Regarding the reviews at Imaging-Resource... and the "shot-to-shot" times of various digital cameras... what are measuring?

1. I click-off 1 picture... and I can't hit the button a second time for x secs?

2. I click-off 1 picture... I *CAN* hit the button a second time immediately... *WHILE* the first picture continues to "process" for x secs?

-- Bill Gostin (BillGostin@eMail.com), April 27, 2000

Answers

"Shot-to-shot time" means either of two things:

1) The minimum possible elapsed time between the beginning of one shot to the beginning of the next. This is greatly affected by the existence of a buffer, and the way it is used.

2) The average time which elapses from the beginning of one shot to the beginning of the next, averaged over a run of so many consecutive shots that the higher speed of the first few shots (which are buffered) don't materially affect the measurement.

Many reviews, without saying so, really mean the first definition, which is more useful to typical users. Personally, I only care about the second measure, which is generally either not given, or is inaccurate. But it's not useful in many situations.

-- Mark Grebner (Mark@Grebner.com), April 28, 2000.