[brosen]

I was doing some continuous shooting (High Speed) today at 10M pixels, and I was not able to get more that 30 pictures, after that the camera started to slow down, I am using a SanDisk Extreme III - 32 GB - Class 10 - SDHC (30MB/s), so I don't think it's the memory card the reason for the slow down, what's your experience ?, are you getting the same ?, maybe this is the physical limitation of the camera ?, what I did notice during the slow down the Access Card Light was on, any thoughts ?, thanks

[JohnBee]

Are you shooting RAW or JPG?

[enoeske]

Continuous FPS; - 5.2 FPS (40 JPG Continuous Hi, 15 RAW PEF, 14 RAW DNG); - 3.3 FPS (unlimited JPG Continuous Lo, 17 RAW PEF/DNG)

[brosen]

Are you shooting RAW of JPG?

JPG, and I am not getting even 40, and I am shooting at 10M

[enoeske]

JPG, and I am not getting even 40, and I am shooting at 10M

It doesn't matter if you are shooting at 2mp, it's still taking a picture with the whole sensor, reducing that image, saving it and flushing the sensors memory. Do you have any settings like noise reduction, distortion correction, CA correction or shadow/highlight priority on?

[JohnBee]

JPG, and I am not getting even 40, and I am shooting at 10M

That is very weird indeed.
Any chance you could reset your camera and try again?
Also... have you tried reformatting your card(in camera) to see if that helps?
I'm tempted to say there's added processing somewhere along the line, but I don't quite know how that would result in shooting X no. of shots then slowing down afterward since it usually affects all frame rates in such cases.

[brosen]

I did a RESET and I was able to take around 70 pictures at 14M High Speed Continuous Shooting, there was something in the settings, I need to find out now, thanks

[JohnBee]

I did a RESET and I was able to take around 70 pictures at 14M High Speed Continuous Shooting, there was something in the settings, I need to find out now, thanks

Good to hear!
Please share your findings on this.
I think it could be a valuable addition to the knowledge base with reference to continuous shooting.

[deltoidjohn]

I can't imagine ever needing 70 continuous frames @ 5fps, but it's good to know you're camera is now working at it's best!

Thinking back to the days of film, that's like shooting 2 full rolls of film in 14 seconds. You'd be burning through cash faster than a slot-machine addict at that rate.

[hcc]

For long sequences of Hi continuous shooting, it is essential to switch off all on-board processing. You do need to kill off any kind of in-camera PP incl. lens distortion correction, high ISO correction, .... Also do use AF.S or MF. (No AF.C.)

I am interested to hear that you were able to take 70 shots at 14MP: did you check that the frame rate was still 5.2 fps even at the end of the sequence ?

My own estimate suggests that you need to lower the resolution down to JPEG 6 Mp for 60 shots and more (ie over 10 sec.) without starting have a lower frame rate. I shoot myself with JPEG 6 Mp in a K-7 with a Sandisk Extreme III Class 10 card and I have been able to do over 20 sec. at 5.2 fps for the whole sequence.

If some wonders why so long sequences, there are some dynamic sequences (eg wave surfing, fountains, storms, volcanos) with high-shutter speed with which it does pay off to have some long sequences. It can also be used for some measurements in very dynamic environments, because the shots have a much higher resolution than any video movies incl. HD.

[deltoidjohn]

It doesn't matter if you are shooting at 2mp, it's still taking a picture with the whole sensor, reducing that image, saving it and flushing the sensors memory.

It does make a significant difference. Espescially when the card write speed is the weakest link in the chain. In the OP's scenario the resolution does not seem to be the problem but with my K-X shooting to class 4 cards dropping the res to 2mp is the only way to shoot full speed for more than 5-6 shots.

[RonHendriks1966]

It sounds weird but your camera is not getting faster by setting it from 14.5 megapixel down to 10 or 6 megapixel. Don't know how that works but my guess is that the camera catches al 14.5 megapixel and starts to proces it down to 10 and thus gets slower.

For the manual there is Jpeg setting (not RAW) and 3 star quality and you get your 40 shots.

Now the amazing trik
Set your K-7 to 14.5 megapixel, Jpeg and 1 star quality and you can keep up shooting. I meassured it and I got 306 pictures in a minute, so that is a 5.1 fps rate.

I used this for a little project, not yet finished, to make a sort of movie.

[hcc]

It sounds weird but your camera is not getting faster by setting it from 14.5 megapixel down to 10 or 6 megapixel. Don't know how that works but my guess is that the camera catches al 14.5 megapixel and starts to proces it down to 10 and thus gets slower.

I think that there is some misconception. In Hi continous shooting, there are several limitations linked with the buffer memory size, the in-camera processing time and the transfer rate from the camera to the card, rather than the camera itself.

With long sequences of Hi continuous shooting, all in-camera processing must be killed off, and the buffer memory must not be full. As soon as the buffer is full, the frame rate will drop. Here we are talking of sequence of 60-and-over shots at 5.2 fps without frame rate reduction. The buffer memory starts to fill in when the card transfer rate is less than the photo file rate (5.2 fps times the file size).

Practically, with long sequences, the main limitation is the transfer rate of the card. With a class 10 card (eg Sandisk Extreme III), I definitely recommend to use 6 Mp JPEG (and not 14 Mp) to ensure that your card's transfer rate can accept more than what you shoot.

[RonHendriks1966]

Now the amazing trik
Set your K-7 to 14.5 megapixel, Jpeg and 1 star quality and you can keep up shooting. I meassured it and I got 306 pictures in a minute, so that is a 5.1 fps rate.

I just repeat it. With this setting you can make 14.5 megapixel jpeg's without filling your buffer. So there is no ending to it, except when your card is full. This with a fast card, I used a 32 Gb class 10 card and made a sequel of just over 1500 frames.

[brosen]

I was able to shoot at 6MP Hi-Speed continuous shooting 237 shoots in 1 minute, that equivalent to 3.95 Shoots/Sec