Canon 40D's fps?

[JamieR]

Right, the Canon 40D's fps is 6.5. I wanted to test this out. I took this sequence with it set to high speed continuous, i timed it from when she took off to when she landed in the bush and it was about 1.1 seconds, but i only managed to take 3 photos.

What am i doing wrong? Is the 6.5 fps only valid when the photo size taken is set to small? Or medium?

Here is the sequence....

 

[Big Mike]

How precise was your timing?

Also, isn't there an option to set the FPS to 6.5 or something slower like 3?

 

[JamieR]

Well my timing was just done by eye, so it's not the perfect experiment in that sense. But i would imagine i'd of got more shots off than what i actually did.

I'm not sure about the settings part, i will check my manual.

EDIT: Just checked manual and a few factors affect the continuos shooting.

-Low battery will make it slower - i had full battery
-AI Servo Mode AF will make it slower - i was shooting one-shot AF

There are 2 settings, continuous (3fps) and High Speed Continuos (6.5fps). I had it set to 6.5fps.

I'm a bit confused on this one.

 

[JamieR]

Here is the EXIF if it helps at all

File Name IMG_2427.JPG
Camera Model Canon EOS 40D
Firmware Firmware Version 1.1.1
Shooting Date/Time 05/29/09 20:44:01
Owner's Name Jamie Rowlands
Shooting Mode Shutter-Priority AE
Tv( Shutter Speed ) 1/800
Av( Aperture Value ) 1.8
Metering Mode Center-Weighted Average Metering
Exposure Compensation 0
ISO Speed 800
Lens EF50mm f/1.8 II
Focal Length 50.0mm
Image Size 3888x2592
Image Quality Fine
Flash Off
White Balance Mode Auto
AF Mode One-Shot AF
Picture Style Standard
Sharpness 3
Contrast 0
Saturation 0
Color tone 0
Color Space sRGB
Long exposure noise reduction 0:Off
High ISO speed noise reduction 0:Off
Highlight tone priority 0isable
File Size 4443KB
Dust Delete Data No
Drive Mode High-speed continuous shooting

 

[Josh66]

What mode were you shooting in?

I don't have a 40D, but usually some of the settings don't work in any of the auto modes. (For example, I don't think it will let you shoot RAW in any of the auto modes.)

I agree that it looks more like 3 fps than 6...

 

[JamieR]

I was shooting in Shutter Priority

 

[Josh66]

OK, exif says you were in Shutter Priority...

Since the exif shows seconds too for the shooting time, you could do a little test to see what your true fps is. Continuously shoot for maybe 10 seconds, you'll be able to figure out the fps from that.

frames captured (?) / Elapsed time (10 seconds) = fps.

edit
I guess you wouldn't even have to upload to figure that out. Use a stopwatch, and then count how many frames you got on the LCD review.

 

[JamieR]

I just did the test, for 10.214 seconds, and i took 71 photos in that time.

I just don't get it, something must be affecting it.

 

[Clawed]

<comment removed because I did not see that you took it in hi-speed continuous>

 

[Josh66]

I just did the test, for 10.214 seconds, and i took 71 photos in that time.

I just don't get it, something must be affecting it.

That is 6.95 frames per second (I'm sure you figured that out already...).

Maybe the first sequence really only took half a second when you thought it was a full second? (Did you actually time it, or is it an estimate?)

(Maybe your dog is a lot faster than she looks.)

 

[bramflakes]

how fast is your cf card? doesn't this affect the speed at which your camera can shoot?

someone correct me on this, if i'm wrong...it's highly possible...i've been wrong a couple of times in my life.

 

[JamieR]

I'm not sure how fast it is, it's a Sandisk Ultra II. I don't think it's the memory card, if you look at the above posts, i did a test and it worked out at 6.5fps.

I'm just going to put it down to my timing being inaccurate.

 

[bramflakes]

my apologies. i didn't read it very closely.

 

[inTempus]

The 40D has never been able to get above 6.3 fps according to several tests I've read. I never tested mine when I had it. Here's a link to DPReviews test results:

Canon EOS 40D Review: 13. Timings & Sizes: Digital Photography Review

Frame rate vs. shutter speed

Our normal continuous shooting test shutter speed is around 1/500 sec, this normally avoids any slow-down due to the shutter mechanism. However we soon discovered that this wasn't fast enough to achieve the 40D's maximum rate. To achieve maximum shooting rate you need to be at 1/4000 sec or faster (which is a bit disappointing) and will then get 6.3 frames per second at the best (not the specified 6.5 fps). The graph below shows the relationship between shutter speed and frame rate on the EOS 40D.

 

[JamieR]

Ah! Thanks for the link Tharmsen, that explains a lot :thumbup: