d50 very slow even if everything is "manual"

[maxmalossini]

<p>I noticed my d50 does not "let me" shoot shots quickly after one another. Okay, I thought, it must be all the auto evaluations it has to make (wb, focus, exposure etc.), so today I set everything on manual and still its behavior was erratic: in burst mode I would sometime get the three shots one after another, but not always, and in single shot mode sometime I would get two or three shots very close to each other, but some other time I would have to wait two three seconds before I could fire the next shot.<br>

I am using a 2gb kingston and also a 2gb sandisk card. I suspect the card might be the problem? Or is the d50 the problem? :)<br>

[side note: I've been eying the d90 and d300 for a while but the budget is tight for now; then today I went to visit a friend of mine, a point-and-shoot guy at best, and guess what I see on his kitchen table? A brand new d90 with a good lens! The worse part; he uses it strictly as a point-and-shoot and has no clue what "all those buttons are for"! aaggh]<br>

Max</p>

[joseph_leotta]

<p>try a complete camera reset. . Resetting the camera is described on the bottom of page 120 in the D50 manual.<br /> theres also a menu option to reset akk custom functions<br /> Also reformat the memory card Reformatting is done through the menu under "format". It will reformat the card for the cameras parameters</p>

[rffffffff]

<p>It sounds like an autofocus issue to me. put it in manual focus and see if that helps.</p>

[alvin_lim5]

<p>Hi Max. Where you shooting in JPG or in other formats? If you were shooting in raw+basic, the buffer will fill up faster. Also, what speed is your card? Is it a normal speed card or a high speed card?</p>

<p>On your side note, your friend is not that "bad" already. I know of people who own the D300 and D700 who do not even know what metering is =)</p>

[maxmalossini]

<p>I'm shooting raw (only), focus is set to manual. I formatted the card (in camera) but still same behavior. I might do a general reset, although it sounds like it's only for extremely rare situations and also you should get weird messages/characters on the camera top lcd screen.<br>

How do you know if it's a high speed card? All it's written is "2.0gb, sd"<br>

It's not a very big issue for me, and I'm kind of used to it now, except sometime I miss some potentially good kids' shots. My photos are mainly still and/or portraits.<br>

Thanks.</p>

[ian_murren]

<p>It's not the card, the internal buffer of the d50 is larger than the 2-3 shots. I would do the camera reset, some photographers use it every time they turn the camera on, so they know what every setting is set to. You dont have anything weird like exposure delay mode set to on? </p>

[maxmalossini]

<p>Exposure delay, no. But since you mention the buffer, mine shows [r03] at best, which I believe means three shots. In fact as I fire the shutter I can see the buffer going down to r02 then r01 then r00 at which point it stops releasing the shutter until the buffer goes back up to r01 or more, It takes several seconds for the buffer to go back up to two or three. Everything is still in manual and I also did a reset of the whole camera.<br>

It looks like it's a card communication issue. Possibly this is as good as it gets with the d50 in raw?</p>

[frank_skomial]

<p>Read your camera manual. For other cameras it requires shutter speed of 1/500 sec or faster to achieve the fastest frame rate. Possibly for D50 it could be 1/250sec ?</p>

[ian_murren]

<p>Max: I wasnt thinking raw, the d50 can shoot "2.5 fps, upto 12 frames in JPEG" according to the specs. So 3 raw files makes sense. I usually shoot JPEG, so i wasnt even thinking about that. <br>

It sounds like you could benefit from a faster SD card. This link is for the d80 (since they dont test the d50) but will give you an idea of how slow the generic cards can be. The fastest Sandisk card is 4 times faster than the slowest. That'll help clear your buffer faster.<br>

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_page.asp?cid=6007-8531</p>

[errol young]

<p>Try turning off the long exposure NR function. Helped me on the D70</p>

[kevin_lee5]

<p >Max: It is the card. I had the same problem just like what you described when I used cheap regular/normal SD cards. I needed to wait a couple of seconds after 2 or 3 shots Then, I got a Sandisk Extreem III, problem was solved. I also used a Kingston elite pro (50X). Both cards allow me to continuously shoot without slowing me down. I have been using RAW+JPEG option.</p>

[john schroeder]

<p>I second Errol's suggestion about long exposure noise reduction.</p>

[lex_jenkins]

<p>Just to add to the confusion...</p>

<p>Does the D50 have a choice between focus priority and release priority in any of the autofocus modes? (I did a quick check just now and don't see any info in the D50 specs.) If so, and it's set to focus priority, that can definitely hinder camera responsiveness. I usually set my D2H to release priority for all modes. Got tired of the camera balking simply because we had disagreements about what should be in focus and when I want to take the darned photo.</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>That sounds like a bad card, not a slow one (even the very slowest cards work like the fastest ones in my D50).</p>

<p>Or (possibly and?) long exposure NR is on. That sounds like it would keep the "next shot" from firing right away, but every time I thought.</p>

[maxmalossini]

<p>I'll check the noise reduction tonight.<br>

Lex, I don't believe there is a release priority, and anyway I think that would only apply if in autofocus.<br>

I ordered a fast car, ooops, meant card! If that wasn't the issue, I'll consider it the first part of my future d90(?).<br>

Thanks for all your help.<br>

Max</p>

[brians.]

<p>I've had the same experience with the D50. Its buffer just isn't that large, and processing isn't fast enough to clear it quickly. You can usually get off 3 to 5 shots off quickly, depending on your settings, and then it becomes a hit-or-miss affair (sometimes I get 7 or 8 shots). Shooting in JPEG speeds things up but that compromise is up to you. However even my D90 will slow down after 15 (or so) shots in JPEG-RAW.</p>

[c._f.]

<p>Max,<br>

I've used D50 for many years without a problem. Recently got the D90 - LOVE IT!<br>

Adam</p>

[maxmalossini]

<p>I'm back home now. The long exposure noise reduction was on. Now it's off.<br>

I did notice that the buffer, before firing, now goes up to 4 (not a very logical change?), but as far as the speed, it's still pretty slow, may be, just may be, a bit faster. Again, with everything set to manual.<br>

I should have the high speed card in a couple of days and I'll see if that makes any difference.<br>

Thank you.</p>

[Peter_in_PA]

<p>Max,</p>

<p>That's a typical number when you shoot raw. Buying faster cards won't make a difference I'm afraid, as that is the maximum throughput of that camera. For high-speed shooting, you simply need something else.</p>