see thru viewfinder during continuous shooting?

With the 5D, can you see thru the viewfinder during continuous shooting? As I understand it, the lens moves out of the way when a picture is taken which I would mean that you can't see at the time the shot is taken. So, during continuous shooting, does the lens move back for the viewfinder between shots?

I was using continuous shooting on my P&S and you would have huge pauses where you would see the saved image on the EVF. During that time, my subject moved and so half of my shots were taken with the subject out of view.

Thanks.

I hope this link will help you to understand what is happening inside SLR:
http://science.howstuffworks.com/camera7.htm

During the shot the mirror goes up to pass the light to a film (or sensor - in a case of DSLRs). At this time you will not see the image in the viewfinder. As soon as the shot is taken, the mirror goes down and you can see the scene again.

Cheers,
MiPr
--



See my gallery at http://mipr.magma-net.pl/

The mirror is lifted away from the optical path while the shutter is open, and therefore there is a short blackout, but short enough not to make you miss most action (maybe random and hectic action could be troublesome, but nothing more).

I guess you will receive more substantial replies from people that have tried this more often in practice, though.
--
Kind regards
Kjetil

Both replies are perfectly true - would suggest you go to a shop and try out a 5D, or if not available, any other SLR or DSLR, the effect is the same.
--
DMalcolm

The mirror is quick enough to flip back between shots and give you sight again. Blackout time difers per model but quick camera's have faster mirrors as well... the 5d gives enough view between shots to follow your subject.

I believe some crazy showoff cam's in the 70s with fps like 13 or more had total black outs, because the could make such fast mirrors.. Read more about that on this nice site http://www.mir.com.my/rb/photography/hardwares/classics/nikonf3ver2/motordrive/Index.htm

On my Oly c2100 on continous shooting an instant after the shutter snaps I would get a view of the shot I just took then the present scene as the shutter snapped again...all very fast....But with a slr/dslr there is a mirror the redirects the light to the viewfinder so when you press the shutter release it moves the mirror so the light will fall onto the sensor/film for the duration of the shutter speed which generally is just an instant then you see through the viewfinder once again.... you will see the scene for an instant only as the camera raises the mirror for the next shot.
At least I think that is what you were asking !!
Bob

MarkZoom said:

With the 5D, can you see thru the viewfinder during continuous
shooting? As I understand it, the lens moves out of the way when a
picture is taken which I would mean that you can't see at the time
the shot is taken. So, during continuous shooting, does the lens
move back for the viewfinder between shots?

I was using continuous shooting on my P&S and you would have huge
pauses where you would see the saved image on the EVF. During that
time, my subject moved and so half of my shots were taken with the
subject out of view.

Thanks.

Click to expand...

--
Bob Myers WB7SBW
Minolta 7D Lens 28-100mm 28-300 Tamron
2 - Olympus C21oo 2 - B3oo 1 - B-Macro

Here is something to help....this will take a lot of work and practice......holding your camera and looking thru the viewfinder....open the other eye and focus on your subject....we have a tendency to close the eye we are not actually using to focus a camera or shoot a gun...but if you practice to keep that other eye open you can save a lot of your photos and not lose track of moving subject.

Thanks everyone. I also checked one out and I agree with the comments here - you only lose the view for a very short time for the shutter - much less time than my P&S.

But, the specs say the continuous shooting is 3fps. When I tried it, it was more like 1 per second, possibly slower than my P&S. I even put it in the lowest resolution mode - no change.

Is there some strange mode to explain this or are they exaggerating on the specs?

The number at the bottom-right of the (optical) viewfinder indicates the number of shots you can take in one series, i.e. the number of shot fitting in the internal camera-buffer (32Mb for the 5D. When the internal buffer is filled the speed of the Compact Flash becomes the limiting factor.

The fastest card (the Sandisk Extreme III 1GB according to the database at http://www.dyxum.com/reviews/cfcard/index.asp ) requires 1 second per RAW file. JPG's should be faster.

MarkZoom said:

Thanks everyone. I also checked one out and I agree with the
comments here - you only lose the view for a very short time for
the shutter - much less time than my P&S.

Click to expand...

Unless exposure time is long - try taking a shot 2 secs long

MarkZoom said:

But, the specs say the continuous shooting is 3fps. When I tried
it, it was more like 1 per second, possibly slower than my P&S. I
even put it in the lowest resolution mode - no change.

Click to expand...

You should have around 3 fps for a first 8 or 9 shots, then camera slows down (needs to write images to the CF card - internal buffer is full). I performed some tests with my 5D (kit lens, good lighting conditions) and the result was between 2.75 fps and 3 fps.

Could it be dependedt on the lens? My impression was that 50/1.7 prime, I'm using from time to time, is slower (fps is lower), however I have not tested it.

MarkZoom said:

Is there some strange mode to explain this or are they exaggerating
on the specs?

Click to expand...

Slightly exaggerated, but my tests confirmed that real-life results are close BTW, please treat "real-life" with a grain of salt - I don't know if shooting steady object like a watch on the desk with a camera on the tripod could be deemed "real-life".

Cheers,
MiPr
--



See my gallery at http://mipr.magma-net.pl/

I'm betting it was a slow CF card! Thanks!