myfield=1 much faster than myfield=0

[jenni]

I have a query that looks for fields where a field=1. It runs in a fraction of a second. However, when I run the exact same query with the field=0, it takes 5 seconds. I have tried:
field='0'
field<1
field!=1

The field type is tinyint(4). It cannot be NULL and the default is 1. I don't know if it makes a difference, but several tables are joined in the query. (Although I ran a search on the table alone without joining anything and it was still a tiny bit slower.)

I wasn't even sure what to google on this one. Any help would be appreciated.

[jib0]

Replace your SELECT by EXPLAIN SELECT and see what happens with your query.

[NogDog]

"field='0'" (with the quotes around the zero) is a string comparision, while "field=1" is a numeric comparison. Perhaps that's the difference?