Confused about shooting in continuous and buffer write times!

[ConradM]

Over in the Sony section people are saying that after so many shots in continuous that the camera will stop to write to the card. Is that true? I just tried it and fired off 43 shots and it never stopped to write. It slowed down, but once I released the shutter there was no "write to card" wait. I'm just using the cheap 4gb card that came with my P&S.

 

[MLeeK]

Were you shooting in jpeg or raw?
Yes, in most cases a camera will only fire so much before it's buffer is full. Depending on the write speed of the card it may stop shooting or slow down. There is considerably more data written in a raw file, so the # of frames before you have to stop and wait will be less. The time between frames you can then fire will be longer in raw. The slow down you are feeling is probably the camera pausing long enough to empty the buffer. If it only needs less than a second, that is all it stops. As soon as there is room in the buffer for one more image it fires again.

 

[ConradM]

Were you shooting in jpeg or raw?
Yes, in most cases a camera will only fire so much before it's buffer is full. Depending on the write speed of the card it may stop shooting or slow down. There is considerably more data written in a raw file, so the # of frames before you have to stop and wait will be less. The time between frames you can then fire will be longer in raw. The slow down you are feeling is probably the camera pausing long enough to empty the buffer. If it only needs less than a second, that is all it stops. As soon as there is room in the buffer for one more image it fires again.

I'm shooting jpeg. So when it's slowing down it's writing to the card. But none of this, shoot 20 frames then wait for 10 seconds of write time?

 

[ConradM]

So I think I've got it figured out, I can reliably shoot 5 - 10 shot bursts without ever having to wait for anything.

 

[LightSpeed]

I'm shooting jpeg. So when it's slowing down it's writing to the card. But none of this, shoot 20 frames then wait for 10 seconds of write time?

That's why.

 

[MLeeK]

What he said...
Like I said before... there is a LOT more data to be written with raw than with jpegs. I'd venture to guess that probably 80% or more of photographers are shooting in raw most of the time, so... they are definitely going to experience a wait. Especially with a slower card.

 

[ConradM]

I'm shooting jpeg. So when it's slowing down it's writing to the card. But none of this, shoot 20 frames then wait for 10 seconds of write time?

That's why.

Nope, tried it in RAW too. Still no "write to card time". It'll start to slow down after 15-17 frames @ 6fps, but it doesn't flat out stop.

 

[mjhoward]

It IS stopping to empty the buffer... it just that it only takes like a 1/3s to empty enough to fit another jpg. So the camera will continue to fire as the buffer empties enough to store the next photo. It doesn't fill, and then wait until it is completely empty before allowing you to take anymore photos. That would just be silly. If you are shooting RAW and with higher resolution, the wait might be more like 1s.

 

[ConradM]

It IS stopping to empty the buffer... it just that it only takes like a 1/3s to empty enough to fit another jpg. So the camera will continue to fire as the buffer empties enough to store the next photo. It doesn't fill, and then wait until it is completely empty before allowing you to take anymore photos. That would just be silly. If you are shooting RAW and with higher resolution, the wait might be more like 1s.

That was my question. I've been reading about outrageous 10 second buffer times. Just wanted to find out where that came from.

 

[MLeeK]

It could conceivably be 10 seconds shooting raw on a slow write card.

 

[LightSpeed]

He's talking about 10 seconds for the buffer to completely dump before you can pop off 20 more like a machine gun.

 

[Rephargotohp]

The problem DP review found with the A55 (they didn't test the A33( Not really a problem but what they weren't crazy about) was There was no probelm with shooting continuous frames JPEG
They got 6FPS for 47 Frames and then slow to 2.5 FPS It would slow down but not stop
At 3FPS it would shoot continuous 3FPS till the cardd filled.
What they did find was if you shot a Bunch of Frames continously and THEN lifted your finger, It would take up to 50s till You could press the shutter again and have it fire

 

[ConradM]

The problem DP review found with the A55 (they didn't test the A33( Not really a problem but what they weren't crazy about) was There was no probelm with shooting continuous frames JPEG
They got 6FPS for 47 Frames and then slow to 2.5 FPS It would slow down but not stop
At 3FPS it would shoot continuous 3FPS till the cardd filled.
What they did find was if you shot a Bunch of Frames continously and THEN lifted your finger, It would take up to 50s till You could press the shutter again and have it fire

See, that's what I don't get. With my A33 that does not happen. In raw or jpeg, I can fire off a bunch of shots, lift my finger and there is no wait.

 

[MLeeK]

I would guess that it was a problem addressed by a firmware update. Your camera probably has more current firmware in it. I could be wrong... Then again, he did say that they tested the A55, not the A33...

 

[ConradM]

I would guess that it was a problem addressed by a firmware update. Your camera probably has more current firmware in it. I could be wrong... Then again, he did say that they tested the A55, not the A33...

There was a firmware update a few months ago, right before I bought mine.