Black frame between shots

[bobcullinan]

A question for the group: When I'm shooting continuous/hi extended with my Z5, I get a black frame between every shot. But I don't get the black frame on my Z50. The black frame makes it nearly impossible to follow moving action...football, cycling, auto racing. Does anyone know if there is a similar black frame in the Z6 II?

 

[ghostfox_1]

That's normal for all the cameras except the z8/9 in continuous high.

The solution is just keep both eyes open, like rifle shooters/etc do and keep following the action.

 

[bobcullinan]

Thanks...but...there is no black frame when the Z50 is shooting in continuous high extended.



It's baffling. The less expensive Nikon Z is better at following action than the more expensive models.

 

[shuncheung]

Thanks...but...there is no black frame when the Z50 is shooting in continuous high extended.

It's baffling. The less expensive Nikon Z is better at following action than the more expensive models.

Are you referring to viewfinder (EVF or rear monitor) blackouts or actual black images between good images on the memory card?

 

[jthomas39]

It looks like the Z50 works like my Z6 -- see this youtube shooting example

My old Z6 in Extended High shows a "slideshow" of the previous image just taken, instead of a live scene. No black intervals while the shutter is open, so it appears to be a better view. But there is a delay, so it's harder to follow action.

The Z6 was improved at high speed when using 12-bit raw instead of 14 bit.

There's an old Z6 thread that discusses the various continuous shooting experiences and tradeoffs: Z6 continuous extended question

~~~~~

Z6 iii High extended

Off topic -- this high speed works great on the Z6 iii, up to 20 fps with electronic shutter. It's not a "slideshow". The view has a minimal delay, so it's fast enough to keep accurate tracking of the moving subject. The rolling shutter in electronic shutter doesn't cause obvious effects when the subject is moving "reasonably" fast.

 

[f16falcona46]

Your Z50 is operating in Continuous H Extended (H+), while your Z5 does not have that mode and is limited to Continuous H.

Continuous H blacks out while taking and processing the picture, and shows a live view in between pictures.

Continuous H Extended shows the previous captured frame during the capture and processing of the current frame. There is no blackout, but the view is a delayed slideshow.

The Z5's blackout is very long and hence it seems that in Continuous H, it's a slideshow. In fact, it is a live view, just a very short one.

Also, see this link that further describes the differences between Continuous H and Continuous H Extended on EXPEED 6 cameras:

https://nps.nikonimaging.com/technical_info/technical_solutions/z7_2_z6_2_tips/sports_continuous_h/

Personally I find the short periods of non-lagged viewing in Continuous H easier to track with than the notationally no-blackout, but always lagged, Continuous H Extended view.

Keep in mind though that the Z5 is the entry-level FX camera and makes sacrifices in sensor speed...the Z50's sensor offers a substantially faster (twice as fast; four times in 12-bit) readout.

 

[f16falcona46]

I realize I didn't answer your question. The Z6ii in Continuous H Extended acts just like the Z50: no blackout, but a delayed slideshow.

In Continuous H, my experience is that the Z6ii is a little better than the Z50, with a little shorter blackout, since the shutter winds more quickly.

 

[bobcullinan]

Thank you! This is great info and exactly what I was looking for.

One last q: Compared to the Z 50 and Z 5, do you know if the Z 6 processor is faster or slower?

 

[f16falcona46]

The Z50, Z5, Z6, and Z6ii all have quite similar processing speeds in my experience.

The Z50, Z5, and Z6 all have a single EXPEED 6 processor. The Z6ii has "dual EXPEED 6", but who cares? Real-life tests have shown that there isn't much performance improvement, other than the buffer.

The main difference between the Z6 and Z6ii are:

• Larger buffer which clears faster
• Wide-L people and Wide-L animals
• A little stronger closest subject priority in Wide-Area AF mode
• Slightly higher frame rate in Continuous H+ (same frame rate in Continuous H, though)
• Dual slots
• A few other minor feature differences

To be honest, a Z6 is not really that much different from a Z6ii if you don't need dual slots--and it costs substantially less.