Delay in writing - card or camera problem?

[IShootPeople]

I'm finding that I am running into a very frustrating problem.

I shoot a T3i, usually shooting RAW, and even with a 30 Mb/s card, my camera is often busy writing to the card when I need to take another shot. This has been only a little problem before, but this weekend I was shooting cars at a racetrack and found myself missing MANY shots because of the delay.

Is there anything I can do to improve this speed on my current camera, or is it a card problem that a faster speed one will fix? Is a different model camera better, or am I just going to have to live with it?

[John 2]

My understanding is that it's a combination of both. Recent camera models have improved processing times but even then there is a limit especially if your are shooting multiple exposures. I use 95MHz/sec cards. That helps but occasionally I still have to wait a second or two.

[Black Pearl]

Quick question.
Where did you buy the card and is it a genuine 30mbs card?

[IShootPeople]

I bought the card at Best Buy. It is made by SanDisk, so I can only assume it would be an accurate rating...

[davidedric]

I suppose another question is were you shooting single frames or in burst mode? I have the same camera, and have never had the problem (different cards, of course)

Dave

[IShootPeople]

I also neglected to mention that I was shooting in 1600 - 3200 ISO a lot as the clouds rolled in later in the day, so that may have also affected the write time. It may just be a problem that I have to work with as best as possible. This is the first time I've shot in such a fast paced event, so it was just a little more obvious then.

[IShootPeople]

I suppose another question is were you shooting single frames or in burst mode? I have the same camera, and have never had the problem (different cards, of course)

Dave

I was shooting burst mode.

[AB26]

Hi Kim,

Are you shooting bursts? Check and see the spec on your cameras buffer size.

Do the same thing shooting JPEG and see if the camera slows down. If it does not slow as much and as quickly as with shooting RAW files you will know the “buffer” is the bottle neck where everything starts slowing down.

[Manfred M]

Kim - this is a common issue with burst mode for any camera. The camera takes the picture and stores the data in an in-camera buffer. The data in the buffer is written to the memory card (a faster write speed on the card will help here, up to the maximum speed that your camera can process the images). Once the buffer has filled up, you can't take any more pictures until that internal camera memory is freed up through writing the files to the memory card. I know that with my camera, the burst shooting rate will slow down as the buffer fills.

Bottom line is that you are dealing with a camera / memory card hardware limitation. One work around is to shoot in jpeg (and lower resolution jpeg) rather than RAW, so that there is less data that has to be written to the buffer / memory card. A faster memory card may (or may not) help, you'll have to test to see if there is a significant difference here. If that does not work, upgrading the camera to one with a larger internal buffer may be worth considering if this limitation affecting your work.

[Black Pearl]

A quick Google shows the T3i as having a six shot RAW burst so it's very likely you're going to hit the buffer and have to wait for the camera to clear the data to the card.

My advice - get a faster card as it will help a little though you'll still be limited to a six shot high speed burst.

[IShootPeople]

Thank you all! I was struggling to find the term to research when comparing cameras. I was looking at the FPS rate, but did not see buffer. That will help in my researching.

[Polar01]

Kim a 30Mb/s card is a low end card, the speed given is read speed not write speed which is slower. Right now at Best Buy here in Canada, a SanDisk 16GB card at 30Mb/s is $25.00, same but at 80Mb/s is $60.00 on sale till Dec. 12 for $25.00, the 95Mb/s which reads at 95Mb/s and writes at 90Mb/s is $100.00. So I think your best recourse would be to purchase a faster card, best bang for your buck would be the $24.99 SanDisk 16GB card with 80Mb/s read/write.

Cheers: Allan

[Glenn NK]

I took the liberty to check out the performance of the Canon T3-i on DPReview (the T3-i is also called the 600D):

Text in italics is quoted directly from their review (text in bold was highlighted by me). Note that DPR used a faster card than the OP is using, so his results may be less than noted herein.

The continuous shooting rate of the 600D is one of the biggest distinctions between it and the more expensive 60D (along with its smaller viewfinder and single dial control, etc). It attains a respectable, though not exactly blistering 3.6 fps in all its image modes, but can maintain this for just three frames in raw + jpeg mode, and 6 frames in raw only. Because it takes 8 seconds to fully clear its buffer in these modes, it's not terribly useful for shooting short bursts of action, since there's every chance the camera won't have recovered by the time you need another handful of shots. If you find yourself trying to shoot sports or action, you may find yourself better-off taking a metering and WB test shot then shooting JPEG, which gives a much more respectable 40 frame buffer.

JPEG: 3.6 fps for around 40 frames, then around 2.7 fps. 4.5 seconds to recover.
RAW: 3.6 fps for 6 frames, then around 0.77 fps. 8 seconds to recover.
RAW+JPEG 3.6 fps for 3 frames, then two slower frames followed by 0.5 fps. 8.5 seconds to recover.

All tests conducted with SanDisk Extreme Pro 45MB/s SDHC UHS-I card.

[Andrew76]

As the others have suggested, I think your issue is twofold : The card is slower than it can be, that's true, but your FPS rate, and buffer time are seriously limiting you.

A quick interweb search will give you the same findings. When comparing the T3i to other models, most people opted for the 60D, 7D, or even older 50D models for shooting sports.

That's not to say that the T3i isn't a good camera, it's a great body. But the Rebels were never rated very highly as 'sports' cameras.

[IShootPeople]

Yeah, from what I'm reading as well, it looks like the other Canons are better. The 70D buffer is more than double what the T3i is. As I find myself shooting more and more things that require a quick response, it looks like I will need to invest some money in another camera.

[kaneohebud]

I've been using SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB 90 mbs cards for some time. Shooting at 12 fps, I've never waited for buffer. Echo others advice, buy a faster card.

[RustBeltRaw]

I've been using SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB 90 mbs cards for some time. Shooting at 12 fps, I've never waited for buffer.

It sounds like you have a decent amount of time between bursts. To clarify and slightly over-simplify, buffer size is how long a burst you can shoot, and card/write speed determines how quickly those shots are emptied from the buffer. Your camera probably has a counter in the display for how many shots can be taken at full burst speed. This will go down as you shoot, and tick up as the buffer empties to the card. To use the buffer most effectively, I recommend practicing while keeping an eye on that counter. You'll develop a feel for the camera's burst behavior pretty quickly. Once you know your sport pretty well, you'll start a burst when you suspect a critical moment is coming, and be able to drive throughout the whole moment without filling the buffer. The smaller the buffer and the slower the card, the better at this you have to be.

...I find myself shooting more and more things that require a quick response, it looks like I will need to invest some money in another camera.

If you don't need very high resolution, check out the Canon 1D mkII and mkIII. The mkII does 8.5fps for 10 RAW frames at 8.2MP, and the mkIII does 10fps for 30 RAW frames at 10.1MP. Haven't used the mkII extensively, and early mkIII cameras had focus issues. Don't buy one unless the serial number is above 546561, and make sure it has, or you can apply, firmware revision 1.1.1 or higher.

A friend at a camera store found an excellent deal (less than a clean 7D) on a used mkIII which I grabbed just a couple months ago. I's supposed to be a backup, and most of the time, it is, but I like shooting it more than my 60D. Better focus system and ergonomics, with high-ISO performance very comparable to the 60D. With the 1.3x crop factor and poor reputation from its early focus issues, the camera is something of an ugly duckling. It sells for about 1/3rd as much as its 21MP cousin, the 1Ds mkIII.

But be careful, because a 10fps drive speed is intoxicating, and symptoms of spray-and-pray syndrome may arise.

[Colin Southern]

Faster cards do make a difference, but in many cases the camera itself is still a significant archillies heal. You've really got a "perfect storm" of conditions there Kim; reasonably slow camera - shooting RAW - at high ISO (bigger files due to the noise) - with a reasonably slow card by today's standards.

Probably the thing that'll give you the biggest "bang for your buck" would be to try changing to JPEG on this occasion -- that should make a world of difference.

[rpcrowe]

I never noticed any delay when I was shooting with my 40D camera; possibly because of rather small file sizes.

However when I switched to the 7D, the camera slowed down a bit using my older CF cards.

I switched to 300x UDMA Lexar CF cards and that solved my problem. I later purchased a couple of 400x UDMA Lexar CF cards and I really don't see much difference between the 300x and 400x cards. I assume the increased write speed because the 300x and 400x cards are a lot faster than my older cards and also because the 7D can utilize the UDMA technology.

BTW: I shot my China Trip mostly using the 300x UDMA cards in my 40D camera. The 40D camera did not support UDMA technology, so no advantage in shooting, but downloading large numbers of images using a UDMA capable card reader went a lot faster than the non-UDMA cards.

BTW: the 7d is a dandy camera for shooting sports and action because of the fast, accurate and versatile autofocus system.

A refurbished 7D will not cost a king's ransom.