FPS and Buffering has become slow on Canon 1D Mark IV

I just started shooting RAW files with my Canon 1D Mark IV. I've noticed that when I shoot a couple seconds burst at the 10 frames-per-second rate, the frame rate often slows and the buffer seems to take a long time to clear. Was I spoiled by the speed of JPG shooting?

I am using a fast Sandisk CF card.

I am shooting at ISO 3200, mostly, with a Canon 70-200 L IS. Is a high ISO part of the issue?

Is there anything in the menu that I can disable to speed things up?

Thanks in advance!

From what I can find, Canon rates the buffer at 85 shots with JPEG and 26 with RAW. At 10fps that buffer will run out mighty fast as you might imagine.

Depending on what card you have a faster card might help clear the buffer more quickly, but that's pretty much the camera working as designed and the burst rate will still slow down.

I agree with colorblinded. I have been shooting RAW on a 1D4 for 3-4 years and I will get around 25 photo's using a 32GB CF card (speed 160Mbs). It can take as long as 30 seconds for the buffer to clear. I get around this by a burst of around 8-10 shots wait a few seconds then another burst 8-10 shots then wait again a few seconds, no buffer issues then. Nothing I'm aware of in the menu's to speed things up.

Hank E wrote in post #18806830
I just started shooting RAW files with my Canon 1D Mark IV. I've noticed that when I shoot a couple seconds burst at the 10 frames-per-second rate, the frame rate often slows and the buffer seems to take a long time to clear. Was I spoiled by the speed of JPG shooting?

I am using a fast Sandisk CF card.

I am shooting at ISO 3200, mostly, with a Canon 70-200 L IS. Is a high ISO part of the issue?

Is there anything in the menu that I can disable to speed things up?

Thanks in advance!

I'm curious as to what you are photographing that requires you to fire off 20 frames in succession.

One other thing that may help is to remove the second card if you have both cards in the camera. I have never had a 1d4, but with the 5d3, the SD card is much slower than the CF card. With a 5d3 if you want the best buffering experience, it is necessary to make sure the camera is only writing to the CF card. With my camera, I have to remove he SD card completely for best performance.

It is quite possible that the 1d4 works the same way the 5d3 does. If you have both cards in the camera, it is worth a try to remove one and see if that speeds things up, even if just a little.

Sports, particularly basketball. If an athlete is driving the down the lane, the play may take a couple seconds or so.

Interesting thought, though I only have one card in at a time.

Hank E wrote in post #18807060
Sports, particularly basketball. If an athlete is driving the down the lane, the play may take a couple seconds or so.

I also shoot basketball, and I only run about 5-10 frame bursts. There has never been a situation where I need to run an entire sequence of a lane drive and subsequent layup or dunk. The drive rarely produces nice looking photos, the money shots are once the player launches into the air.

Also, for sports, I shoot Raw + JPeg, but rarely ever need to go to the raw files, the JPEGs are good enough to work with for sports outlets and even fan posters.

Hank E wrote in post #18807060
Sports, particularly basketball. If an athlete is driving the down the lane, the play may take a couple seconds or so.

With all due respect the key to successful sports photography is anticipation and timing, not machine-gunning.

Of course you're right, but I would just hate to miss a good shot.

john crossley wrote in post #18807104
With all due respect the key to successful sports photography is anticipation and timing, not machine-gunning.

I suspect that when someone is handed a pic, they don't care whether it was machine-gunned, anticipated, or happened by pure luck.

If someone wants the push the limits of the cameras to get the shot(s), so be it! No laws against it.

SMP_Homer wrote in post #18807148
I suspect that when someone is handed a pic, they don't care whether it was machine-gunned, anticipated, or happened by pure luck.

If someone wants the push the limits of the cameras to get the shot(s), so be it! No laws against it.

But the issue is more than your deliverable...

If you rattle off 20+ shots during every potential heavy action, you:
1) Have a ton more images to cull through
2) Substantial more wear and tear
3) Higher needless shutter actuations
4) Buffer and card issues might actually cause you to miss the peak of the action

There is no reason, at least for basketball, to rattle off more than maybe 10fps. That is one second of action. That is what it takes from a player to be around the key and then drive to the basket.

Machine gunning images has nothing really to do with final deliverables, especially if you get comfortable with the sport and improve your reaction and timing to that action.

I only have about 7fps and maybe run 10 images in a burst, often it is just 3-5. Just a few from the last game... Many times, I am not even tracking the players these days. I can now recognize when they are about to make a move, and will pull up the camera to my eye, lock focus and hit a small burst as they are up in the air.

4) Buffer and card issues might actually cause you to miss the peak of the action

There is no reason, at least for basketball, to rattle off more than maybe 10fps. That is one second of action. That is what it takes from a player to be around the key and then drive to the basket.


I totally agree with #4.

BTW, I shoot high school basketball in small to medium size schools--so not the best talent in the state. It takes longer than one second to drive the lane from the top of the key. At times, good images are of a player betting hacked. I'd hate to miss that by not recording a nice burst.

Okay, one more question. The fastest card I own is a SanDisk Extreme 16 gig 120 MB/s.

I note that Sandisk also makes a similar card but with a rate of 160 MB/s.

Is there much difference between the 120 and 160?

Thanks for all your help, guys.

Chances are the camera won't be able to write at higher speeds.

You might like this thread.

https://photography-on-the.net …/showthread.php​?t=1457450