K5 appears to be slowing down...?!

10speeduk · 06-16-2011, 12:21 PM

Hi all,

My K5 today was getting really slow on burst mode. Even on M with the speed set to 1/8000 sec, the shutter did not seem to be any faster than 1/320 sec, also the camera would shoot only every 3-4 seconds.

This was in low light conditions so I guessed maybe the auto-focus was struggling a bit, so maybe slowing it down?

I tried it in full daylight and it improved, but still buffering after 7 shots...

Anyone else know what I am doing wrong?

I have removed all noise reduction functions and chrom abberation, shadow lightening...etc to help the processor(?) in a bid to speed things up.

My memory card is a class 10 32gb 23mbs and the camera was fast when I bought it .

Ideas????

I am sure it must be something I am doing wrong. I hope!

Cheers

Paul

Francis · 06-16-2011, 12:39 PM

Strictly ideas:

memory card, full, near capacity?
battery charged?
AF lock before shutter release?

philbaum · 06-16-2011, 01:39 PM

format your memory card and try again. if that doesn't work well, try a different brand of memory card. Memory cards are not as fast when they start filling up because the computer has to search for different sectors that are available, instead of consecutive writing -is what i read.

Smeggypants · 06-16-2011, 03:11 PM

Higher ISO shots can have file sizes upto 50% bigger. So maybe it's taking logner to write them to the card.

10speeduk · 06-16-2011, 03:33 PM

Thanks guys, will reformat the card in a bit. I had a play around and found that changing the focus mode from 'C' to 'AF.S' made a massive difference. -Although I think in good lighting this is less of an issue.

I may even had it set to Raw+Jpeg by mistake (drive button seems to add it when in info mode).

Didn't realise the higher ISO had larger files, noted!

Am having a big shoot at a wedding on Sat, so will hopefully perform good from here on in.

Thanks for your responses.

Paul

frank · 06-16-2011, 10:41 PM

Have you upgraded the firmware? Better upgrade to the latest firmware to improve the stability and performance

Rocketvapor · 06-16-2011, 10:54 PM

Upgrade firmware on Friday for an event on Saturday?

frank · 06-17-2011, 01:33 AM

Originally posted by Rocketvapor

Upgrade firmware on Friday for an event on Saturday?

It won't take your 24 hours but rather 2 to 4min to upgrade, why not

10speeduk · 06-17-2011, 01:57 AM

Thanks guys, I had the latest version of firmware installed and a full battery. Will reformat the card and let you know how tomorrow goes!

mikknu · 06-17-2011, 03:36 AM

With my K-5 I experienced it slowing down in shutter speed, while my flash was mounted, even though it was turned off. As soon as I removed the flash, the shutter speed was back to it's normal fast pace.

RonHendriks1966 · 06-17-2011, 08:05 AM

Well using AF-C and setting the preference to focussing and not fps slows your camera down to some 3 fps I guess with difficult things to focus on (and depending on the lens).

biboun · 06-18-2011, 01:48 PM

anytime, if you just want to check speed:
set af-c to priority fps
mode m, set shutter speed to 1/1000 or more ( we don't care about exposure)
set burst mode to quickest

Press the button , keep it pressed and listen to the clic clic clic
It should go 7 fps and stop after a while (less than 20 pics if i remember well) for raw files, and until the card is full for jpeg.
I you care about the shutter count, don't play it too much cause you could add 100 shutter clics in a few seconds.

hcc · 06-18-2011, 03:19 PM

You received some good advice so far. Let me add a personal experience. I shoot often in Hi Continuous Shooting and I need the Hi frame rate 5.2 fps for at least 5-10 s. I even took sequences of more than 60 s at 5.2 fps. (I have a K-7, but the K-5 has the basically the same features). I did numerous tests with a range of settings and lenses. Ultimately I found a solution whcih works well for me (and other Pentaxians).

The keys of consistent fast burst rates are:
1- switch off (kill off) al in-camera PP,
2- use a fast card (class 10 or better) with ample of free space,
3- shoot JPEG and select a JPEG size such the the JPEG size times time the frame rate is less than the card writing speed.

[1] is critical in all cases. Remove all in-camera PP including lens distortion correction, high-ISO correction, ....

[2] and [3] are essential to long sequences/bursts to prevent the buffer to be full.

Hope that the comments will help.

RonHendriks1966 · 06-18-2011, 03:30 PM

Originally posted by hcc

You received some good advice so far. Let me add a personal experience. I shoot often in Hi Continuous Shooting and I need the Hi frame rate 5.2 fps for at least 5-10 s. I even took sequences of more than 60 s at 5.2 fps. (I have a K-7, but the K-5 has the basically the same features). I did numerous tests with a range of settings and lenses. Ultimately I found a solution whcih works well for me (and other Pentaxians).

The keys of consistent fast burst rates are:
1- switch off (kill off) al in-camera PP,
2- use a fast card (class 10 or better) with ample of free space,
3- shoot JPEG and select a JPEG size such the the JPEG size times time the frame rate is less than the card writing speed.

[1] is critical in all cases. Remove all in-camera PP including lens distortion correction, high-ISO correction, ....

[2] and [3] are essential to long sequences/bursts to prevent the buffer to be full.

Hope that the comments will help.

With K-7 you can take pictures at hi-speed for ever with setting the camera to jpg and one star quality. This is not possible with K-5. The max is some 105-107 jpg in one minute, it slows down when buffer is full and continous with about 1,3 fps. For RAW it is about 1,25 fps after full buffer with a fast card.

rawr · 06-18-2011, 03:33 PM

Originally posted by Smeggypants

Higher ISO shots can have file sizes upto 50% bigger.

The most likely cause. High ISO K-5 RAW files can be huge. Add to that handling high-ISO JPGs (you said you were shooting RAW+) and it means the camera is being asked to pump out and process probably 50MB or more of data for each shot. Handling these extra megabytes and then doing the in-camera JPG processing itself is a huge CPU, memory buffer and I/O load, which in turn will also expose bottlenecks in your disk media (write speeds to your SD card).

06-16-2011, 12:21 PM	#1
10speeduk Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Kent Posts: 75	K5 appears to be slowing down...?! Hi all, My K5 today was getting really slow on burst mode. Even on M with the speed set to 1/8000 sec, the shutter did not seem to be any faster than 1/320 sec, also the camera would shoot only every 3-4 seconds. This was in low light conditions so I guessed maybe the auto-focus was struggling a bit, so maybe slowing it down? I tried it in full daylight and it improved, but still buffering after 7 shots... Anyone else know what I am doing wrong? I have removed all noise reduction functions and chrom abberation, shadow lightening...etc to help the processor(?) in a bid to speed things up. My memory card is a class 10 32gb 23mbs and the camera was fast when I bought it . Ideas???? I am sure it must be something I am doing wrong. I hope! Cheers Paul

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06-16-2011, 12:39 PM	#2
Francis Senior Member Join Date: May 2010 Location: Hilversum Photos: Gallery Posts: 215	Strictly ideas: memory card, full, near capacity? battery charged? AF lock before shutter release?

06-16-2011, 01:39 PM	#3
philbaum Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2007 Location: Port Townsend, Washington State, USA Posts: 3,659	format your memory card and try again. if that doesn't work well, try a different brand of memory card. Memory cards are not as fast when they start filling up because the computer has to search for different sectors that are available, instead of consecutive writing -is what i read.

06-16-2011, 03:11 PM	#4
Smeggypants Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Posts: 1,536	Higher ISO shots can have file sizes upto 50% bigger. So maybe it's taking logner to write them to the card.

06-16-2011, 03:33 PM	#5
10speeduk Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Kent Posts: 75 Original Poster	Thanks guys, will reformat the card in a bit. I had a play around and found that changing the focus mode from 'C' to 'AF.S' made a massive difference. -Although I think in good lighting this is less of an issue. I may even had it set to Raw+Jpeg by mistake (drive button seems to add it when in info mode). Didn't realise the higher ISO had larger files, noted! Am having a big shoot at a wedding on Sat, so will hopefully perform good from here on in. Thanks for your responses. Paul

06-16-2011, 10:41 PM	#6
frank Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Singapore Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,202	Have you upgraded the firmware? Better upgrade to the latest firmware to improve the stability and performance

06-16-2011, 10:54 PM	#7
Rocketvapor Senior Member Join Date: May 2011 Location: Louisiana Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 102	Upgrade firmware on Friday for an event on Saturday?

06-17-2011, 01:33 AM	#8
frank Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Singapore Photos: Gallery Posts: 3,202	Originally posted by Rocketvapor Upgrade firmware on Friday for an event on Saturday? It won't take your 24 hours but rather 2 to 4min to upgrade, why not

06-17-2011, 01:57 AM	#9
10speeduk Forum Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Location: Kent Posts: 75 Original Poster	Thanks guys, I had the latest version of firmware installed and a full battery. Will reformat the card and let you know how tomorrow goes!

06-17-2011, 03:36 AM	#10
mikknu Forum Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Silkeborg, Denmark Posts: 82	With my K-5 I experienced it slowing down in shutter speed, while my flash was mounted, even though it was turned off. As soon as I removed the flash, the shutter speed was back to it's normal fast pace.

06-17-2011, 08:05 AM	#11
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	Well using AF-C and setting the preference to focussing and not fps slows your camera down to some 3 fps I guess with difficult things to focus on (and depending on the lens).

06-18-2011, 01:48 PM	#12
biboun New Member Join Date: Jun 2011 Posts: 19	anytime, if you just want to check speed: set af-c to priority fps mode m, set shutter speed to 1/1000 or more ( we don't care about exposure) set burst mode to quickest Press the button , keep it pressed and listen to the clic clic clic It should go 7 fps and stop after a while (less than 20 pics if i remember well) for raw files, and until the card is full for jpeg. I you care about the shutter count, don't play it too much cause you could add 100 shutter clics in a few seconds.

06-18-2011, 03:19 PM	#13
hcc Pentaxian Join Date: Nov 2009 Location: Brisbane, Australia Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 4,002	You received some good advice so far. Let me add a personal experience. I shoot often in Hi Continuous Shooting and I need the Hi frame rate 5.2 fps for at least 5-10 s. I even took sequences of more than 60 s at 5.2 fps. (I have a K-7, but the K-5 has the basically the same features). I did numerous tests with a range of settings and lenses. Ultimately I found a solution whcih works well for me (and other Pentaxians). The keys of consistent fast burst rates are: 1- switch off (kill off) al in-camera PP, 2- use a fast card (class 10 or better) with ample of free space, 3- shoot JPEG and select a JPEG size such the the JPEG size times time the frame rate is less than the card writing speed. [1] is critical in all cases. Remove all in-camera PP including lens distortion correction, high-ISO correction, .... [2] and [3] are essential to long sequences/bursts to prevent the buffer to be full. Hope that the comments will help.

06-18-2011, 03:30 PM	#14
RonHendriks1966 Banned Join Date: Jan 2009 Photos: Gallery Posts: 9,675	Originally posted by hcc You received some good advice so far. Let me add a personal experience. I shoot often in Hi Continuous Shooting and I need the Hi frame rate 5.2 fps for at least 5-10 s. I even took sequences of more than 60 s at 5.2 fps. (I have a K-7, but the K-5 has the basically the same features). I did numerous tests with a range of settings and lenses. Ultimately I found a solution whcih works well for me (and other Pentaxians). The keys of consistent fast burst rates are: 1- switch off (kill off) al in-camera PP, 2- use a fast card (class 10 or better) with ample of free space, 3- shoot JPEG and select a JPEG size such the the JPEG size times time the frame rate is less than the card writing speed. [1] is critical in all cases. Remove all in-camera PP including lens distortion correction, high-ISO correction, .... [2] and [3] are essential to long sequences/bursts to prevent the buffer to be full. Hope that the comments will help. With K-7 you can take pictures at hi-speed for ever with setting the camera to jpg and one star quality. This is not possible with K-5. The max is some 105-107 jpg in one minute, it slows down when buffer is full and continous with about 1,3 fps. For RAW it is about 1,25 fps after full buffer with a fast card.

06-18-2011, 03:33 PM	#15
rawr Veteran Member Join Date: Jun 2009 Posts: 11,913	Originally posted by Smeggypants Higher ISO shots can have file sizes upto 50% bigger. The most likely cause. High ISO K-5 RAW files can be huge. Add to that handling high-ISO JPGs (you said you were shooting RAW+) and it means the camera is being asked to pump out and process probably 50MB or more of data for each shot. Handling these extra megabytes and then doing the in-camera JPG processing itself is a huge CPU, memory buffer and I/O load, which in turn will also expose bottlenecks in your disk media (write speeds to your SD card).