A7ii continuous exposure bracketing not functioning?

drippyknickers · Jul 17, 2016

Hi everybody!

So the issue is, I used to be able to select continuous bracketing, hit the shutter once and the camera would take all the frames.

About a week ago I noticed it would only take the first shot, I have to hold the shutter down to get the other frames, from what i have found so far this is something that happens when you have a flash attached to the hot shoe (which i do not)

So it appears my camera thinks there is a flash attached, I cannot turn the flash setting off, I just get the error message "This operation or setting is not available as follows- shoot mode- aperture priority" as it does in all other modes- except auto...

Tried a camera settings reset, using remote release cables, and trying all other bracketing options but it still wont take all the frames automatically.

Is there a setting i've missed? Has anybody else ran into this issue before?

But anywho, here's a photo to make this post slightly less boring

--
www.Instagram.com/Drippyknickers

mreynolds767 · Jul 17, 2016

Well the side effect benefit to you is that it is usually advised to use single shot bracketing

continueos bracketing with a Sony a7 series camera puts the camera in a lower quality 12 bit mode

echolsphoto · Jul 17, 2016

and what about camera shake? I like to shoot one, wait a second shoot the next etc.

drippyknickers · Jul 17, 2016

mreynolds767 said:
Well the side effect benefit to you is that it is usually advised to use single shot bracketing

continueos bracketing with a Sony a7 series camera puts the camera in a lower quality 12 bit mode

drippyknickers · Jul 17, 2016

echolsphoto said:
and what about camera shake? I like to shoot one, wait a second shoot the next etc.

Well in this case I am handling the camera every shot as opposed to just the once for the auto bracketing.

Looks like im going to have to get a remote release cable and just deal with it

mike105105 · Jul 17, 2016

I am fairly certain that the only way to get my a7 or a6000 to automatically take all of the shots is with the hdr option. The exposure bracket drive mode needs the shutter to remain depressed. That is how it has always behaved.

EDIT: Also releasing the button mid sequence seems like it would introduce camera movement. It would be more stable holding the button till the end of the last shot.

Mike

dkeller · Jul 17, 2016

My experience is that a normal shutter press, in bracket mode, will pretty much give you several shots unless you get you finger off the butten really quickly!!

echolsphoto · Jul 17, 2016

I just assumed you were using a release. I had hoped the new bracket with timer setting meant that the camera would take a shot, wait for 2 sec, take the next, etc with just one push, but it doesn't work that way. you get the 2 sec pause and then all 5 shots. I'll just stick to using the release and waiting a bit in-between.

mike105105 · Jul 17, 2016

dkeller said:
My experience is that a normal shutter press, in bracket mode, will pretty much give you several shots unless you get you finger off the butten really quickly!!

Yes, but that is because of the capture rate, not because the camera is programmed to take all of the shots.

Mike

sduck · Jul 17, 2016

Replying about the a7ii, as that is what the OP is asking about. Don't know why people are replying about different questions or different cameras.

With my a7ii, for hdr stuff I have it set for 5 exposures bracketed, and 1 shutter press (without holding it down) shoots them all. The only time this hasn't worked is right after resetting the camera - the first few times I set up exposure bracketing it would fire off single shots, but once I had held the button down for all 5 shots it somehow "learned" that that was what I wanted, and went back to the correct all-5-shots on one press.

Hye · Jul 17, 2016

sduck said:
Replying about the a7ii, as that is what the OP is asking about. Don't know why people are replying about different questions or different cameras.

With my a7ii, for hdr stuff I have it set for 5 exposures bracketed, and 1 shutter press (without holding it down) shoots them all. The only time this hasn't worked is right after resetting the camera - the first few times I set up exposure bracketing it would fire off single shots, but once I had held the button down for all 5 shots it somehow "learned" that that was what I wanted, and went back to the correct all-5-shots on one press.

Uh, there are 2 drive modes for exposure bracketing, one for continuous (hold down shutter) and one for single-shot (1 exposure per shutter press).

drippyknickers · Jul 17, 2016

sduck said:
Replying about the a7ii, as that is what the OP is asking about. Don't know why people are replying about different questions or different cameras.

With my a7ii, for hdr stuff I have it set for 5 exposures bracketed, and 1 shutter press (without holding it down) shoots them all. The only time this hasn't worked is right after resetting the camera - the first few times I set up exposure bracketing it would fire off single shots, but once I had held the button down for all 5 shots it somehow "learned" that that was what I wanted, and went back to the correct all-5-shots on one press.

Yes this is what it used to do for me, ignoring the hdr/bracketing side of it, the issue appears to be my camera "thinks" there is a flash or other accessory attached to the hot shoe. I cannot disable the flash function, from what i understand this will cause continuous bracketing to fail.

Might get a cotton swap and clean out the dust in the shoe, perhaps something is getting bridged in there.

--
www.Instagram.com/Drippyknickers

mreynolds767 · Jul 18, 2016

Yes, there are 2 options just to clarify.

Continueous: one shutter press and takes all photos requested (3, 5, etc... depending on what you set for your brackets) You need not hold it down to take all photos. I don't think any camera would require that think of it on a multi second exposure you would need to keep the button depressed the whole time?

Single: the camera cycles through the bracketed exposures itself but you the user must press the shutter for each exposure.

You can user a cable release / remote with either option or you can set the self timer on the camera I believe on the A7Ii as well.

Sony A7 series cameras (all of them plus the shared sensor ones like the Rx1 and Rx1rii) go into a 12 BIT mode when shooting in the following: Continueous, Bulb, Long Exposure Noise Reduction this is instead of 13 Bit in all other modes. Seems to be a speed or heat reduction issue. Once your ISO increases you are not really capable of capturing 13 BIT's from my understanding so at high ISO's it is not something to concern yourself with. Where exactly that cutoff is, I do not know (400, 640, 800, 1600, etc...)

At 100 ISO though if you want the best quality it would be best to avoid these. For this reason if using a tripod and taking bracketed shots, I would recommend using the single shot exposure bracketing mode combined with either a remote or 2 second delay set in camera.

Google Jim Kasson's blog or search this forum, he is very active here and has done extensive testing and research on this topic.

It seems the OP's camera due to something odd is not allowing him to shoot continueous bracketing. Have no idea how to fix that but since it is likely a mode you are better off avoiding if I were the OP it is not something that would bother me as long as continueous modes works for other things were there are not good workarounds for.

Hye · Jul 18, 2016

mreynolds767 said:
Continueous: one shutter press and takes all photos requested (3, 5, etc... depending on what you set for your brackets) You need not hold it down to take all photos. I don't think any camera would require that think of it on a multi second exposure you would need to keep the button depressed the whole time?

How sure are you about this? I swear there have been times where I forgot I had the camera in bracketing drive mode, and then it stopped firing after I lifted off the shutter.

mike105105 · Jul 18, 2016

Hye said:
mreynolds767 said:

Continueous: one shutter press and takes all photos requested (3, 5, etc... depending on what you set for your brackets) You need not hold it down to take all photos. I don't think any camera would require that think of it on a multi second exposure you would need to keep the button depressed the whole time?

Click to expand...

How sure are you about this? I swear there have been times where I forgot I had the camera in bracketing drive mode, and then it stopped firing after I lifted off the shutter.

Agreed. And even though the drive modes between the a7 series all work the same as far as I know, I went and copied from the a7II manual to shut people up about basing it on my a7.

Cont. Bracket

Shoots multiple images while automatically shifting the exposure from base to darker and then to lighter. Press and hold down the shutter button until the bracket recording is completed. You can select an image that suits your intention, after recording. 1. MENU → (Camera Settings) → [Drive Mode] → [Cont. Bracket]. 2. Select the desired mode using the right/left side of the control wheel

Mike

Camley · Jul 18, 2016

mreynolds767 said:
Yes, there are 2 options just to clarify.

Continueous: one shutter press and takes all photos requested (3, 5, etc... depending on what you set for your brackets) You need not hold it down to take all photos. I don't think any camera would require that think of it on a multi second exposure you would need to keep the button depressed the whole time?

I owned an a7II and now have an a7RII. The manual for the a7RII says the following for Continuous Bracket:
"Shoots multiple images while automatically shifting the exposure from base to darker and
then to lighter. Press and hold down the shutter button until the bracket recording is
completed."

As far as I remember the a7RII operates the same as the a7II in this respect.

mreynolds767 said:
Single: the camera cycles through the bracketed exposures itself but you the user must press the shutter for each exposure.

This is correct.

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A7ii continuous exposure bracketing not functioning?

drippyknickers

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