Timings & File Sizes
The 6800Z feels like a pretty quick camera, it's responsive to your control inputs and doesn't ever really leave you waiting around for more than a second or so, auto focus was average for this "grade" of digital camera, certainly no faster than a second and sometimes a little longer for macro / low light shots (notably the AF system didn't work at all well in very low light). Thanks to good internal buffering if you disable in review you can fire off the shots almost one after another (up to five, when the buffer is full). Unfortunately while the camera is writing images away only the shutter release and zoom controls are enabled, you can't enter the menu and you can't change focus (macro/normal) or flash settings.
In the timings below we refer to image sizes by their pixel count, Fujifilm refer to them with their megapixel number, here's a cross reference: 6M = 2832 x 2132, 3M = 2048 x 1536, 1M = 1280 x 960, VGA = 640 x 480.
Timing Notes: All times calculated as an average of three operations. Unless otherwise stated all timings were made on a 2832 x 2132 (6M) Fine JPEG image (approx. 2.1 MB per image).
| Action | Details | Time
taken (seconds) |
Notes |
| Power: Off to Record | 3.8 | Lens takes 1.1 secs | |
| Power: Off to Play | 2.5 | Image displayed | |
| Power: Record to Off | 2.5 | Lens retract | |
| Power: Play to Off | 1.2 | ||
 |
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| Mode: Record to Play | 1.9 | Image displayed | |
| Mode: Play to Record | 1.7 | ||
|
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| Play: Magnify | <0.5 | ||
| Rec: Thumbnail view | 3 x 3 thumbnails | 0.7 | |
|
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| Auto Focus LAG | 1.0 - 1.2 | Average - Fast *1 | |
| Shutter Release LAG | 0.1 | Fast | |
| Total LAG | 1.5 | Average - Fast | |
| Off to Shot Taken | 4.5 | Average - Fast | |
|
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| Shot to Shot | 2832 x 2132, Fine, Review off | 1.5 | Very Fast |
| Shot to Shot | 2058 x 1536, Fine, Review off | 1.5 | Very Fast |
| *1 | Generally autofocus times are around 1 second, this tends be longer for macro focus or in low light situations (where the AF more than likely hunt and then give up) |
Continuous drive mode
The 6800Z's implements the same unique continuous mode we saw on the 4900Z, after taking your sequence of five (or less) shots they are displayed on screen in a row, at this stage you can look at each one in more detail and choose whether to save the entire sequence or not (given the choice it would also have been nice to be able to pick out just one image to save). My biggest complaint about the 6800Z's continuous mode was the lack of creative controls, you can't change ISO sensitivity and you can't change exposure compensation. Indeed the only controls available are self-timer, manual focus and exposure bracketing.
Because of this unique burst method our normal timing tests don't revealing anything particularly interesting, the camera is using a before processing buffer which means that the RAW image data is buffered before it's converted into one of the image size / JPEG qualities and written to the storage card. The advantage of the Fujifilm method is that you can discard your burst of shots and get on with the next without being forced to wait, however if you do decide to store them we've timed the "sequence flush time" below:
| Image Type | Frames per sec |
Max no. of frames |
Sequence flush |
| 2832 x 2132 Fine | 3.3 fps | 5 | 31 secs |
| 2832 x 2132 Normal | 3.3 fps | 5 | 21 secs |
| 2048 x 1536 Fine | 3.3 fps | 5 | 24 secs |
| 1280 x 960 Fine | 3.3 fps | 5 | 16 secs |
| 640 x 480 Normal | 3.3 fps | 5 | 12 secs |
File Flush / Display Timing
Timings shown below are the time taken for the camera to process and "flush" the image out to the SmartMedia card, the timer was started as soon as the shutter release was pressed (shutter noise was heard) and stopped when activity indicator LED beside the viewfinder stopped flashing alternate green / red. This means the timings also include the cameras processing time and as such are more representative of the actual time to "complete the task".
The "Time to store" only limits access to certain functions such as the camera menu options while it's busy writing away the images it doesn't affect your ability to take the next shot. Timings were taken with Image Display (review) set to "Off".
| Store file of type | Time
to store (seconds) |
Time
to display (seconds) |
Approx. File size * |
Approx.
images on a 16 MB SmartMedia card |
| 2832 x 2132 Fine | 7.1 | 1.9 | ~2400 KB | 6 |
| 2832 x 2132 Normal | 5.5 | 1.3 | ~1200 KB | 13 |
| 2832 x 2132 Basic | 4.0 | 1.0 | ~460 KB | 33 |
| 2048 x 1536 Fine | 7.0 | 1.1 | ~1300 KB | 12 |
| 2048 x 1536 Normal | 5.5 | 0.8 | ~590 KB | 26 |
| 1280 x 960 Fine | 4.9 | 0.6 | ~620 KB | 25 |
| 1280 x 960 Normal | 4.4 | <0.5 | ~320 KB | 49 |
| 640 x 480 Normal | 4.4 | <0.5 | ~90 KB | 163 |
* With JPEG it's difficult to predict the exact size of an image file because it will vary a fair amount depending on the content of the image (especially the amount of detail captured). For example, take a photograph of a fairly empty wall and you'll get a small JPEG, take a photograph of a bush with a lot of detail and you'll get a larger image. File sizes here are closer to the later, the larger size of file you should expect.
Battery life
The 6800Z did better than I'd expected, thanks to an agressive LCD power-saving timer which turns off the LCD screen after just 60 seconds of inactivity the 6800Z's battery life was surprisingly good, lasting for well over an hour and a half and about 60 shots. Having said that the batteries are relatively small and easy to pocket, I'd recommend getting a spare.
