D7100 image playback lag

[michael_b10]

<p>Hi. I have a D7100 and <strong>love</strong> it - but i find that it takes much longer for images to appear on the lcd screen after i take a shot than with any other Nikon dslr I've had. Even when shooting single frames, not in bursts, there's a noticeable and inconvenient delay. Is this due to the specs of the memory cards I'm using - Sandisk 32GB Ultra 30 mb/s. Would getting faster cards speed the playback? </p>

<p>Thanks!!</p>

[owen_omeara]

<p>I have a d7100 an had the same concern. I switched to the 16GB Ultra Pro and things got a lot better. That card is advertised at 90 mb/sec. Give it a try and post your results.</p>

 

[shutterbud]

<p>Is this the buffer getting restricted?<br>

I'm not saying it is, just wanting to know. </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Are you using live view to capture still?</p>

<p>I just checked my D7100 with three different memory cards:</p>

<ul>

<li>a very slow, class 4 Lexar</li>

<li>an older 30MB/sec Sandisk Extreme that I bought in 2010 with the D7000</li>

<li>the latest Sandisk Extreme Pro 95MB/sec</li>

</ul>

<p>After I capture an image using the conventional optical viewfinder, it shows up on the back LCD within a fraction of a second. With the slow Lexar card, the green LED stays on for a little while when the camera continues to write the one image onto it, but the LCD image review has been on long before the memory write is completed.</p>

<p>In other words, memory card speed does not seem to delay the image display on the LCD, as the D7100 does not wait for the image write to complete.</p>

<p>However, in the live view mode, the camera will wait for the entire image to be written onto the memory card first before it displays the review on the LCD, just like the D800. Therefore, if you use live view, SD card speed will make a big difference.</p>

<p>Do you have the Active D Lighting, high-ISO noise reduction, etc. switched on? Those features may lengthen the processing of your image.</p>

[goldbergbarry]

<p>I use a D7100 and don't have any issues with lag time. Look at Shun's ideas.</p>

[Landrum Kelly]

<blockquote>

<p>if you use live view, SD card speed will make a big difference.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Thanks, Shun. I have yet to find a compelling reason to ever use live view.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>I use live view a lot when I need precise focusing, usually landscape or macro. It is great for AF fine tune as well. Manual-focus via live view creates the reference sharpness AF should match.</p>

<p>When I first bought the D800 last year, one of my slower SD cards would give me a 4-second delay before the image review would appear on the LCD. That was quite annoying. I recall that the D600 has no such issue, but the D7100 works just like the D800 in this aspect.</p>

[michael_b10]

<p>Thanks for the replies. And nope - I'm not shooting in live view. And I shoot RAW, so no Active D lighting. And I think it happens at all ISOs. I can shoot one image, then I look down at the lcd, and it is black with a yellow hourglass. I haven't actually timed how long it takes for the image to appear, but it feels unusually long - much longer than my D7000. </p>

[Landrum Kelly]

<blockquote>

<p>[Live view] is great for AF fine tune as well. Manual-focus via live view creates the reference sharpness AF should match.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Thanks, Shun. That never occurred to me.</p>

<p>--Lannie</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>My D700 shows <em>considerable</em> playback 'lag' when I use (not choose!) an old Kingston x60 CF card. If I've shot an 8 round burst of a horse jumping, I may need to delete the early shot, and maybe 2 late shots. In the Play>Delete>Confirm>Play Next etc etc. it is very, very noticably SLOW compared to my 8GB Sandisk 60MB/s.</p>

<p>Even Play>Show Next>Show Next etc is slow, even without wanting to delete stuff.</p>

[michael_b10]

<p>Maybe I just need to bite the proverbial bullet, spend the cash on a new card, and see what happens. Pity, as I have more of these 32 gb Sandisk 30mb/s cards than I'll probably ever need. </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Michael, I'll point this out again: if you are not using live view, as soon as you capture an image with the D7100, it should appear on the back LCD for review promptly. In the mean time, the little green LED next to the SD card compartment should stay on while the camera is writing to the card. If you are using a very slow card, that green LED can stay on for 2, 3 seconds, but the image review should have come up long before memory card write is completed.</p>

<p>Could you verify that sequence of events on your D7100? It is your money to spend and therefore none of my business, but I don't see how buying a faster SD card would make any difference, as long as you are not using live view.</p>

<p>I assume you are only using one SD cards inside your D7100. When you have two cards, the slower one dominates and it gets more complicated depending on settings.</p>

[michael_b10]

<p>Hi Shun,<br>

Thanks, and I hear what you're saying, but the way it is actually working is:<br>

Camera is NOT in Live View.<br>

I press the shutter.<br>

I look at the LCD screen.<br>

About half the time, the image appears quickly - the other half of the time it doesn't, but is black with a yellow hourglass. There is no consistency to this phenomenon that I can determine. It seems to happen at all ISOs, under all lighting conditions, just not all the time. It can take a couple of seconds for the image to appear - while the little green led light is on. Perhaps there is some particular circumstance that triggers the delay that I haven't been able to isolate. But this is what my experience is. <br>

The other day it happened quite a few times, which inspired me to look for a solution and post here to see if a faster card might be it. Sounds like you're saying it isn't :) </p>

 

[mike_halliwell]

<p>Almost sounds as if it's doing a Long Exposure NR 'second' exposure....which effectively takes another shot at the same shutter speed, so a 5 second exposure will appear to take 10 seconds.</p>

<p>Or it's not showing the image until it's fully written it to disc.....odd!</p>

<p>The yellow hourglass should be a clincher but I don't have a D7000 series....and I don't remember it on other models (emphasis on<strong> remember!</strong>)</p>

[michael_b10]

<p>yes, that is what it's like mike - except that when it happens, it often takes longer than twice the exposure time! In general, though, the d7100 is fabulous. </p>

<p> </p>

[ShunCheung]

<p>Michael B, it should be very easy to determine whether the intermittent delay is due to long-exposure noise reduction. Do you still run into that problem if you only capture at, say, 1/125 sec or faster? If it never happens at fast shutter speeds or you simpley turn off long-exposure NR, you have your answer.</p>

[Echo_Studio]

To minimize the play back lag ... I've tested the my cameras and that the D7200 works best with a memory card of 32GB or less and only 1 card used. I guess that's why the only put 1 card slot in the D7500. Ultimately, the D7000 was the best in the series of these cameras when it comes to just wanting to take pictures...

[Andrew Garrard]

Just before we all pile in again, I've paid attention this time and noticed this thread was from 2013. Echo - did you mean to resurrect it, or is your view somehow making you think it was current? We've seen a lot of old threads reappear - it would be nice to work out how it's happening.

 

I've also seen better behaviour from smaller cards (even at the same alleged speed) on Nikon, for reasons I've not understood. Curious about the multiple slots. However, I've not had speed problems with multiple slots on the cameras I've used; I suspect the D7500 lost a slot more for cost and to avoid competition with the D500 than for any advantage.