Continuous shooting out of order??

Hi everyone...new to the forum...just got my D3300 4 days ago. I hope you can tell me if I am doing something wrong, of if the camera just needs to be returned under warranty.

My problem is that when I select "continuous shooting release mode" I can only get the camera to consistently shoot multiple fps while in "sports" mode. When that mode is selected (and IIRC possibly another "effect" mode) I have no problem shooting up to 5 FPS and they come out just fine.

However, when I am in (for example) auto mode (either one....the auto as part of the APSM series, and/or the "auto mode" selected from the dial....and I use the button to select "continuous shooting", I can see the multiple image icons in the live view screen showing me that yes.. I am in continuous shooting mode. But, when I press the shutter release, I only get one photo. I check back, and the mode is still showing "continuous release" as opposed to single shot. Yet, I can only seem to get multiple fps in Sports mode consistently.

Do I contact Nikon to return the camera, or am I doing something wrong following my selection of continuous? Thanks for any help you can provide, and my apologies if my explanation was somewhat obscure.

BTW...the issue would not involve any buffers, as ample time is given before shooting, and the memory card is 32gb. Again, thanks in advance for any advice. The camera is great, but this appears to be the only "issue" I can identify after owing it for 4 days.

I'm really not sure about what I think, but whenever you're in "LiveView", I don't think you can use continuous mode. Check into your manual.

Is the flash popped up? You can't do continuous with the flash. It's hard to avoid the flash popped up in Auto. Try A, S, or P

I suspect the root cause of the problem is your use of various "auto modes". Don't leave all the decision making to your camera - take charge of some aspect of the operation yourself. Decide what would be most beneficial to your image taking: user control of the aperture setting, or user control of the shutter speed?

If you feel the shutter speed is what you need to be in control of most, select "S" (for shutter priority). If command of the aperture setting will deliver the result you want, select "A" (for aperture priority). Forget about "sports scene", "Auto", or "P" (program mode); that's not why you spent the money to buy a decent camera. Once you've mastered A and S priority, come on back, and I'll tell you about the glorious image capturing possibilities contained in "M" (full manual mode).

Try the A and S modes. The burst works best in these. P and other fully AUTO modes use camera logic, and if the camera thinks that a flash is needed or the focus is not acquired it will not shoot. Another reason may be that AF is in AF-S (Single Servo) mode. Change it to AF-C. In AF-S it will not fire till the focus is acquired.

Thanks for all the excellent suggestions. For what it's worth, I think I've discovered the "issue". It is covered in the post above...however, to embellish, It seems that the camera needs to ensure there is sufficient light to allow the continuous mode to operate at multiple FPS. In proper lighting, the continuous burst works along all modes with no problem. However, in lower light, it typically will only fire off a single shot. This epiphany helped me a great deal so I'll pass it on to anyone else who might have been wondering about the same thing.