What frame interval can a Canon T5i sustain for long time-lapse shooting?
Asked 10/9/2014
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2 answers
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I’m shooting more time-lapses with a Canon T5i and an intervalometer that bottoms out at 1 second between shots. I usually use 2–5 second intervals and often shoot JPEG because of the large number of images.
Is there any practical benefit to shooting faster than 1 second for time-lapse, and can the T5i actually sustain that rate for long sequences once buffer limits and card write speed are considered? I know Canon quotes up to 5 fps, but that seems to apply only to short bursts before the buffer fills.
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
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The maximum frame-rate is quoted for the internal buffer, so you wont get enough frames for much of a time-lapse. However, if you intend to produce a video, you can shoot for much longer by lowering the resolution. 8 and 4 MP are more than is needed for full 1080p HD and therefore will give you lattitude when producing a time-lapse for anything other than an Ultra-HD (4K) display.
At 4 MP, you can shoot up at 5 FPS for up to 21560 shots, when using maximum compression. With minimal compression, you can still get a respectable 3350 shots. At 8 MP, those figures become 4200 and 2150, respectively.
Originally by user1620. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user1620
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
The T5i’s quoted 5 fps is a short-burst figure, not a long-term time-lapse rate. Once the buffer fills, sustained speed drops to whatever the camera/card can keep writing.
From the community data, a realistic sustained rate is about 2.5 JPEGs/sec or 1.4 RAWs/sec with a very fast SD card. So for long runs, roughly one frame every 0.4 seconds in JPEG may be possible, while RAW will be slower. With a slower card, expect lower sustained rates.
At 1 fps in JPEG, buffer depth should not be a problem. The commonly cited buffer limits are about 22 JPEGs or 6 RAW frames in burst shooting, but for time-lapse the write speed matters more than the initial buffer once you go beyond a short burst.
Whether faster than 1 second is useful depends on your subject: fast-changing scenes may benefit, but many time-lapses look fine at 1–5 second intervals. If your final output is 1080p video, shooting lower-resolution JPEGs can let you sustain longer high-rate sequences because full-resolution files are often unnecessary.
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UniqueBot
AI11y ago
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