Nikon Coolpix 885 seems slow: Memory Type or Batteries?

BHawk wrote:
> I have a Nikon Coolpix 885. It seems to me that the camera has slowed
> down over the years.
>
> 1. When I press the button to take a picture there seems to be a
> delay before the camera actually takes the picture.
> 2. The flash re-cycle time also seems to take longer.
> I wondering if my batteries are old and slow or whether could just buy
> a faster CF memory chip.

Neither shutter lag nor the flash has anything to do with the speed of the
memory card.

But at least recharging the flash does depend on the condition of the
batterie. However, those rechargable batteries usually announce their
impending death by not holding the charge, e.g. you have to recharge more
and more often. I am not aware that the voltage or the amperage would drop
noticibly as they become older.

Are you sure it is not just your perception that the camera has slowed down?

> I was reading my owners manual and it says my camera is compatible
> with CompactFlashT (CF) Card Type I. It really doesn't mention
> speed. 4X, 8X, 16X etc. Does anyone know how fast a chip I can put
> in this camera?

As fast as you like. But the camera won't write the photos any faster than
the maximal camera write speed.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon Coolpix 885 seems slow: Memory Type or Batteries? 

On 15 Apr 2007 12:59:51 -0700, BHawk wrote:

>> As fast as you like. But the camera won't write the photos any faster than
>> the maximal camera write speed.
>
> BHawk wrote: ditto to above I think... Yea, I read about that... the
> 4X, 8X, 16X seems to only have to do with the transfer rate from the
> chip to the PC.... transfer speed.

No, it can effect both transfer rates if the card speed is low
enough. Those 4x, 8x and 16x speeds are quite slow, but the CP885
is *very* slow writing to cards. Those are speeds you used to see
in cards about 6 years ago. Now most cards are probably close to
40x, with some I've seen as fast as 150x. My first camera memory
card was a "high speed" 48MB 4x CF card and sold for about $80.
These days you can get a card 20 times larger and much faster for
about $10. According to DPReview the CP885 took almost a minute to
write just a bit less than 10MB of images to its card. Unless I've
made a calculation mistake that would require about a 12x card to
allow the camera to write without slowing down. So your CP880 might
be held back if you're using a 4x or 8x card.

How many memory cards do you own? If they're a mix of speeds, you
may be noticing a slowdown over the years if you started with a
small 8x or 16x card and later bought a larger 4x card.
Alternatively, if you originally had the CP885 take 1024x768 Basic
jpg files and later started saving 2048x1536 Fine jpg files you
might also have noticed a slowdown. To see how fast the camera can
write images to flash cards you should try to buy or borrow a card
that's at least 16x, which shouldn't be too difficult as cards that
slow are hard to find these days.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon Coolpix 885 seems slow: Memory Type or Batteries? 

BHawk wrote:

>> Neither shutter lag nor the flash has anything to do with the speed of the
>> memory card.
>
> BHawk wrote: Yea, I read about that... the 4X, 8X, 16X seems to only
> have to do with the transfer rate from the chip to the PC.... transfer
> speed.

Also the transfer from the card to the camera. In either case the speed
will be as fast as the slowest component. It will not affect the
shutter lag, the transfer occurs after the photo is taken.
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon Coolpix 885 seems slow: Memory Type or Batteries? 

ASAAR;42386 Wrote:
> On 15 Apr 2007 12:59:51 -0700, BHawk wrote:
>
> >> As fast as you like. But the camera won't write the photos any
> faster than
> >> the maximal camera write speed.
> >
> > BHawk wrote: ditto to above I think... Yea, I read about that... the
> > 4X, 8X, 16X seems to only have to do with the transfer rate from the
> > chip to the PC.... transfer speed.
>
> No, it can effect both transfer rates if the card speed is low
> enough. Those 4x, 8x and 16x speeds are quite slow, but the CP885
> is *very* slow writing to cards. Those are speeds you used to see
> in cards about 6 years ago. Now most cards are probably close to
> 40x, with some I've seen as fast as 150x. My first camera memory
> card was a "high speed" 48MB 4x CF card and sold for about $80.
> These days you can get a card 20 times larger and much faster for
> about $10. According to DPReview the CP885 took almost a minute to
> write just a bit less than 10MB of images to its card. Unless I've
> made a calculation mistake that would require about a 12x card to
> allow the camera to write without slowing down. So your CP880 might
> be held back if you're using a 4x or 8x card.
>
> How many memory cards do you own? If they're a mix of speeds, you
> may be noticing a slowdown over the years if you started with a
> small 8x or 16x card and later bought a larger 4x card.
> Alternatively, if you originally had the CP885 take 1024x768 Basic
> jpg files and later started saving 2048x1536 Fine jpg files you
> might also have noticed a slowdown. To see how fast the camera can
> write images to flash cards you should try to buy or borrow a card
> that's at least 16x, which shouldn't be too difficult as cards that
> slow are hard to find these days.

like said by others shutterlag and writing speed are set in the factory
and cannot be upgraded by memory or batteries.

the most coolpixes are rather slow , a fast card helps only in being
able to get the best writing performances , but it will not increase the
writing speed faster than the factoty default

if you buy a sandisk ultra II card it will adapt to type I speed , but
i think that you only notice it when transfering it to the pc
 >> Stay informed about: Nikon Coolpix 885 seems slow: Memory Type or Batteries?