Problems with XSi?

[DiggityDash92]

Hi everyone,
This is my first post here. So exciting, hehe

Yesterday, I was out shooting with my XSi, and was getting great shots. It was working just fine. Then, about 1/2 way thru my shoot, it started getting really slow on processing the pictures to the memory card. It would take 15-30 seconds. Needless to say, it was a major pain since I was doing pet photography and needed constant shooting....

Well, I charged by battery, thinking that was the problem. Went back out today, and it did the same thing. It is really a pain since most of my photography is action and pets.

Has anyone experienced this? Does it have to do with the memory card speed? I have a 16 GB Toshiba SDHC card, don't think it is "high speed," but I don't know much about memory cards. My mom grabbed it for me at Sam's for $15, so can't complain

Thanks a lot!

[inkista]

Are you burst shooting? You might be filling up the buffer fast than it can write to the card. I'd recommend not using continuous burst if you don't need it, or shooting in short controlled bursts.

[prabbit237]

Originally Posted by inkista

Are you burst shooting?

Also did you change from large .jpg (or some smaller res) to RAW+L? That camera (I just got an XS myself) can shoot 4 or so in a burst when shooting raw and then it'll slow down (but actually not that much) as it runs out of buffer.

One thing ya could also try is a low-level format on the card.

[DiggityDash92]

No, I wasn't using burst. But actually, I did switch between RAW and JPEG to experiment. That's probably what did it, never thought of that. So, do you not shoot in RAW when you're doing action/fast shots since it slows the camera down?

Thanks!!

[prabbit237]

Originally Posted by DiggityDash92

No, I wasn't using burst. But actually, I did switch between RAW and JPEG to experiment. That's probably what did it, never thought of that. So, do you not shoot in RAW when you're doing action/fast shots since it slows the camera down?

Thanks!!

I'm, by NO means, an expert on this (seeing how I got my first DSLR a couple of weeks ago) but I do know on the Rebel XS that RAW+L (or just RAW) does slow it from 3 shots/sec to like 1.5/sec and does start buffering after 4 shots (hard to say exactly but on mine, it went down to like 1 every 2 secs or so in burst mode after the buffer filled with the first 4 shots.) The slower the card, the more you'll see it slow. So it could be a combination of "slow card+RAW+trying to shoot several shots in a row." Or even just "VERY slow card+RAW."

With RAW, yer writing 2-6 times as much data to the card per shot (depending on the shot and if you save the jpg as well. I.e. RAW+L.) So that'll definitely make a difference in speed.