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06-09-2014, 04:39 AM   #1
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Burst speed

Newbie question - is "burst speed" the same as "continuous shooting"? Trying to figure out how to shoot at 8 fps for the first time from the owners manual.
Your help would be appreciated. Thanks

06-09-2014, 05:38 AM   #2
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Not sure where 'burst speed' comes from, but 'continuous shooting ' means pictures will be taken continuously so long as the shutter release button is pressed ( although in practical terms camera memory buffer, card write speed, etc, will impact the actual speed and number).

Last edited by JohnX; 06-09-2014 at 07:14 AM.
06-09-2014, 05:56 AM   #3
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You need to turn the camera to shutter priority in that AF.S menu (screen C 15 AF.S Setting should be set to 2.) Then make sure you AF modes is set to AF.S) so that the camera does not check to see if your subject is in focus before it releases the shutter. If the camera is in the default focus priority, the camera will check focus before every shutter actuation, and that will cause pauses in your burst.

A few days ago I used this setting on Hummingbirds and it was pretty much a wash, because the hummingbird was darting in and out of focus and only 1 image in 3 was in sharp focus, but for slower moving things you can half depress the shutter button to lock focus and then burst away. If you are photographing a critical sequence it gives you a much greater chance of obtaining a useable image.

I think I have that right, if not, I'm sure someone will correct me.
06-09-2014, 06:15 AM   #4
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Another thing which influences ultimate speed - considering the buffer and writing - is the in-camera processing. I made (on the advice of others) a user-mode for "fast shot" which turns most everything off. I presume shooting RAW only will also do this, but it can't hurt. The lens correction, highlight correction etc. plus since you're likely going for action just turn off the shake reduction and save all that as a User Mode (mine is in TAv as a base).

Continuous shooting is the same as burst mode, from what I can gather. Take exposures as fast as the camera can manage - which is pretty fast.

06-09-2014, 06:20 AM   #5
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Thank you. I actually saw the term "burst" on this forum and understood it to mean "Take exposures as fast as the camera can manage", so I wanted to try it out.
Thanks for the help !
06-09-2014, 07:11 AM   #6
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A good tip if you're trying to follow action, is stop down your aperture as much as feasible to increase the depth of field, use the back AF button to track - use center focus or center area focus, and AF-C mode. I do this with the dogs, who are sometimes coming at me pretty fast, and while it's not perfect I do get enough keepers.
06-09-2014, 09:31 AM   #7
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QuoteOriginally posted by Shakey Quote
Newbie question - is "burst speed" the same as "continuous shooting"? Trying to figure out how to shoot at 8 fps for the first time from the owners manual.
Your help would be appreciated. Thanks
Burst speed is the maximum frame rate the shutter and mirror etc will support, up to the number of frames it takes to fill the buffer (assuming no processing such as lens correction, auto white balance etc.). Once the buff is full, then there is a continuous rate that presents the throughput of the entire camera system ,

Note that generally there can be 2 or more different continuous ratings, one for RAW and one for JPEG(perhaps more for JPEG based upon image quality and processing ) since you can generally get more images per second with JPEG than raw simply due to data transfer rate in Mbps and the higher megabits per image in raw

06-09-2014, 09:35 AM   #8
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Your camera has a DRIVE mode. In DRIVE mode, it can shoot continuously. In DRIVE-HI mode, it will attempt to shoot as fast as its settings allow. In DRIVE-LO mode, it'll shoot at a lower speed (3 FPS? I forget).

To get the maximum burst speed in DRIVE-HI mode, you will need to shoot in JPEG, without any corrections on. You can shoot in RAW and try to get 8.3FPS, but I find that it's easier in JPEG.
06-09-2014, 02:46 PM   #9
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It hasn't been mentioned, probably maybe it is obvious, but remember that the camera can only take photos as fast as your shutter speed.
You're going to need a relatively fast shutter speed to allow for exposure as well as the mirror to open/close.
i.e. If you're testing this for the first time indoors, your exposure may be slow to reach full "burst" speed.
06-09-2014, 03:21 PM   #10
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Wow, thank you all for your responses! Very educational. Fun to learn something new.
06-11-2014, 10:29 AM   #11
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You want more than 8 FPS burst mode? I found that resetting the camera to factory settings, I can get almost 20+ shots before it starts to buffer. Anyone else notice this?
06-12-2014, 03:25 PM   #12
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The terminologies can be misleading for sure . The term 'burst mode' is often used to mean continuous shooting, ie a burst of shots all at once, bit more confused by the fact that the latest camera offer 2 or 3 'burst rates' - ie hi or low!



More confusing is the mixing of the term continuous, which on Pentax is used for the autofocus mode af-c ie continuous af ... But to most people the more common term for this mode is af 'tracking', perhaps more explanatory.



Really' continuous' is not much good to describe Hi-speed bursts either, as others have described above there's nothing continuous about it as the burst is limited by the buffer and writing to sd card speed limits.



Regarding the processing of camera set parameters like distortion corrections and NR, shadow/highlight etc, my experience with the K7 is that these settings, in raw ir jpeg, do not slow down the speed of the actual bursts... But the do increase the time to display a review image following the end of a burst of shots.
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