Maximum FPS

I've heard brief mention of how various settings can slow down a cameras maximum burst rate. I have a 50D and it is rated at 6.3 fps, but I don't think I am anywhere near that when I do shoot in high speed continuous shooting mode. I am using a Lexar Professional UDMA 300x memory card.


I have been shooting in awb and then using dpp to adjust as necessary. But I read something that hinted to the fact that awb slows down high speed shooting. Is this true?


Any other settings I should use to speed up shooting, or settings that slow down shooting?


Thanks,


Braden

Using just about any Auto Setting (AWB, Av, Tv, AutoISO, Fully Auto, etc...) is going to slow your maximum burst rate (but not usually by too much). Shooting in RAW will slow it down tremendously. Shooting in Manual Mode will give you the optimum burst rate (all other settings being the same). Shooting continuously for a few seconds will eventually slow it down. Cards can also be an issue, but you shouldn't be experiencing any issues with the card that you have - the maximum burst rate is typically tested with much slower cards.


Also shutter speed will obviously play a role if it's too slow, but by the time you get to shutters speeds that do, you're not likely interested in continuous shooting (e.g. 1/30s or slower).

What shutter speeds were you getting? Different cameras have different requirements, but you'll probably need 1/250th or 1/500th to achieve rated speeds. I've also found that AI Servo AF can cause a slowdown, depending on light and contrast.

I'm guessing it's the shutter speed. The 40D shoots 6.5 fps and as
long as I'm shooting a fast enough Tv nothing bothers it - RAW, AWB, Servo,
high/low ISO, whatever. It's all about the shutter speed.


what peety said - 1/250 should be plenty fast enough for 6+ fps...even 1/125 you'll get close to 6 fps...

I'm sure it's all a specifications thing, but I will admit that shutter speed shouldn't matter much to the frame rate (as long as you're near the rated shutter speed). 1/250th is 4ms, and 6.3fps is one frame every 158ms. Shooting at 1/125th takes 8ms, so you're probably looking at one shot every 162ms or 6.2fps. 1/60th is about 17ms, so a shot every 171ms is 5.8fps, etc.

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Originally Posted by TucsonTRD

Any ... settings that slow down shooting?

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Setting in-camera noise reduction to Strong will significantly reduce the burst rate.

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Originally Posted by WAFKT

Shooting in RAW will slow it down tremendously.

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Actually, RAW speeds it up. RAW is uneditedraw data from the sensor, shooting in Jpegmeans the camera has to convert it. Which slows it down. But you can keep shooting longer in burst because the file size is smaller. RAW is not like TIFF, which is a higherquality formatbut data thathas to be converted or just transfered to your card.


Auto settings slow it down by insignificant amounts. Built in noise reduction will slow it down big time.


John.

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Originally Posted by Fast Glass

Quote:

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Originally Posted by WAFKT

Shooting in RAW will slow it down tremendously.

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Actually, RAW speeds it up. RAW is uneditedraw data from the sensor, shooting in Jpegmeans the camera has to convert it. Which slows it down. But you can keep shooting longer in burst because the file size is smaller. RAW is not like TIFF, which is a higherquality formatbut data thathas to be converted or just transfered to your card.

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RAW or JPEG shouldn't influence potential frame rate. RAW is not unedited raw data from the sensor, though. For a RAW file, the camera creates a small JPEG to embed inside the RAW file, so you at least have something to preview on the LCD screen. The camera also takes the sensor data and compresses it, in a lossless fashion. (JPEG is a lossy compression algorithm.) It's the lossless compression AND the JPEG preview that causes RAW files to be different sizes shot-to-shot.


TIFF is RGB data completely uncompressed, plus EXIF and other metadata. That's why TIFF files are identical size for the same resolution.


AFAIK, Nikon NEF format is sensor data uncompressed.

I did some more research and you are right Peety.


But I do know that my old XTi would shoot about 2 FPS in JPEG and would shoot at full rated 3 FPS in RAW, aparently the camera preccesses it faster RAW somehow.


Go figure,


John.