RAW versus jpeg Capture Speed Issues ???

My wife and myself each have a Canon T3/1100D.

I know for absolute fact that it is much to my advantage to shoot RAW, and I try to adhere to that as much as I can.

However, at least with our cameras, on RAW w/L jpeg, you may as well forget it after the second shot; all you will get is no response and the "busy" notice; on RAW + L jpeg, it will capture two shots a bit over a second apart, then about ten seconds later it will capture one more, and get slower from there; it is not uncommon to have to wait between fifteen and thirty seconds for it to be ready to shoot normally again.

On RAW, with no jpeg, it will get three shots before the busy signal.

I can switch to large jpeg and it will capture seven shots just a bit less than half-a-second apart before slowing down to a bit over a second apart, getting slower and slower the further I go from there.

Is this common behavior for all of the "Rebel" cameras or are some models of them much quicker when shooting RAW ?

My wife simply refuses to use RAW as most of her photography is of people and she says RAW causes her to miss too many good shots.

I hesitate to consider leaving "Rebel" territory as we have so many lenses and accessories that fit our T3/1100Ds.

I have even wondered if maybe this could be a memory card issue; we use Transcend 300x SDHC 45MB/s 16GB; we have at least a dozen of them.

Or am I just expecting too much ?

Thanks for reading.

It's normal, and called buffering. Check the article at https://www.lifewire.c​om/camera-image-buffer-492951. There are lots of counterfeit SD cards in the marketplace so a card labeled as a class 6 card may actually be a class 2 relabeled. For instance, eBay is a risky place to buy cards.

There is NEVER a good reason to shoot RAW and any size JPG, simultaneously. You already have all the information in the raw to create ANY jpg you'd want. I shoot JPG when I am shooting sports/athletics (outdoors). Nothing wrong with that.

An alternative may be to upgrade your camera. Something like the 1D4/1DX can shoot 10(+) fps raw, and as long as you get off the trigger once in a while, will fill a card at that rate.

Many many articles and web postings and book chapters have been written about the merits of RAW vs. JPEG. But if you absolutely need the highest speed and longest bursts above all else (including post processing flexibility), then JPEG is the way to go. The amount of time it takes for the camera to produce the JPEG file is small compared to the amount of time it takes to write it to your memory card. JPEGs are smaller than RAW, so more can fit in your camera's buffer (waiting to be written) and it takes less time to write each one to the memory card.

Regardless of format, having a good high speed memory card is also important so the camera can write as fast as it is able. On my 70D, I use these:

https://www.bhphotovid​eo.com …extremepro_sdhc​_32gb.html

The "95 MB/s" (95 megabytes per second) spec on the card is what I look at. Faster cards are available, but the 70D doesn't benefit from a faster card so it wouldn't be worth the money. I don't know what the spec is on the T3 but I would be surprised if it could go faster.

Mike

I have a T3i and only shoot jpegs. Even shooting this way the slow/small buffer can make itself felt way too fast. Upgrading your body is the only really effective option imho. Since you are invested in crop sensor lenses stay with that format. I think any of the newer bodies would be a large improvement but will cost maybe more than you want to spend so shift gears a little and look at a 7D. Not too pricey these days and it will probably give you all the speed you need while still using the lenses you have.

Rod

RodS57 wrote in post #18378629
... look at a 7D. Not too pricey these days and it will probably give you all the speed you need while still using the lenses you have.

Rod

I still clearly remember the increased/improved burst rate and buffer size the 7D got after one of the firmware updates. It was an amazing improvement.

how fast is the card you are using? also you mention not wanting to stray from the rebel line because of your lens set-up...but there are a ton of better bodies that would accept the same lenses you are currently using with better capabilities depending on what you are looking to shoot

Bassat wrote in post #18378451
There is NEVER a good reason to shoot RAW and any size JPG, simultaneously. You already have all the information in the raw to create ANY jpg you'd want. I shoot JPG when I am shooting sports/athletics (outdoors). Nothing wrong with that.

An alternative may be to upgrade your camera. Something like the 1D4/1DX can shoot 10(+) fps raw, and as long as you get off the trigger once in a while, will fill a card at that rate.

i do for a few occasions...so i disagree...sometime there is a good reason...yes you can create a jpg from the raws, but sometimes you can cut out a step of the process, so why not...

DreDaze wrote in post #18378686
how fast is the card you are using?

OP has stated the cards are Transcend 300x SDHC 45MB/s 16GB. That's a pretty decent card for the T3 so I don't think any gains can be had by a card improvement. Now had the OP actually have the microSDHC version of that card (with adapter) that is a different story. It commonly tested when it first came out at read/write speeds in the low teens, pretty poor.

T3 shooting speed.

Continuous Shooting Speed
(1) JPEG: Max. approx. 3.0 fps
(2) RAW: Max. approx. 2.0 fps
(3) RAW+JPEG: Approx. 0.8 fps (averaged value)

Maximum Burst
(1) JPEG: 830 shots
(2) RAW: 5 shots
(3) RAW+JPEG: 1 shot

grasshopper315 wrote in post #18378904
T3 shooting speed.

Continuous Shooting Speed
(1) JPEG: Max. approx. 3.0 fps
(2) RAW: Max. approx. 2.0 fps
(3) RAW+JPEG: Approx. 0.8 fps (averaged value)

Maximum Burst
(1) JPEG: 830 shots
(2) RAW: 5 shots
(3) RAW+JPEG: 1 shot

Says it all...you can't make a silk purse out of a sow's ear.

Bassat wrote in post #18378451
There is NEVER a good reason to shoot RAW and any size JPG, simultaneously. You already have all the information in the raw to create ANY jpg you'd want.

Well, I will have to say that there CAN be a valid reason to store both RAW and JPG...
Some photographers want to have RAW for ultimately the best IQ possible, yet they also want to have files that are immediately viewable in photo messages or sending to a publisher with minimal delay.
The JPG file gives them something that can immediately be sent, without any delay caused by having to import a RAW file into a RAW conversion program in order to output a suitable JPG.

If you have zero need for 'immediacy', storing JPG at the same time as storying RAW in camera merely uses up storage space and imposes more of a file size buffering burden on the camera's file handing circuitry.

BuckSkin wrote in post #18378443
I hesitate to consider leaving "Rebel" territory as we have so many lenses and accessories that fit our T3/1100Ds.
.

There are many newer crop cameras that use the same lenses and accessories like those that the you have. 70D and 80D, 7D and 7D Mark II - many can be had used or refurbished for not too much money, but they will improve the burst rate immensely.

And I also do not see a point of shooting both raw and JPG. If JPGs are good enough, why do you need raw? And if raw is what you want, what good will JPGs done by a camera be? Yes, there are cases when somebody will need both, e.g., a reporter from a field who needs to upload JPGs to a newspaper immediately after the shots are taken, otherwise...

Thanks to everyone.

As per my previous post: --- "we use Transcend 300x SDHC 45MB/s 16GB; we have at least a dozen of them."

All of these cards have came from Amazon, sold by Amazon and not some oriental 3rd party distributor.

In reading your replies, it appears that the capture speeds of our T3/1100Ds are typical for their class of camera.

While I am waiting for my big lottery payoff, I guess my best plan of action is to try and remember to switch between RAW and jpeg according to the situation, instead of just leaving it on RAW all of the time.

As for the 7D, will our Sigma 18-250 Macros work; I had been led to believe that they would not.
I intend to research the 7D further.

Thanks everyone.

BuckSkin wrote in post #18379097
As for the 7D, will our Sigma 18-250 Macros work; I had been led to believe that they would not.
I intend to research the 7D further.

If that lens works with the T3, it will work with any other Canon APS-C crop camera.

grasshopper315 wrote in post #18378904
T3 shooting speed.

Continuous Shooting Speed
(1) JPEG: Max. approx. 3.0 fps
(2) RAW: Max. approx. 2.0 fps
(3) RAW+JPEG: Approx. 0.8 fps (averaged value)

Maximum Burst
(1) JPEG: 830 shots
(2) RAW: 5 shots
(3) RAW+JPEG: 1 shot

Thanks for posting that.

That maximum burst of 830 jpegs must be for S3 jpegs; I can only squeeze out 7 large/fine jpegs before it stalls.

I can get three RAW and two RAW+jpeg.