Don't be a "Machine Gunner"

[JacaRanda]

I tend to have my 7D on its full 8fps mode all the time unless I'm shooting macro then I have it cut to 4fps (because the flash unit can't keep up if I go for a burst of shots - which I might well do for a handheld focus stack - otherwise its single shots).

I don't tend to gun too badly, normally two or three frames - I might gun for more if what I'm shooting is very action orientated and also if I'm not sure what the subject will do - so getting more helps; plus one can look back at a more detailed sequence of events and then more easily spot the "moment" the real action shot happens (or the moments as sometimes a specific event can have several key points).

I think this is one of those things that when you read it - such as single shot on spots - it sounds wrong when you've not done it, or when you've only done it once before. But I can only back-up what others said - the more you come to understand a subject and situation the more easy it is to predict what will likely happen and thus when to take the shot you want. It's like driving - when you start the other cars could go ANYWHERE - but after a while you start to build up an understanding of what the speeds, angle, directions and road will all combine together to direct that car and thus where its most likely to head.

All I can think about is....maybe she is a beginner. I still make all kinds of beginner mistakes and decisions even after 3 years. Not sure how receptive she would have been, but it could have been a nice teaching or showing moment. Instead of, look at this crazy lady with a Canon thinking she's all that with her fancy overuse of continuous bursts.

 

[JacaRanda]

5500 is pretty crazy. LMAO.

Pretty sure I would have quit this stupid hobby pretty early going through that many shots.

It's bad enough when I fill an 8 gig card with approx. 330 shots.

 

[Derrel]

She probably is a beginner. One with a lot of time on her hands. I mean, my gosh, 5,500 frames!!! What is the expected download time? How long would that take to import and to create previews for in Lightroom? How long would it take to cull through all the similars?

It would probably make more sense to shoot video with a high-quality video camera, and then watch the entire event, and pull some screen grabs out, and run with those. Yes, the woman obviously must be a beginner, or very much lacking in confidence if she thinks just blasting away in 18 to 25 or 30-frame bursts is the way to shoot still photographs. Yes, some gentle teaching might have been nice, provided she could handle the constructive criticism/suggestions, but that's not a given that she'd have been able to even listen to such advice. Most people who are self-taught and who never had either peers, or mentors, or teachers, are often pretty unaware that there actually are social standards against blasting away with a motorized camera and making a nuisance of one's self for two and a half hours, so she might really have no clue as to how best to shoot such an event, or that she's being rude and obnoxious by shooting over 5,000 pictures and clickety-clacking away basically non-stop. I agree: it might have been a teachable moment, but then again, considering her utterly gauche behavior, it might not have been a teachable moment.

 

[Gary A.]

Beginner or not ... if she was near or in with spectators, then her actions and noise to those around her, were quite rude. Beginner or not, common courtesy begs for her to exercise some restraint.

If she was in a press area apart from the audience. That's different, in which case, she was a beginner or stupid or ignorant or any combo of these three. The only option remaining is that she is so far advance than any of us and has developed a technique requiring a huge total of images for which she is able to glean/create/process an image far beyond what can be gleaned/created/processed from a mere 300 images.

(Just read Derrel's thread above after posting mine ... we came to the same conclusions independently.)

 

[JacaRanda]

But but but it had silent mode.

 

[Fred Berg]

5.5K exposures in 2.5 hours = the law of diminishing returns.

 

[Mr. Innuendo]

I'll burst like Hell when I shoot motorcycle racing. It's there; it's a tool. I'll use it;.

 

[CameraClicker]

But but but it had silent mode.

I doubt silent mode was being used. Silent mode slows the camera down.

 

[Designer]

But but but it had silent mode.

I doubt silent mode was being used. Silent mode slows the camera down.

The OP said he could hear it clicking on the side of the road.

Besides; the click-clacking noise is what is cool about it. What's the point in having a cool camera if you're not going to make noise like a professional? All the cool photo journalists run their cameras on continuous.

 

[CameraClicker]

But but but it had silent mode.

I doubt silent mode was being used. Silent mode slows the camera down.

The OP said he could hear it clicking on the side of the road.

Besides; the click-clacking noise is what is cool about it. What's the point in having a cool camera if you're not going to make noise like a professional? All the cool photo journalists run their cameras on continuous.

LOL! Confirmation! I'm sure I read that, hours ago. I just figured that at a constant, slightly faster than, a frame every 2 seconds, sustained, it was very unlikely the camera was running at less than full speed when it was shooting. Otherwise you couldn't achieve that many frames and also take time to breath.

 

[Derrel]

I'll burst like Hell when I shoot motorcycle racing. It's there; it's a tool. I'll use it;.

Yeah, and it's also awesome for people at podiums, talking into microphones! Nothing like firing off 75 to 100 frames to get a good shot of the adjusting of the microphone's height, or 150 to 200 frames as a speaker steps up to the podium and shuffles his notes, and maybe, if you are lucky, he does something exciting and snap-worthy, and puts on his reading glasses!

 

[JacaRanda]

Well, she told me it was on silent the entire time. So she really only took 3000 during the event. The other 1500 were from the tractor going the opposite way prior to the event.

two smileys this time just in case.

 

[JacaRanda]

But but but it had silent mode.

I doubt silent mode was being used. Silent mode slows the camera down.

The OP said he could hear it clicking on the side of the road.

Besides; the click-clacking noise is what is cool about it. What's the point in having a cool camera if you're not going to make noise like a professional? All the cool photo journalists run their cameras on continuous.

Another reason not to get those crappy Canons. So loud you can hear them from another vehicle even with a tractor cutting corn in the area.

 

[CameraClicker]

But but but it had silent mode.

I doubt silent mode was being used. Silent mode slows the camera down.

The OP said he could hear it clicking on the side of the road.

Besides; the click-clacking noise is what is cool about it. What's the point in having a cool camera if you're not going to make noise like a professional? All the cool photo journalists run their cameras on continuous.

Another reason not to get those crappy Canons. So loud you can hear them from another vehicle even with a tractor cutting corn in the area.

You're just jealous

 

[MichaelHenson]

The only option remaining is that she is so far advance than any of us and has developed a technique requiring a huge total of images for which she is able to glean/create/process an image far beyond what can be gleaned/created/processed from a mere 300 images.

I think you nailed it here...She probably takes all of those pictures at varying exposures/angles and of different subjects at the event to make a HUGE 5,500 photo collage of the main speaker at the event! I'm surprised I didn't think of this earlier!