wizzing past at about 130 knotts. In burts mode I got about 12 frames with good focus. I use the FZ20 with the Sandisk UltraII cards and never have to wait for the camera to write before I am ready to take another shot. |
#7
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On Sun, 13 Mar 2005 19:43:19 -0800, Ken wrote:
"Slack" wrote in message news:1110754100.593cb9c7cd5232290643072c87def614@t eranews... I was about to purchase the FZ20 till I saw the lag times/write speeds. This is just unacceptable to me; I can deal with a slow start-up, but having to wait sereval seconds between shots is a deal breaker. Much of the photos I'll be done while mountain biking with friends... imagine getting a picture of one friend, but missing the next one because the dang camera wasn't ready :-( Anyway, it's a shame because the FZ20 looks to be a great deal in all other respects. I recently went down to the local airport to shoot jets landing. I captured a 737 wizzing past at about 130 knotts. In burts mode I got about 12 frames with good focus. I use the FZ20 with the Sandisk UltraII cards and never have to wait for the camera to write before I am ready to take another shot. Cool, that pretty much settles it for me. I bought a FZ15 for one of the managers at my work... I didn't get to play with it much, but I really liked it. -- Slack |
#8
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Strange comment - see
http://www.dpreview.com/reviews/panasonicfz20/page4.asp and the extract he "With write times averaging around 2.5 seconds for a 14MB TIFF the FZ20 is very fast indeed for a 'compact' digital camera - approximately 5700KB/s, and JPEGs - whatever the size or quality setting - are saved in a second or under (most of this time will be taken up by the processing). Very impressive stuff, and proof that the Venus II engine is more than mere hype." |
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