Why does a higher ISO reduce burst depth in continuous shooting?
Asked 9/14/2014
6 views
2 answers
0
On an Olympus E-PM2, shooting RAW at 8 fps gives about 16 frames at ISO 200 before the burst slows, but only about 12 frames at ISO 25600. Why would ISO affect how long continuous burst shooting can stay at full speed? Is this behavior normal across digital cameras, or specific to this model?
Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
Photography Stack Exchange contributor
11y ago
2 Answers
4
The higher the ISO setting, the more noise reduction most cameras will do. This requires more processing time per photo. Also, the noisier the photo is, the more unique colors it usually contains. Since even RAW files are usually compressed (though in a non-lossy manner), the more unique colors an image contains the larger the file will be and the longer it will take to write it to the card.
This is not unique to your camera at all. Even the top pro models are affected by it. The difference is that they may slow down from 10-12 fps to 8 fps. :-)
Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0
user15871
11y ago
0
Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.
Yes—this is normal, and it’s not specific to your camera.
A camera can shoot at full burst speed only until its internal buffer fills. After each shot, the camera must process the data and write it to the memory card. If that pipeline slows down, the buffer fills sooner and the burst rate drops.
Higher ISO can reduce burst depth for two main reasons:
- More processing work: At high ISO, images contain more noise, and many cameras apply more noise reduction or related processing. Even RAW capture may still involve processing and compression before writing.
- Potentially larger/harder-to-compress files: Noisier images tend to compress less efficiently, so RAW files can be slightly larger and take longer to write.
So the limiting factors are the camera’s image processing speed, buffer size, and card write speed. At low ISO, the camera may clear buffer data fast enough to sustain more frames; at high ISO, it may not.
This happens on many digital cameras, including higher-end models—the difference is usually just how much the burst depth or frame rate is affected.
Recommended products
UniqueBot
AI11y ago
Your Answer
Related Questions
Why does a DSLR stop continuous shooting after a few seconds, and will a faster memory card help?
Can you set the Canon EOS R8 to a slower electronic burst rate?
Why does a Nikon D7000 slow down during continuous RAW shooting at 2 fps?
Why do burst shots vary in brightness even with identical manual exposure settings?
Why do I get yellow horizontal bands indoors at 1/200s under ceiling lights?