A few tips for 10D owners

Here are a few things I have noticed about the 10D that may be interesting for those of you that have one as well.

1. The 10D has (2) 9-frame buffers. For lack of a better terminology, we'll call the two buffers "capture buffer" and "write buffer". When pictures are taken, they are stored in the capture buffer. They are then moved as quickly as possible to the write buffer. When they are both full, the camera must write out the files to the card before you can take any more pictures.

The camera cannot write out files if the shutter button is half pressed or fully pressed. If you're shooting RAW like I do, writing out the files can take a while, up to 40 seconds for everything, which can prevent you from getting the next shot. So Tip #1 is this: don't keep your finger on the trigger unless you really have to. In this way, you can let the buffers empty in the seconds between shots and you won't miss anything.

2. If you switch the autofocus and AE Lock functions (meaning, autofocus is activated by pressing the * button near your thumb), you don't have to half press the shutter to maintain focus lock. This means that tip 1 above becomes a little easier. This is in the Custom Functions section, C.fn 4; set it to 1.

Setting the camera up this way also makes the AF/MF switch on your lens redundant, and so you can tape over it to make sure it never gets bumped into the wrong position by accident.

That's all I've come up with, camera-operational-wise. The best tip I can give you though is to get a neoprene neck strap. No other thing has alleviated as much soreness as that strap. From slugging the camera around at an all day wedding shoot to slugging the camera around all day climbing mountains in Asia, that strap makes the camera feel about 1/2 as heavy as it is, which is significant with the battery grip, a 70-200 2.8 and 550EX!

...Mike

Mike, the way I read this, there is room for 18 shots. Obviously that is wrong, since there is room for only 9 shots.

---Bob Gross---

Actually, there is room for about 18 (not sure the exact number, but we'll say 18 ). Of course, there is a limitation...the first 8 will fire off at 3fps, and the next 8 will go at about 1fps, until the buffer is full and the camera stops shooting.

You can test this by going to manual mode, set your shutter to something fast (1/400th or so), set to continues shooting, and just hold the shutter button down. It should go clickclickclickclickcl​ickclickclickclick, click, click, click, click, click, click....until the buffer is full.

Probably a silly question, but do you have to hold the * button in for autofocus, or does it stay acivated after one press.
Personally I would image that can really hinder you in the handling of the camera.

Robert: it may not be 18 shots exactly, but it's something close. Read the memory handling information on the 10D and see for yourself.

Richard: I doesn't really affect the handling of the camera at all, once you're used to it. And no, the * button is not a toggle, you press and hold to maintain focus in AIServo, or press and hold until you hear the beet in 1 shot.

I like my * button to lock exposure only. Most of the time I want to lock exposure at a certain point and focus at another. I wish I could program the buttons on the 10d to do what I want them to do. There are times when I quickly want to change from AI-Servo to One shot and back again. Cant do it while I'm looking through the viewfinder.

David

There are three ways to do this:

1. If you have a Canon super telephoto lens with an AF stop button, you can activate custom function 17-4. You can then use this button to toggle between One-shot and Al-Servo.

2. Press the AF-WB button onthe top of the 10D and then use the Main Dial to switch focus modes (see page 66 of the instruction manual). This is awkward and you do not get AF mode status in the viewfinder so this would take much paractice.

3. Use Al-Focus.

Good luck!

-Clos

I did try the switching the * button to autofocus,. I could clearly see that this set up has it's advantages! A Nikon I used was set up this way as well,. a distinct autofocus button under the thumb as opposed to its being built into the shutter. I do not know though whethter this is standard on the Nikons or if this camera was set up using Nikons own custom functions.

Anyway,. despite the obvious advantages,. I was compelled to switch back to the standard autofocus via shutter releas as I was just too used to it and was missing shots...

I may try again... it will certainly take time to "unlearn what I have learned"

Yes, and it clearly states that 9 frames is the maximum for continuous shooting. After that, you can continue to shoot, but only very slowly, because that is the slow rate at which the capture buffer is emptying to the write buffer.

So, the correct answer is 9.

My D60 is almost exactly the same, except that the buffer holds 8 instead of 9.

---Bob Gross---

From DPreview