9. Speed And Responsiveness

Even if the DCS Pro SLR/n responds like a traditional film SLR, it's no racing machine. Frequently, for sometimes incomprehensible reasons, the camera suddenly becomes unavailable due to an arbitrarily determined "Recalibration" that takes several seconds and is very hard to accept when it makes you miss the shot of the century. Don't panic, however, since it's the sort of thing that happens just after an adjustment (a change in sensitivity, for example), and not in the middle of a shoot. Still it's a black mark and leaves one skeptical, especially since this fault is nonexistent with entry-level SLRs like the Nikon D70 or the Canon EOS 300D. It's odd.

At startup, the Kodak takes between 5 and 7 seconds before it's ready, which is too much time for a camera that calls itself professional.

During a series of shots, the images were saved one after another at a reasonable rate (1.7 images per second according to the manufacturer's figures, and checked and confirmed by us), with the buffer (the internal memory) only stalling rarely. The manufacturer's specifications claim a maximum burst depth of 19 images, but the actual figure varies. In practice, we found it to be between 10 and 20 images.

Where basic functions are concerned, shooting is almost immediate and focusing is almost instantaneous, which makes for impeccable shooting ease.

Displaying the images is where things get complicated, since you sometimes have to wait 12 seconds before the image appears on the rear display. Even with a series of images that the buffer has totally processed, moving from one image to another is not immediate. This again limits the professionalism of the camera.

Battery Life

As has now become the norm, the Kodak DCS Pro SLR/n is equipped with a high-capacity Lithium-Ion battery that can capture approximately 400 images (flash included) before running down. We pushed it to nearly 600 images by disarming post-shooting viewing, the flash, and all related adjustments. The resulting battery life is quite satisfactory. The manufacturer deserves congratulations on this point. The pickiest users will, however, point out that the battery charger is almost the size of a hefty paperback. This is a shame, since it necessarily affects the camera's portability.