7D taking 8-10 seconds to write to CF??

[DC Studios]

Hey everyone, wondering if anyone can help me out on this.

I had a shoot yesterday where I was using my 7D, with a 16GB 200x CF Card. I was using the built in wireless function to trigger my 430EX Speedlite about 3 feet away, and just typical camera settings such as ISO 200, 1/100 sec at f5.6 with a 24-105mm lens. I kept running into problems where the camera would take literally 8-10 seconds to write each image, but it was only doing it sporadically(sometimes it would take forever and sometimes it would write instantly).

I had someone suggest checking the high ISO noise reduction settings, but they were all disabled. Also tried a a new battery, and even an 8GB CF card with 30MB/s write speed but still had the same problems. This is the first time I have ever had this problem. Anyone have any thoughts? I would appreciate it!!!


Thanks

Dave

[sk66]

Happens when you take enough shots to fill the buffer...otherwise it happens in the "background" and you never notice.

[mbrobich]

If teh flash and shutter are not timed properly, yoiu will end with a long exposure, and whatever time it takes, lets say a 2-3 second exposure, the camera will have to process and de-noise the image then write to the card. Yes this could take 5-6-7-8 seconds.

What setting were you shooting on? M A S P ?

When shooting with a flash, always try using M or S and get a fast enough shutter speed. If you shoot on A, the camera might slow the shutter so much, that you end up with a long exposure, as the flash was too fast ahead of the shutter and the meter did not get a proper reading.

[sk66]

Originally Posted by mbrobich

If teh flash and shutter are not timed properly, yoiu will end with a long exposure, and whatever time it takes, lets say a 2-3 second exposure, the camera will have to process and de-noise the image then write to the card. Yes this could take 5-6-7-8 seconds.

Yes, in camera noise reduction can easily increase write times to 8 sec.I have it turned off for raw captures.

[DC Studios]

Yes I was shooting in full manual mode, and my average exposure times were anywhere between 1/80, to 1/200. There were no long exposures at all taking place. I had all the noise reduction settings disabled so that should not have been an issue, and flash was not on 2nd curtain or anything like that either. That's why I'm so puzzled, nothing is making any sense as to why the long record times.

[mbrobich]

Originally Posted by DC Studios

Yes I was shooting in full manual mode, and my average exposure times were anywhere between 1/80, to 1/200. There were no long exposures at all taking place. I had all the noise reduction settings disabled so that should not have been an issue, and flash was not on 2nd curtain or anything like that either. That's why I'm so puzzled, nothing is making any sense as to why the long record times.

Maybe a bad section on your card ? How often do you format your cards. They should be formatted once in a while. Anytime I suspect something funny going on, the first thing I do is erase all the data on the card on my computer, then long format it, then put it back in the camera and format again to create the folder structure the camera will use.