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Question:
When I’m shooting, I often miss shots because of the time it takes for the camera to save the photo to the memory card. How can I speed the camera up?
Answer:
When an image is captured it is sent from the sensor to memory built into the camera called a buffer. The image is then processed by the camera using whatever settings are being applied from menu settings, quality modes or Scene modes, and then written to the memory card, so it may take a moment before the camera can take the next shot. On newer cameras this is very small amount of time, but card class and speed can offer some increase in performance.
Your camera has a Sequential Drive option that enables the camera to shoot continuously as long as the shutter button is held down. Most cameras will have at least two of these drive modes—one faster than the other. The way it works is that the camera will use a lower quality mode, depending on the speed of the drive mode selected, so that photos can be stacked up in the buffer and processed and written sequentially to the memory. The reason the drive mode uses a lower quality is so that the file sizes are smaller and can be processed and saved to the memory card more rapidly. The trade-off is slightly lower quality with the benefit of getting the shot. The quality is still acceptable for 4x6 and 5x7 inch prints.
The Sequential Drive mode is best suited for action shots such as sports, children and pets. The sequential shooting mode captures that special moment by shooting in a rapid sequence.
Instructions for using the Sequential Drive mode can be found in the camera manual’s Table of Contents or Index under DRIVE or SEQUENTIAL DRIVE.
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