D700 'missed beat' in Auto-ISO??

[mike_halliwell]

<p>Bit of an odd camera behaviour whilst out yesterday. D700 + MB-D10 (EnEl4) + 70-200mm VRII at CH 8FPS for shooting horse jumps.</p>

<p>The light was quite variable, so I'd put it in Auto ISO Manual @ 1/1000 @ f5.6 and then, mid burst, it misses a shot. Kinda click, click, pause, click, click. Finger fully down. This was the first couple shots for a few minutes, so it's not a buffer-full issue.</p>

<p>The camera's AF is on RELEASE priority, so AFAIK, the shutter should always trip when I depress the shutter and keep firing continuously until the buffer fills....regardless of whether it's in focus or not. I was on the camera's shutter-button and not the grips vertical one. Is there any reason for it not to fire?</p>

<p>Maybe a one-off glitch...? But no, about 20 mins later it does it again....click, pause, click, click, click....and that dropped frame lost me the 'money shot'. Luckily the first frame was good enough.</p>

<p>Thinking about it, it has done this before about 2 months earlier in similar conditions and using Auto ISO.</p>

<p>Being naturally suspicious/cautious I took it off Auto ISO and it didn't do it again all day, about another 700 frames.</p>

<p>Now the Auto ISO <em>might</em> be a complete Red Herring, but has anyone else experienced this sort of thing?</p>

<p>It's so intermittent, experimenting is, to say the least, tricky! Sticky shutter release button? If it's a bad card, can the card-writer briefly 'lock-up' whilst writing the first image and cause a processor pause? It's a genuine but well used Sandisk 30mb/s 4GB.</p>

 

[danield]

<p>Not familiar with either the camera or its auto-ISO feature, but what was in fact the ISO in the shots that you were taking when this happened? Were you indoors or outdoors? Is it possible that the camera was stopping the burst when it metered an exposure it couldn't do within the auto ISO limits? (i.e. the scene was either too bright or not enough lit)</p>

[CvhKaar]

<p>mmm Do you have High Iso Noise Reduction switched to "on" ? <br>

HiNr slows down the camera so if that kicks in during your burst because of intermittend low light it might also feel like a missing beat ...</p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>Mike<br>

I have had this happen with my D300 and D300s but not with Auto ISO on. I always thought it was just a thing. Maybe I lifted my finger for a micro second. It is very inconsistent and very annoying.</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>It was outdoors on one of those blue sky days, but with heavy grey cloud. The horses were probably occupying maybe 1/6 of the frame area and were a mix of colours from bright white (AKA greys) to shiny black beasts, in and out of shaded woodland...not ideal!</p>

<p>I kinda assumed (Ooops!) it would just take the pic and allow it to be under or over, but it's a good thought.</p>

<p>I'll go and look over the EXIF.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>One hint: if you are shooting to make money, you should have figured out your D700 exposure working or not -- before going to use your camera. From shooting night football with a D700 a few months back (for a couple of years....) it was generally best to turn off the autofocus, pick a spot to focus on -- the horse jump area, and then shoot your burst. Auto ISO is just one more thing for the camera to *fuss* over when you are shooting. Your brain speed is often more alert than the camera. Changing light conditions for a horse means one dark object and the rider, not so dark a subject: confusing to the camera, as you found out.</p>

<p> </p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>At least with the D300 D300s the high ISO noise reduction slows down the frame rate consistently.</p>

<p>Jerry<br>

Having used a very similar set up as Mike does and shooting under very similar conditions turning the AF off is not a good solution. Going over a jump a horse is covering enough ground to be OOF at the beginning and OOF at the end of the series if all you do is focus on the jump. Shooting at f/5.6 like Mike was gives you enough DOF to keep the whole horse in focus. So we depend on the AF to be tracking the subject as the series is being shot. Also I for one will follow the horse around the jump course just in case there is a crash at one of the jumps. Jumpers and eventers are odd people and like to see it when they crash even if it isn't from the best angle.</p>

<p>I myself tend to shoot in A mode and keep an eye on my shutter speed. If it starts to drop to low I will switch auto ISO on with out a second thought. The less I have to think about what the camera is doing the more I can think about framing and timing.</p>

<p>And just so you know I started doing this when the F3 was the top dog and did shoot it with manual focus. Had a lot less in the way of keepers and learned how to load a roll of fill really quickly.</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<blockquote>

<p>I myself tend to shoot in A mode and keep an eye on my shutter speed. If it starts to drop to low I will switch auto ISO on with out a second thought. The less I have to think about what the camera is doing the more I can think about framing and timing.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Yup, exactly as I do.</p>

<p>Slowing down is one thing, not going 'off' when you press (or hold down) the shutter is entirely different.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I always thought it was just a thing. Maybe I lifted my finger for a micro second. It is very inconsistent and very annoying.</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Indeed it is! I'd thought maybe I hesitated and eased off the shutter button, but I'm 99% sure I didn't.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>I kinda assumed (Ooops!) it would just take the pic and allow it to be under or over</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Just did an experiment and it does as I thought, no hiccups, no pauses, just underexposed dark pics...(I'd set max ISO to 800 and aimed into a dark corner @ 1/250 @f8) so, a correct assumption as it turned out.<br>

___<br>

Jerry, did you actually read my post before assuming I'm a beginner and offering patronising 'Hints'? I've been earning a living for years and this is very unusual behaviour in the over quarter of a million frames I've taken with Nikon DSLRs.</p>

[Jerry_]

<p>Mike... "did you actually read my post before assuming I'm a beginner and offering patronising" If you are shooting to make money, the place to find out your camera is not doing as you expect, is not the horse event. No offense intended. (I used to shoot weddings, and that is one place you do not get a second *try* at a shot. Horse events are different....)</p>

<p> </p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>Jerry, it's only happened about 4 times in 40000 frames. It's a odd glitch, not a 'User Error'.</p>

 

<blockquote>

<p>(I used to shoot weddings, and that is one place you do not get a second *try* at a shot. Horse events are different....)</p>

 

</blockquote>

<p>Your's might be, but mine certainly aren't, they're against the clock, there's no 'Could you just go around again?'.!</p>

<p>Weddings...I've done 3, (I don't like doing weddings...maybe I don't like people enough...:-))...you get to do a couple of frames of a single event, OK, you might miss a look or a glance, but there are no one-off events with regard to 1/2 a second...<strong><em>never</em> </strong>to be repeated shots.</p>

<p>OK, you can't repeat a whole wedding, but 'most' of the shots are arranged groupings where taking just a single frame per arrangement would be 'suicidal'...would it not?.....you get to do a bunch and then pick the 'nicest'...I don't get that luxury.</p>

<p>The horse is '<em>available'</em> for no more than 1/2 a second or maybe 4 frames....period. When the camera stutters in a 5 shot burst, it's important to find out why! So 250 horses in a day that's 1000 - 1500 unique frames, there are no duplicates. The camera 'misses' 2 frames, mid burst, I'd prefer it didn't!</p>

<p>I've never met anyone actually <strong><em>at</em></strong> a wedding doing over 30 mile per hour in one direction only, never to return.... getting there certainly, but not during the photos..:-)</p>

[dan_meyers1]

<p>Jerry,</p>

<p>Geez, give Mike a break already! He's describing a (possible) mechanical problem, not asking for help in figuring out how best to shoot a moving subject with a camera he's not familiar with.</p>

<p>If you've never experienced <em>any</em> kind of mechanical hiccup while shooting "for money", you're most likely a weekend warrior, not a professional.</p>

[dan_meyers1]

<p>Jerry,</p>

<p>Geez, give Mike a break already! He's describing a (possible) mechanical problem, not asking for help in figuring out how best to shoot a moving subject with a camera he's not familiar with.</p>

<p>If you've never experienced <em>any</em> kind of mechanical hiccup while shooting "for money", you're most likely a weekend warrior, not a professional.</p>

[CvhKaar]

<blockquote>

<p>Just did an experiment and it does as I thought, no hiccups, no pauses, just underexposed dark pics...(I'd set max ISO to 800 and aimed into a dark corner @ 1/250 @f8) so, a correct assumption as it turned out.</p>

</blockquote>

<p>mm That would not trip the High Iso Noise reduction, that kicks in at higher ISO levels so its is not comparable with shooting AUto Iso , 1/1000 s at F5.6 .</p>

<p>The latter presets could trip the HiNR in broad dailight whn using center weight measuring on a dark subject causing slowing down the burst rate, especially when it is at 8f/s Raw 14 bits ......( it will never reach 8 f/s at 14 bits raw while auto focussing moving subjects though..).</p>

<p>Also when auto Iso is on and the EV goes past its lowest limit ( dark non reflective subjects..) then the camera might hickup becasue it cannot underexpose that much, I would need to test that ( using my D300s though..) .</p>

[michael_bradtke]

<p>Okay so I was playing around with the D300s using the same settings and panning across a room that went from bright to dark. At one point I hit a very dark patch and the high ISO noise reduction kicked in. BAM frame rate slowed down went back to brighter area and frame rate is back up.... So Mike was the high ISO noise reduction on?</p>

[mike_halliwell]

<p>Sorry for delay returning, was shooting planes at an air-show.</p>

<p>Yes it was! Hummmm?</p>

<p>I was only shooting Fine JPEG at the time.</p>

<p>A real stupid thought...I <em>thought</em> RAW 'frames' went straight to the buffer for processing and then from the buffer to the card.... Obviously wrong.... they get processed before entering the buffer and anything, repeat <em>anything</em> that needs thinking about slows down the entire process.</p>

<p>However, a new twist has emerged. I got a couple of 'black frames' today, that on EXIF showed I was using a 28mm f2!! Now I do own a rather ancient Vivitar 28mm f2 that is my first entry on my non-cpu lens list.... I wonder if there was a v.brief loss of connection 'tween lens and body that caused a stutter?</p>

<p>I'll go and clean those contacts!</p>

<p> </p>