PDA

View Full Version : Canon 20D fps rate query.


DaveM
11th February 2005, 09:48
Hello all,

while waiting for the final few pennies to accumulate before I buy a 20D, I'm still reading reviews from all sorts of users. I read a rather worrying one from a professional wildlife photographer the other day and was wondering if any of you who already have your hands on the mythical beast can confirm or deny what has been said.

Admittedly he only had the camera over a couple of days but made a comment that the camera always shot at 5fps when set on the continuous mode. Have any of you experienced that or does it automatically adjust depending on the available light. I realise that having not used the camera I'm at a disadvantage when asking questions like that but if for any reason I want to make use of this frame rate in poor light, does it auto-adjust so it can still shoot as 5fps (and under expose images as necessary) or is it intelligent and will only shoot at say 2, 3, or 4 depending on the prevailing conditions?

Sorry to ask what may be seen as a daft question but that's one feature of it which is quite important to me and a reason I've held on for it rather than go for the lesser fps rate of the 10D.

Many thanks in advance of any replies.

DaveM. :confused:

kevinrstruck
11th February 2005, 10:20
Good question. I will try it out today to see what happens. I assume it would automactically adjust.

delconchey
11th February 2005, 21:56
I'm interested in that also. Looking forward to seeing what you find out.

mark589
11th February 2005, 22:45
Every Canon film camera I have ever handled does *not* compromise shutter speed for frame rate. So I would be *very* suprised if the 20D was different. But I'm interested in "the test results" as well

mark589
24th February 2005, 09:09
Good question. I will try it out today to see what happens. I assume it would automactically adjust.

Did you ever run this experiement?

kevinrstruck
24th February 2005, 09:59
Did you ever run this experiement?


Sorry no, I have been traveling for work the last couple weeks. I will see what I can do today.

kevinrstruck
24th February 2005, 10:02
I am sitting in a conference room here in Chicago and I have my 20D so I did the unscientific experiment here. I can tell you that it "DOES NOT" change the FPS. It shoots at 5FPS no matter what the light. I was assuming when I should not have.

Good question though.

DaveM
24th February 2005, 10:15
Thanks very much for trying this out Kevin,

just a couple of follow up questions though...

Is the camera clever enough to automatically adjust for the ambient lighting conditions or are we likely to get a bunch of naff results from it if shooting in poor light??

I suppose I'm just trying to cover my back before parting with the cash for one, but it is a lot of money for me if this feature is going to be a constant problem.

Not having used one for more than about 30 seconds, can you tell me if it has a completely automatic mode in which it can adjust the ISO rating on its own to compensate for low light?

Sorry to be a pain! :confused:

DaveM

mark589
25th February 2005, 08:03
I am sitting in a conference room here in Chicago and I have my 20D so I did the unscientific experiment here. I can tell you that it "DOES NOT" change the FPS. It shoots at 5FPS no matter what the light. I was assuming when I should not have.

Good question though.


Hmmmmm.
I recognize that you said "unscientific" there.

Here's some thoughts for a more controlled experiment:

Set the camera to aperture priority and stop it down to force a long shutter speed in low light.

Verify that the program is setting the shutter slow enough to matter (1/4 sec or slower)