p.1 #1 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
I guess having shot film your taught to make your shots count, as opposed to the digital age where we can blaze away and throw anything we don't like into the recycle bin.
I like to shoot Birds in Flight, but I've shot aviation and auto racing as well. When I got my 1DMKIV (thanks Mitesh!) the first thing I did was set it up and just had to try 10FPS shooting. But I found I was only clicking off a few shots at a time, film training I guess. So I tried to hold it down a bit longer,and found not just one shot Out of focus but all of them.
I drew a few conclusions from this, having a high FPS doesn't guarantee anything, If the 1st shot is out of focus then the others may be as well,the other thing is If it is in focus, you get a whole lot of shots that pretty much look the same, yes there may be different wing positions, but you really don't need them all.
So I only shoot at 3 FPS now, and I find it works pretty well. Do I miss shots ? Yes I sure do, but I'll probably get another chance, maybe not, but you never know.
So what do you really need all those FPS for ?
p.1 #2 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
Setting up the AF tracking parameters is not related (directly) to the FPS.
It depends what your goal is how many FPS are required - sports shooters, for example will get paid more for "the moment" rather than one just before or after it Freezing the diving kingfisher in flight so its bill is just touching the water is more dramatic than a bill's length away or halfway into the water etc....
p.1 #3 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
All sports can generally benefit from a fairly high frame rate. I've shot a lot of baseball, football, basketball, tennis, rodeo and a scattering of other stuff. I'm generally O.K. with 6-7 fps, but fielding action for baseball is murder and I would kill for 10-12 fps. I'm always missing that key instant where the ball is j-u-s-t out of the glove's fingertips because the ball travels so darn fast. For other sports it just depends on the play. I may just motor off 3-4 frames or a dozen frames, but only one frame will be really juicy.
The focus is another factor entirely. These days ya gotta love these cameras that can nail focus better and more accurately than I ever could, and I've been shooting professionally for 35 years. You just have to set the focus options and points properly.
p.1 #9 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
I also trained with film cameras. I had a camera that would shoot an entire roll of 36 frames in 3 1/2 seconds.
Most of the time now I shoot at 5-7 frames per second and seldom want to use my body that shoots 10 FPS.
Shooting mostly wildlife much of the time that is enough. When occasionally shooting sports often a faster frame rate is worthwhile to me. To me the option to shoot at 10+ FPS is nice to have in your bag of tricks.
p.1 #11 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
I would say that from using the 1D2 (8FPS), 1D4/7D2 (10FPS), 1DX (12FPS), and now 1DX2 (14 FPS) that the optimal for me is 10-12FPS for sports. 14 FPS is not really getting me any more keepers but adds to my post processing time quite a bit with extra culling. The differences between the frames are not large enough to make it worth it. I don't shoot baseball or motor sports though so that may be the reason why I don't see much of an advantage.
It's pretty rare that I actually need more then 6 frames per peak moment. It's the interval between frames that is the determining factor for me. Under 10 and I'm missing key frames.
p.1 #12 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
I started shooting professional news and sports with a Canon AT-1 and a Power Winder A that could manage about 1.8-2 fps.
The fastest (and best )pro film camera I shot with was the Canon EOS-1V, which could do a max of 7fps with the PB-E2 attached, or about the speed of a 5D Mark IV today.
Faster is (usually) better, but it's worth remembering that talented action photographers have been wowing us for decades with gear that would be considered completely inadequate now.
p.1 #14 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
I think 8 FPS is ideal for a lot of people (many get by with less), and plenty for most action, with 10-12 being the sweet spot for the most demanding action (like baseball or tennis). In my experience and from what I have seen, moving to 14 FPS (or higher) doesn't seem to add anything except more identical pictures to delete in post. YMMV of course, it's never really a bad thing to have more FPS in the digital world, but I do find it can add a lot of time when culling multiple identical photos if you go nuts with it when it isn't absolutely required.
p.1 #16 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
The other question is how long do you hold down the shutter button even if your shooting 12/14 fps. I think you get used to firing off just a very small number of frames at a high rate. No question with sports I'll take 12fps. I never shots birds but it wasn't often I had focusing issues with 1d4 at 10fps.
High speed mirrorless seems to open up a whole new game IMO, especially with lower shutter speeds and quietness. I play with my sony rx100 iv and it has a mode of 16fps I think it's super cool. Easy enough to hit delete.
p.1 #17 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
For BIFs, 10 fps seems adequate for me. But I look forward to the day when I can shoot 24+ fps in RAW. Then I'd have the option to present the burst as a high quality footage, or select a frame from the decisive moment to process as still.
May 23, 2017 at 04:13 PM
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p.1 #18 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
I like the 10fps capability of the 1D Mark 4, just what the doctor ordered - even though I mostly shoot bursts of 3-5 frames, not more.
p.1 #19 · How many FPS do you actually have to have ?
For really fast action, I find the 14fps of my 1DX2 sometimes limiting. However, most of the time I keep the frame rate at 8, which is the highest I can reliably fire off a single frame with, and which settles really most applications.
Freezing the diving kingfisher in flight so its bill is just touching the water is more dramatic than a bill's length away or halfway into the water etc....
