I sent my 7d back for this very reason. It was frustrating going from the MarkIIn 8FPS to the 7d 4fps. When they fix this problem then maybe I'll rethink the 7d.
Since the camera does have a sensor built into the back panel so that it can adjust LCD brightness, can that be involved? The camera is capable of telling how bright the room is. I have my LCD at manual, not auto brightness. I am just about to update both of my 7D to 1.1.0 software. I'll test them soon. So far I have been able to get 8 fps with a reasonable ISO and shutter speed in MF, M mode, UDMA card.
OK, with firmware 1.1.0 in both bodies I just did a test while standing in my office - not a very bright room at the moment. With EF 70-200/4 IS lens attached, IS on/off made no difference, AF off, ISO 200, M mode, 1000 f/4. One body bty at 37%, other at 40%. How many jpg in 10 sec - 72 on one body, 73 with the other. Do I need to go outside (sunshine) and run the same test?
Whoa - you are correct. I put the camera under my coat, same settings as my last test, and 4 fps. That is nuts. I am going to try and locate that sensor on the camera that detects room light and....... gee, putting tape over it will only make it think it is dark always. Attach an led?
OK, standing in a dark room and having it going at 4 fps, I moved a small flashlight around the camera. Only when I put light into the viewfinder or lens did it speed up to 7 fps.
gasrocks what white balance mode are you in? If you are in AWB and you change it to a preset white balance (ie. 'sunlight') and not LiveView, do you still get the slowdown?
If it's not that, it's honestly just plain goofy that it should have to do such a thing, no practical reason, especially considering that it does not do it in live view. It sounds like just a quirk of the firmware, unless there is something canon knows that we are overlooking.
I don't know about the 7d... but on my 5d2 the higher ISOs have a much higher MB per file.
A 100 iso RAW is around 20mb while a 12800 ISO file is around 40MB! That is double the data!!! As the ISO is boosted it makes for shorter bursts/slower shooting speeds as the cache is filled faster.
Though I ddont have a 7d to test with.. It it happening in the dark with low isos set?
otherwise I am guessing it is an intentional thing to allow for more time for the camera to lock.
So something like a 20D (5fps) is faster than the 7D if you're in a dark room? It is ridiculous, considering that no other canon DSLR has this kind of behavior.
It's like having a car that is supposed to go 80mph, but for some reason when it's dark outside, it slows down to 40mph. Turn the heater up to full and close all the windows and it suddenly goes back up to 80mph.
Maybe one way you can test the theory above is to try turning down the JPEG or RAW size? ie. from 'L'arge to 'M'edium or 'S'mall, and so on for the raw. Set it to 'S' JPEG and the smallest raw, see if it still slows down in low light.
As has been mentioned, if you need 8fps for a burst (and you're faster than 1/60 sec shutter speed) just do an AE-lock (the * button) and the 7D will fire at 8fps. It's a lame work around, but when I need 8fps in dim light, I do this. Canon needs a firmware upgrade for this; there is no reason it should slow frame rates if the camera is in fully manual mode.
Bmeister wrote:
As has been mentioned, if you need 8fps for a burst (and you're faster than 1/60 sec shutter speed) just do an AE-lock (the * button) and the 7D will fire at 8fps. It's a lame work around, but when I need 8fps in dim light, I do this. Canon needs a firmware upgrade for this; there is no reason it should slow frame rates if the camera is in fully manual mode.
Say, does this work in M? If so, that's a workable work around. (Of course, Canon ought to fix it.)
Switching over from Nikon, just purchased a 7D. I can't not get 8fps. This is crazy, I hope they fix it soon. Rented a 5oomm for this weekend BIF and cant get 8fps.
Not to be a smart-ass, but I think you need to read the manual more carefully and experiment with the camera. If it is so dark that the fps has dropped, you don't need to worry. You won't be taking any BIFs with a 500mm lens.
Thanks Mark for the reply. It is true that switching from Nikon to Canon is a learning curve. Thats why we already had a Canon friend (shoots with a MkIII) go through the setting for us and set it up for BIF.
I tested in direct sunlight today and it did the same thing. Coming from shooting a D700 with a 600mm, I understand low light with telephoto lens.
Not to be a smart-ass back -- there is something wrong with the camera.
Not going to read 5 pages here but did you check if 'High iso noise reduction' is ON ? That setting can hinder 8fps even though you are not on high iso.
"
• For technical reasons, there’s a significant drop in the camera’s “burst rate” when High ISO
Noise Reduction is active. You can still set your camera to its fastest continuous shooting
setting, such as 6.5 fps on the EOS 40D, but you’ll only be able to shoot a handful of shots
in a continuous burst before the camera slows down if the High ISO Noise Reduction is active."
Northeast Bay wrote:
Thanks Mark for the reply. It is true that switching from Nikon to Canon is a learning curve. Thats why we already had a Canon friend (shoots with a MkIII) go through the setting for us and set it up for BIF.
I tested in direct sunlight today and it did the same thing. Coming from shooting a D700 with a 600mm, I understand low light with telephoto lens.
Not to be a smart-ass back -- there is something wrong with the camera.
Northeast Bay wrote:
Not to be a smart-ass back -- there is something wrong with the camera.
Open to suggestions!
Well, that could be it too.
Does the fps start out fast and then drop? Could you be hitting the buffer? I think Kirry's suggestion of High ISO Noise Reduction doesn't affect the fps right away, it just reduces the buffer size.
Not sure if Nikon works this way, but there are two fps settings that you access with the top LCD. You want to see the "H", signifying the High fps setting. No "H", and you'll be at something lower, I think 6 fps?
"The article also stated that cameras, using DIGIC 4 processors and in-camera high ISO noise reduction set to "Strong", will experience a slow down in burst rate. That burst rate reduction only occurs when it is set to "strong".
NorthEastBay, what's the setting on your 7D like ? I think it's worth a try :-)
