How do I get into "burst" mode?

Hi there,

Pardon my stupidity please, but I'm reading the manual for my Canon EOS 7D, following the instructions on how to get to do rapid fire shots (I believe they are call "burst" shooting). It says to press the AF-Drive button, hold that down, and turn the wheel thingy on the back to get to the mode you want. The only modes I seem to have are single shot and timer. I have the main setting to fully automatic. What am I doing wrong?

Thanks for anyone willing to help this camera-challenged newbie learn!

Susan in Redding

Switch it out of automatic. Automatic does not allow for a lot of adjustments.

And read up on this book. It will help you understand your camera and get the most out of it. http://www.amazon.com …&sr=8-2&keywords=exposure

Press the AF-DRIVE button near the top LCD display and then scroll the large rear wheel on the back of the camera... There are two burst modes.. One slow the other fast... Note that you can't do this in the green square or CA setting..

Get out of Automatic.
Even starting to use P mode will be useful... you'll get far more options.

Then progress to Av, TV, or Manual as required.
Once you get into the last three, you'll never go back to Auto or Scene Modes again.

Don't worry about it.
It's not like days gone by when you'd use rolls of film just trying stuff out.
Nowadays just take loads, memory cards are pretty cheap.

Jim_T wrote in post #16434744
Note that you can't do this in the green square or CA setting..

Just a correction... Out of curiosity, I just tried it in CA mode on my 7D and discovered that you can select burst in that mode.. (I've never used CA).

PH68 wrote in post #16434957
It's not like days gone by when you'd use rolls of film just trying stuff out.
Nowadays just take loads, memory cards are pretty cheap.

And flops are easily deleted. A couple hundred years ago, in the medical profession, they said that you couldn't become a good surgeon until you had filled a small cemetery. You become a good photographer after you have deleted a couple thousand bad shots.

tzalman wrote in post #16436321
You become a good photographer after you have deleted a couple thousand bad shots.

Best advice anyone can give to a new photographer.

Henri Cartier-Bresson said, "Your first 10,000 photographs are your worst." But that was back in the days of film, when people weren't prone to sprayin' and prayin' at 8 frames per second. Today with digital I would guess it's probably more like your first 100,000.

Susan, to get the 7D to shoot consistently at its max frame rate you need to set it to M, otherwise it will slow down to meter at times. I seem to recall that Auto Lighting Illumination or some other auto procedure will slow down the frame rate, too.

Oh, and you press the AF-Drive button on top of the camera once, but don't hold it down, then turn the back dial to change the frame rate (fps). You'll toggle through five options: Single Shot, High Speed Continuous (up to 8 fps), Low Speed Continuous (around 3 fps, if memory serves), Self-Timer with 10-sec delay, and Self-Timer with 2-sec delay.

You also can press the Q button on the back of the camera, which will bring up the camera settings display on the rear LCD screen, use the joystick to navigate to the correct box (the bottom row, 2nd from the righthand side), and then can use the rear dial to effect the same change (with a description of each setting shown at the bottom of the screen). Or you can press "set" and go into the drive mode settings and make the changes. The Q button/rear LCD screen is particularly helpful in low light situations. The top AF-Drive button is faster, when changing settings on the fly. Once you have made your selection either way, a "half-press" tap on the shutter release button will take you right back to shooting-ready mode.

In addition to "Understanding Exposure" recommended above, which is definitely a helpful read for anyone new to using SLRs & DSLRs (or practically any camera), while at Amazon I suggest you get one of the 7D guide books to help you learn to fully use the camera. The 7D is a fairly complex, more pro-oriented model that's not something I'd normally recommend for someone new to using SLRs and DSLRs. It's designed with relatively experienced users in mind.

"Understanding Exposure" is very helpful, but not specific to any particular camera. On the other hand, the guide books are model specific. I've been using SLRs and DSLRs for nearly 40 years, but I always make a point to get the appropriate guide book any time I buy a new camera model. It's just so much easier to get up to speed using the camera. I've bought, read and am comfortable recommending those by Michael Guncheon, Charlotte Lowrie and David Busch. Some of the others are probably excellent, too.

I agree, but just to clarify, unlike many other Canon models the 7D doesn't have the highly automated Scene Modes on the mode dial (top lefthand "shoulder" of the camera). It has "the Green Box" and "CA" (Creative Auto) automated modes, P, Tv, Av, M and B, plus three user definable Custom modes (C1, C2, C3). You won't find the "Running Man", "Mountain Scene", "Portrait", etc. scene mode icons on the 7D (or 5D Mark III, 1DX). Scene Modes are only found (in one form or another) on 6D, 70D, 60D, and the Rebel xxxD series cameras. Some newer models (5DIII, 70D) have a revised form of the Green Box, now "Scene Intelligent Auto" mode. The only high automated modes on 7D are the original Green Box and CA. And... just so you are aware... P, Tv and Av found on all models are automatic exposure modes, too (they just don't take over and set a whole bunch of other things, besides exposure).

amfoto1 wrote in post #16437547
Susan, to get the 7D to shoot consistently at its max frame rate you need to set it to M, otherwise it will slow down to meter at times. I seem to recall that Auto Lighting Illumination or some other auto procedure will slow down the frame rate, too.

No, no and no.

The max frame rate is the same in all modes that allow you to set it at all.
The slow down for metering reasons is something which happens in low light situations, due to the 7D's implementation of the iFCL metering system. But it's the same in M mode as the other modes. It's rather the opposite, since the only way to avoid that issue is to use exposure lock, and that doesn't work in M mode.
But in all normal situations, this phenomena will not be noticed.

Likewise, due to the massive CPU concentration in the 7D, there's no other setting which will slow down the frame rate either. The only thing which makes a difference is battery charge level. When it goes down, it will not be able to keep the camera running at the full frame rate any longer.

Setting High ISO noise reduction (C.Fn II -2) will reduce the maximum burst frame rate. So will shooting high detail subjects.. page 245 of the 7D manual.

I have seen a decrease with high ISO noise reduction turned on, but I've never noticed any change while shooting highly detailed subjects.

No again. Setting high ISO noise reduction will not reduce the frame rate. It will, however, significantly cripple the burst length. But that's something completely different. The timing between the images will still be the same.

The same goes for the other reference you listed. By the way, there are different editions of the manual for the 7D, one for firmware prior to version 2.X.X and one for later versions. In the later version it's on page 263 (in the Swedish translation). But still, that doesn't refer to the frame rate, but to the buffer depth. Setting a higher ISO will also reduce buffer depth, but not frame rate.

You got to keep these two things apart.