Continous shooting challenge in RAW ...

[BackToSlr]

I was responding to a troll. I mentioned that A100 raw mode shooting does not stop (i tried till 41 shots continous and gave up...)

Can other owners of A100 try this and put this to test.

For a reasonable expsoure (dont shoot 1s exposure and expect 3fps! ...sorry but after talking to 10 yr old troll i must be specific) say around 1/100 for some scene. (turn AS off as it may heat up after a while ...mine was on though).

Make sure it is in continuous shooting mode
Exposure 1/100
Set quality to raw only.
I was using A mode.

Let it rip.

In reply subject tell us how many shots before it stopped on its own.

Cheers,

N
--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[Barry Fitzgerald]

Does anyone need 41 shots in a row in RAW???

Hmm this is rather going to depend on how good you CF card is! Slap in an ancient one and S L O W........

But interesting fire away!
--

 

[BackToSlr]

I think no one needs it...but why not test the limits of the camera

--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[BackToSlr]

I forgot about that one.

Cheers,

N
--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[Ray Garrison]

Slows down to about 2 FPS after first 21 shots, but then kept going until I stopped at 100, seemed kind of silly...
--
Music is Art
Audio is Engineering

 

[Ray Garrison]

sorry, card is a SanDisk extreme III
--
Music is Art
Audio is Engineering

 

[BackToSlr]

Yes you just have to stop...
--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[David Kilpatrick]

It depends on your focus, subject and lens quality. The raw format is compressed, and if you shoot out of focus shots you can get a high count. I got 19 frames before any change in speed on a Ultra II card, with a subject with not much detail; 7 frames with the most sharply focused, detailed subject. Extreme IV gave me 9 frames with a totally sharp, finely detailed scene.

6 frames - as quoted by Sony - will apply to any card you use. Even a really slow old 8X. This is what the buffer handles, regardless of card speed. They are very conservative in their specs.

shoot a beach and sky scene and you will probably ge 40 raw at 3 fps on a fast card!

David

 

[BackToSlr]

David,

Thank you for responding.
What you say makes sense.

I tested your theory by taking a picture of a coarse coir carpet, essentially alternate thread is of a different color. Very detailed. It still did not stop. This time i waited for 59 frames. I have not had it stop on me. Tommorow when there is light i will take a picture of sky with leafless branches that is pretty detailed. Also i will check the raw file size. I will check all this tommorow.

I can understand the limitation of the buffer, but if write speed exceeds the total data - buffer size it will not stop. I have a suspicion that higher speed media actually drains the buffer before it needs to stop.
I will verify and write back. Tommorow, hopefully.

Cheers,

N

It depends on your focus, subject and lens quality. The raw format
is compressed, and if you shoot out of focus shots you can get a
high count. I got 19 frames before any change in speed on a Ultra
II card, with a subject with not much detail; 7 frames with the
most sharply focused, detailed subject. Extreme IV gave me 9 frames
with a totally sharp, finely detailed scene.

6 frames - as quoted by Sony - will apply to any card you use. Even
a really slow old 8X. This is what the buffer handles, regardless
of card speed. They are very conservative in their specs.

shoot a beach and sky scene and you will probably ge 40 raw at 3
fps on a fast card!

David

--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[andrewD2]

I think no one needs it...but why not test the limits of the camera

Because your shutter might die?
Andrew

--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[Two Truths]

You are noticing that the speed slows down a tad after a little while, yes?

What David is talking about is the full speed burst (up to 2.85fps) - before the slow down - whereas what you are referring to is the slowed-down burst (less than 2fps).
--
Stuart / the Two Truths
http://www.flickr.com/photos/two_truths/
http://two-truths.deviantart.com/gallery/

 

[David Kilpatrick]

Are you sure you are testing at 3fps? I've done this test on many different cards, though with only one A100. I have used everything up to Sandisk Extreme IV but not the Transcend 120X which some people mention, as that's not a brand sold generally in the UK.

With nearly all normal subjects, maximum speed in maintained for 9 frames with the fastest card and then the rate falls to approx 1.5fps continuous, not 3 fps. The best I have had was 19 frames, and that was a mainly black frame with a window in the middle - not a typical subject for raw file compression.

RAW+JPEG, I've never exceeded the stated quota (can't remember whether it was 3 or 6) but having found how much extra time the JPEG process involved, I have begun to stop shooting JPEG - I never use the JPEG files and many thousands of them are just occupying space on my machine.

I time until the very first sign of any change in shooting rate. The get a full 3 fps, you must disable autofocus, anti shake and you should switch to manual exposure as well at a shutter speed faster than 1/60th. If you have AF, AS, auto exposure all turned on then you don't get much better than 2.8 fps.

David

 

[chych]

I have a slow 40x card, but it does 7 frames in RAW if I take a regular shot. If I put the lens cap on and it's taking a picture of black, it goes much farther (smaller files). So keep in mind that the thing you're taking a picture of effects capture rate.

 

[stroberaver]

Are you sure you are testing at 3fps? I've done this test on many
different cards, though with only one A100. I have used everything
up to Sandisk Extreme IV but not the Transcend 120X which some
people mention, as that's not a brand sold generally in the UK.

David,

It's true that they're not widely distributed like Sandisk or Lexar, but if you're wanting one to add to your collection, Transcend cards are available from http://www.orcalogic.co.uk - at least that's where I got mine from and was very pleased with the efficient service and price.

 

[Steph69]

I have not yet bought the transend card, but i will say this is a very good company with speedy delivery.

 

[Ray Garrison]

The OP asked "how long before it stops , not how long it will keep going at 2.7 FPS or whatever the maximum speed is...

Based on my experience, it never stops, it just keeps going and going and going and going and....
--
Music is Art
Audio is Engineering

 

[andrewD2]

The OP asked "how long before it stops , not how long it will keep
going at 2.7 FPS or whatever the maximum speed is...

Based on my experience, it never stops, it just keeps going and
going and going and going and....
--
Music is Art
Audio is Engineering

Of course it does, but if you hold your finger down and it shoots a shot every ten seconds its not that useful.

Its how many shots you can take and the camera still be ready to take at full frame rate that matters.

Also what matters much more for me is if you take a burst, of say 5 shots, how responsive is playback, including magnification?

Thats a much more common senario than shooting 100 frames when you can't say for sure when the next shot will take.

Its at the point where is plenty fast enough for that, unlike some older DSLRs that after taking a few shots you have to wait for the buffer to clear before you can shoot again.

Andrew

 

[BackToSlr]

It doesnt slow down perceptibly even after 30 frames. It goes at better than 2fps for sure. I can tell by exif, but i didnt download the last batch.

I will let you guys know after i have some time to do the experiment properly.

Cheers,

N

You are noticing that the speed slows down a tad after a little
while, yes?

What David is talking about is the full speed burst (up to 2.85fps)

• before the slow down - whereas what you are referring to is the

slowed-down burst (less than 2fps).
--
Stuart / the Two Truths
http://www.flickr.com/photos/two_truths/
http://two-truths.deviantart.com/gallery/

--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[BackToSlr]

I think no one needs it...but why not test the limits of the camera

Because your shutter might die?

??? And why would that be? It is rated for 150000 actuations...Anyway, i dont believe it will. If it were there would be a throttle on max continous actuations.

Cheers,

N

--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter

 

[BackToSlr]

The OP asked "how long before it stops , not how long it will keep
going at 2.7 FPS or whatever the maximum speed is...

Based on my experience, it never stops, it just keeps going and
going and going and going and....

Exactly!

Of course it does, but if you hold your finger down and it shoots a
shot every ten seconds its not that useful.
Its how many shots you can take and the camera still be ready to
take at full frame rate that matters.

Lol, it it doesnt slow down to that it does way better than 2fps. In fact i couldnt tell if it had slowed down. I will do a controlled experiment instead of making wild guesses, and we will see if the rate changes from first 6 frames or should it be 3 since that is what it is rated for.

Also what matters much more for me is if you take a burst, of say 5
shots, how responsive is playback, including magnification?
Thats a much more common senario than shooting 100 frames when
you can't say for sure when the next shot will take.

Huh? It is irrelevant to current discussion.

Perhaps your use case is different and u need to have 3 fps (in that case 2.85 is pretty useless too).

Cheers,

N

--
It is funny how, everyone who agrees with you seems so much smarter