Shooting Continuous

I recently thought I'd esperiment with shooting Continuous. It's my understanding that Continuous Low is 3 fps and Continuous High is 5 fps. But CL shoots 5 fps, the same as CH (altho a bit slower). Am I misunderstanding, or doing something wrong?

I have the D5500, and I've noticed several factors which come into play when shooting continuous. They may apply to your situation here.

First, the buffer fills up very quickly when shooting RAW in Continuous. So quickly that it will slow the shooting rate in CH to CL (or lower) in 4 - 5 shots before pausing completely to refresh shortly thereafter. This is especially true if you've chosen High Quality RAW files as your default.

Second, the freshness of your battery makes a difference. Even in Low Quality RAW your fps rate will be reduced, sometimes from the get-go, if the battery is rather drained.

Third, it seemed to me that shooting continuous in Live View also produced a drain on the system(s). As such, that acted like a weaker battery, dropping the fps in a similar fashion.

If it's an option for you, when I needed longer bursts without a reduction in fps (shooting hummingbirds in flight, for instance) I have had great success shooting in JPEG. Obviously if you are adamant about post processing the absolute maximum amount, this might make you bridle. But if you are not so inclined, again, I have great success this way. Nikon color science and JPEG processing are superb, even in camera without any pp at all.

Finally: just bite the bullet and get a D500. That will instantly make this a non-issue

By the way, you may want to update your profile info to indicate that you own the D5500. As it stands, you are currently shown as owning only the D3000 and D3100.

Thank you! Guesss it's been a while............

Thanks for the ideas. My real question is why CL doesn't shoot just 3 fps. There is basically no difference between CL and CH (other than CL shoots the 5 frames a tad slower than in CH)

Dangerspouse said:

I have the D5500, and I've noticed several factors which come into play when shooting continuous. They may apply to your situation here.....

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A good response Dangerspouse. My D5100 is ancient, but I've noticed that my camera's ability to handle continuous shooting of images is somehow light-dependent as well. On a perfect sunny day, I seem to be able to shoot continuous for longer, but at dusk or in shadow, the camera's action rapidly slows. Maybe the camera's processor has to work harder in tricky lighting; I just don't know. With my primary photographic interest being trains in motion, I use continuous shooting a lot.

ENGLISHPROF, does your continuous shooting rate remain the same on both settings in all kinds of lighting? Just curious.

Someday when I upgrade, the continuous shooting rate and buffer capacity will be of great interest.

ENGLISHPROF said:

Thanks for the ideas. My real question is why CL doesn't shoot just 3 fps. There is basically no difference between CL and CH (other than CL shoots the 5 frames a tad slower than in CH)

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I have to say, I was (am) a bit confused here. In your first post you stated "...CL shoots 5 fps, the same as CH (altho a bit slower)". You reiterate that in the post quoted above. The statement seems contradictory to me. If CL shoots "a bit slower" than CH, then that is NOT the same as CH. And a difference of one to two frames per second is only a bit slower, and probably by the amount the spec sheet says it is.

I may be off the mark, but I'd hazard a guess that the buffering rate of the D5500 in CH, set to High Quality RAW, drops the fps to the same rate as CL very quickly. But here's the catch: you are assuming it's the CL rate that is rising, not the CH rate that is falling. How are you determining whether you are shooting at 3fps or 5fps, for instance? If you have a way of accurately measuring minute amounts like that, I'd be curious to see if I am right.

Here is an alternative you might try: switch to JPEG and see if there is a difference. Hold the shutter button down for an accurately timed 5 second burst in both CH and CL, then count how many frames each one shot. It has been my experience that buffering will not be an issue when shooting in JPEG in this model, unlike RAW, so you should get a better idea if your CH and CL have equal frame rates.

It's been overcast for a while, so I can't really judge. But I will try on a birghter day

I know it shoots 5 frames because there are 5 photos. It was my understanding in CL there would be 3 photos. So in CH, it shoots CHCHCHCHCH, while in CL it shoots CL CL CL CL CL (that's a crude representation of the CL shooting a bit slower). I shoot in both JPEG and RAW. Yes, you are right: my interest is why the CL is rising;I wanted to primarily use if for exposure bracketing

Thanks all for the suggestions. I guess here I need to quote Alexander Pope, "A little learning is a dangerous thing. Drink deep or not at all of the Pierian spring." I needed to turn Bracketing on--Doh!! When I did, CL shot 3 photos, as did CH (but a bit faster)
But I still think there is an issue. I have looked at a couple different books on the 5500 and they all say on CL you will get 3 shots and on CH you will get 5 shots. Doesn't seem like all the books would be wrong, but.....

ENGLISHPROF said:

I know it shoots 5 frames because there are 5 photos. It was my understanding in CL there would be 3 photos.

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Continuous means it will continue to shoot until the buffer fills - and that can take longer than one second. Then it will stop momentarily. It all depends on the size files being written. So when you hold your finger down on the shutter button, it will continuously fire.

So, if you press the shutter button and hold it down for several seconds, you are getting faster than 3 frames per second in CL burst mode? Maybe it is just your camera. I doubt each camera is precision tested before going on the sales floor. You can go into your settings and lower it to 2 or 1 fps and see if that makes a difference.

There is a list of things necessary to get your camera to shoot at 5 fps in CH burst mode, so it is likely you are shooting at 4 fps at CH anyway, so you won't perceive much of a difference between CH and CL.

CH means 5 frames per second as long as you hold the shutter down. CL means 3 frames per second as long as you hold the shutter down. Seems like that's exactly what you're describing. Of course, if your buffer gets full, it'll slow down....

I appreciate all the comments and suggestions as they all have given me something to try or think about or look into. After some further research, I remain perplexed. I find that in Bracketing both CL and CH shoot 3 frames (altho at different speeds). In A, S, or M, CL and CH both shoot 5 frames--which is what puzzles me. The Nikon Manual says the Frame Advance rate for CL is up to 3 fps, and CH is up to 5 fps. So I do not know why CL continually shoots 5 frames (way beyond "up to 3"). Other Nikon books I've consulted say the same--David Busch says "These modes fire off shots at up to 3 or 5 frames per second, respectively." Jon Sparks says, for CL "The camera fires consinuously while the shutter release is fully depressed. The maximum frame rate is 3 frames per second (fps), and for CH" The Maximum frame rate is 5 fps." Why I am constantly getting 5 frames on CL is beyond me. I think I will just stick with Single release, and use Continuous for Bracketing becasue i do not want to always be shooting 5 frames. I did write to Nikon and maybe they will clear it up for me. Perhaps it is as DawgPics says and just an anomaly with my camera

Wait a sec. I think I see one of the problems here. To wit: unless I'm very much mistaken, the Bracketing function has NOTHING to do with Continuous or Single Shot. They are separate systems. When you choose Bracketing (including the menu option of how many stops of light you want the bracketing to cover, and whether you want AE, WB, or ADL brackets), the camera processes each shot three times and merges them for you to see. It does NOT take three shots in quick succession, merging them afterwards. Therefore, it has no effect on any of your Continuous or Single shot choices. Again: they are separate systems. One will not have any effect on the other.

I am really having trouble still, however, wrapping my head around your previous assertion that "I know it shoots 5 frames because there are 5 photos." So...you were able to time yourself holding the shutter button for exactly one second? That's how you know? Honestly, that just doesn't make sense. Did you press the button, at which time it took 5 frames and then stopped? Is that what you're saying? That's an extremely confusing sentence you wrote.

Oh well. As long as you are otherwise happy with your camera and this is just of academic interest, as you say, then it's pretty much a moot point, right? Just enjoy thinking your own D5500 is faster than specs say it should be!

I have a brain-ache after trying to read this thread. As Dangerspouse sums-up, the continuous shooting is the rate of how fast the camera automatically takes photos when the shutter is held down, not how many images are taken before it stops. In this case either a maximum of 5 images each second or 3 images each second for as long as the shutter is held down and the buffer does not fill.

I think the original post is about trying to take an exposure-bracketing burst with a single press of the shutter release. I'm not even certain I have a DSLR body with this feature, but I rarely use bracketing (as in never have for many years now). So I expect if you were to turn off the bracketing and test C-H and C-L by holding the shutter down for 5 seconds exactly on each, you would have 25 exposures on C-H and 15 exposures on C-L if the buffer does not fill and slow down the rate.

From what i read, in Bracketing to get 3 exposures you can either use Continuous (hold shutter button down) or Single Shot (press the shutter button 3 times in succession).
Ok, I guess my vocabulary is incorrect, but your statement "Did you press the button, at which time it took 5 frames and then stopped?" is what i was trying to say. It was my understanding that would only happen in CH, not CL.

Just to point you in the right direction.

ENGLISHPROF said:

From what i read, in Bracketing to get 3 exposures you can either use Continuous (hold shutter button down) YESor Single Shot (press the shutter button 3 times in succession).YES
Ok, I guess my vocabulary is incorrect, but your statement "Did you press the button, at which time it took 5 frames and then stopped?" is what i was trying to say. It was my understanding that would only happen in CH, not CL. In CH or CL, you can shoot as many frames as you wish. CH and CL only change the frame rate/speed that the camera shoots automatically

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ENGLISHPROF said:

"In this case either a maximum of 5 images each second or 3 images each second for as long as the shutter is held down and the buffer does not fill." AH! Finally, I worked this out after reading that. I was thinking that one press at CL would give 3 shots--not thinking about how quickly/slowly it would take them. What i just determined is that it seems 5 shots is all the buffer can hold. No, the buffer holds a lot more than 5 shots.So at CL I can take 5 "slow" shots before the buffer fills, and at CH I can take 5 "fast" shots before the buffer fills.No. CH and CL only change the rate/speed of the burst. The camera will stop shooting if the buffer fills, and will become operable again after the data is written to the card.Wow! That was hard won knowledge--thank you all!

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BRACKETING: In continuous (either CH or CL), the camera will pause between bracketing cycles. For example, you are bracketing 3 exposures, the camera will shoot 3 exposures-pause, shoot 3 more-pause, shoot 3-more-pause, and it will continue to do so until you let up or until the buffer fills, that is, if it fills. Depending on what settings you have, and what you are doing, it might not fill up. Your camera's reference manual has information on the buffer's capacity on the page that addresses Continuous/Burst shooting. That is all I got. Anything more technical than frame rate is jargon to me.

Thank you DawgPics. I think I'm limited to 5 shots before buffer fills because, as i've been playing around, I'm using an old card: SanDisk Ultra 15MB/s, Class 4. Pretty sure i need to put in one of my newer cards.....