Why is my Canon 60D slow with Built-in Flash?

[aviator999]

Hello, I am trying to take pictues with Canon 60D and 18-200 IS with Camera Buit in Flash.

When ever I start taking picures the first couple of picures are okay but after that I get a wait symbol on the camera screen and after 3 to 4 seconds then I press the shutter button

Is it normal or something wrong with my Camera. Probably I should start using External flash in low light situations.

[RichSoansPhotos]

Because its not very good

[Joe Ravenstein]

If you are shooting in RAW it will take longer to process the images causing the busy message. using the on board flash will slow the processing down, there are multiple reasons for the camera to seem to drag out the processing, if you are using lower class- IE class 6 or lower SD cards they will slow things down as well. Look up buffering speed effects as an example

[aviator999]

If you are shooting in RAW it will take longer to process the images causing the busy message. using the on board flash will slow the processing down, there are multiple reasons for the camera to seem to drag out the processing, if you are using lower class- IE class 6 or lower SD cards they will slow things down as well. Look up buffering speed effects as an example


Thank you much for the reply, I was not shooting RAW, but I was continiously shooting by turning the flash on, Probably I should be getting an external flash for low light situations. Hope its not a problem with my camera.

[tonylong]

Thank you much for the reply, I was not shooting RAW, but I was continiously shooting by turning the flash on, Probably I should be getting an external flash for low light situations. Hope its not a problem with my camera.

Even with an external flash it takes time for the flash to "recharge". Continuous shooting will be "iffy". You can do it but the flash will tend to be "hit or miss".

[HughR]

Other factors to consider are that the built-in flash is fairly slow at recharging if it is fired at full power. I use the pop-up on my 60D to wirelessly control one or two off-camera 430EXs. When doing that, I almost always have the pop-up set either to not fire at all or else to fire at 1/3 to 1/6 the power of the external flashes. I can fire fairly rapidly that way, but if I try to shoot continuously, by the third shot the image is generally underexposed due to not allowing enough time for recycling. Overall, you will get much better results with an external flash (430EX II is very nice), especially if you start shooting wirelessly.