The Hunt for the Best Ultra-Compact Camera

The Timing Tests

* NOTE: For all of our time tests, the cameras were reset to their factory default settings and set to record using the highest resolution and quality setting. The cameras were set to Auto mode without flash (unless otherwise noted). We also disabled all sounds. A PNY 512MB SD card and a SanDisk Ultra II 512MB CompactFlash card were used.

For both Startup Time and Shutter Lag time, the menu setting "Quick Shot" and "PF" are disabled on the Canon and Casio (respectively) to force both cameras to focus. If turned on, the cameras would take pictures without performing a full auto-focus when the shutter button is pressed.

Before reading our results, please refer to our Testing Procedures page.

Startup Time

The startup time is recorded from the moment the power button is pushed to the moment the shutter sounds. The cameras were set to startup in Auto mode. All startup sounds and images were disabled if possible.

	Startup time (seconds)
Canon S410	3.48
Casio Z40	2.15
Pentax S40	3.63

The Casio Z40 is clearly the winner here at a remarkable 2.15 seconds. The Pentax S40 showed the worst startup performance at 3.63 seconds. As we mentioned earlier in the article, the S40 takes longer to startup when the flash is enabled. The only way around this is to set the camera to remember the flash setting and to disable it before turning it off. Otherwise, the average startup time is 4.94 seconds. The Canon S410 showed a fairly average startup time of 3.48 sec.

Shutter Lag

To record shutter lag, we perform two tests. For the first test, we pre-focus the lens and measure the amount of time it takes the camera to take a picture after the shutter button is pressed. The second test measures the time it takes for the camera to take a picture after we press the shutter button without pre-focusing. Both tests are performed with the camera set at its full wide zoom position. Each test is performed 3 times and the results are averaged. For more information regarding our testing procedures, please refer to our Testing Procedures page.

	With Pre-focus (seconds)	Without Pre-focus (seconds)
Canon S410	0.09	0.93
Casio Z40	0.09	0.52
Pentax S40	0.29	0.78

When we pre-focused the cameras, the Canon S410 and the Casio Z40 had the same impressive lag time of 0.09 sec., while the Pentax S40 was quite slow at 0.29 sec. When we included focus time in the test, the Canon S410 dropped to the bottom of the list at 0.93 sec. The Pentax S40 was the second slowest at 0.78 sec. and the Casio Z40 clocked in at an impressive 0.52 sec. Although the Canon and Casio cameras have optional "Quickshot" and "PF" modes that cause the cameras to shoot faster, we disabled them for the test because they do not perform a full auto-focus.

Overall, the Casio Z40 showed the best shutter lag times. It is a tough call between the Canon S410 and the Pentax S40. If you are someone who is constantly pre-focusing before shooting, the Canon might have the second best time. However, if you are someone who never pre-focuses, you might think that the Pentax S40 deserves second place.

Write Times

We recorded 5 different write times with a PNY 512MB SD card and a SanDisk Ultra II 512MB CompactFlash card.

Single Shot - The time it takes for a single picture to be completely written to the flash card (the time the "activity light" is on).
Shot To Shot (STS) - The time until the second shot is able to be taken after the first (shutter to shutter).
Shot To Shot w/Flash - The time it takes for the camera to take two pictures with the flash starting from the moment the first flash is fired to the moment the second is fired.
Shot To Shot w/Buffer Full (to next frame) - The time between taking the last shot of a burst to the moment the shutter sounds again.
Clear Buffer for Next Burst - The time between taking the last shot of a burst to the moment the first frame of the next burst is taken.

We set the cameras to their highest resolution and quality setting and ran 4 tests. We performed each test three times and averaged the results. Below are the resolution, quality setting, and average file size used for the tests:

Canon S410 - 2272x1704, Superfine, Avg. file size = 2.37 MB
Casio Z40 - 2304x1728, Fine, Avg. file size = 1.82
Pentax S40 - 2304x1728, Superior, Avg. file size = 2.48 MB

	Single Shot	Shot To Shot	Shot To Shot w/Flash	Shot to Shot (in "Burst" mode)	Clear Buffer for Next Burst
Canon S410	2.33	1.84	4.52	1.07	7.27
Casio Z40	1.14	1.84	9.04	-	-
Pentax S40	1.26	3.75	12.21	1.58	-

Both the Canon S410 and the Casio Z40 have a shot-to-shot time of 1.84 sec. The difference is that the Casio is able to shoot at this speed forever while the Canon slows down after 4 shots. The Pentax S40 had a relatively slow shot - to-shot time of 3.75 sec. When it comes to Shot to Shot w/Flash time, the Canon takes the lead at 4.52 sec. The Casio has a slow time of 9.04 seconds followed by the super-slow Pentax at 12.21 seconds.

In High-Speed Continuous mode, the Canon S410 fills its buffer after taking 3 frames at 2.8 fps. In Standard Continuous mode, it can take 4 frames at 1.79 fps. It takes the S410 7.27 seconds to completely clear its buffer. In Continuous mode, the Pentax S40 is able to take pictures at 0.6 fps until the memory card is full. Although the Casio Z40 does not have a continuous drive option, we were impressed that its Shot to Shot time came close to the Pentax's continuous speed.