EOS 300D for Powerboat race

[benlimt]

Shot a F1 powerboat race held locally today. Discovered that while the 300D's AI servo kicked in correctly, the buffer limitation is really bad. Missed many good shots because it was waiting for the buffer to clear. Looks like its time for me to buy faster CF cards like a Transand 45X.....

ANyway, here are some shots. Used a Bigma to get in close.

U.I.M. F1 PowerBoat World Championship 2003 (http://zplus.clubsnap.org/images/20030923_300d/f1powerboat/)

[Malaxos1]

What I do is just wait the two seconds in between shots and not worry about the buffer. Of course there are times when I need to fire away. Also your link didn't work, I would like to check out the photos...Dean

[iwatkins]

benlimt,

Link works fine for me, cracking action shots. I've been to a couple of F1 races before so I know how fast they go and how unpredictable they are so more kudos to you.

I've been thinking about the 50-500 for a while now but I think you have swung it as the definite next lense for me :)

As for faster cards I really couldn't say whether they would help you or not. Obviously you have the buffer write times and then you have the card write time. You cannot do anything about the buffer write time (other than change camera) but whether the card write time can be decreased with these "faster" cards, well, I would have a look about on the 'net for any tests with the 300D.

Cheers

Ian

[CyberDyneSystems]

Nice looking photos!

I know with the 10D the incremental speed increase gained by using a faster card is VERY marginal.

By using a 30X card I gained like an 8% increase in speed for a full buffer burst (9 shots for 10D)

Well 8% speed boost for a card that is supposed to be 30X faster is not much to brag about!

Still,.. with the 300D's smaller/slower buffer, it may be a case of whatever helps. I suppose it can't hurt to try.

[lurp]

Great Action Shots, I am impressed with the 300d.

[RichardtheSane]

From a standard sandisk card toa transcent 40x card I have noticed virtually no difference in performance in camera on my 10D.
I still top out at nine frames filling the buffer, and it takes about a second less (16s instead of 17s) to clear 9 frames out of the buffer.
The difference isn't as much as the 45x on the card would have you believe...

[benlimt]

Thanks guys!

Yeah, the Sigma really allowed me to zoom in and out with ease. Hmmm... if the write times is insignificantly reduced then I guess I'll have to live with it till the next DSLR upgrade.

Till then, I could use every little speed gain!
Happy shooting guys!

[defordphoto]

benlimt wrote:
Shot a F1 powerboat race held locally today. Discovered that while the 300D's AI servo kicked in correctly, the buffer limitation is really bad. Missed many good shots because it was waiting for the buffer to clear. Looks like its time for me to buy faster CF cards like a Transand 45X.....

ANyway, here are some shots. Used a Bigma to get in close.

U.I.M. F1 PowerBoat World Championship 2003 (http://zplus.clubsnap.org/images/20030923_300d/f1powerboat/)

Awesome shots Ben!!! When you get a chance check out my website. Cruise to the photos in the Jet Sprints section.

I have a 10D and a D60 and still get hit from time to time by the buffer. Not too often, but it still happens when the action gets heavy and then you're stuck waiting. That few seconds seems like hours as the action is still going on.

[MiG82]

CyberDyneSystems wrote:
Well 8% speed boost for a card that is supposed to be 30X faster is not much to brag about!


30 times faster than the definition of single speed. Non-high speed cards aren't necessarily 1x.
Nevertheless, the cameras appear to be a bottleneck (yet it still gets a bit faster, weird) so you don't get the same gains as when using a high speed card reader.

[Andy_T]

Would the 10D be really faster to shoot again?

When the buffer is filled up, the writing speed is what determines how long the camera is busy. So with the larger buffer of the 10D, wouldn't it actually take longer to write it to disk???

Or can you make photos again when the buffer is partially emptied?

Regards,
Andy

[benlimt]

Hi all,
I just bought the 45x Transcend 1GB CF Card. Its really fast! Compared to my microdrive the write speed is amazing. Slower than the buffer but less than a secnd to write.

[benlimt]

Hi Jim!
Nice site. Too bad there aren't as many motor sports events over here.

[MrKickalot]

The colors in the pictures are so sharp, what settings did you have your camera on? Did you use any filters?