Disadvantages of continuous shooting?

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NikonSimon

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Simon
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Are there any? Was just wondering as whenever I take a shot, I fire a couple off at once just to make sure I get the shot.

Are there situations where you should have it on single as opposed to continuous?

p.s. wasn't sure if this is the right forum?
 
Continuous can be good for sports etc, but... the more you take the more you need to edit/delete etc. That can be very time consuming!
 
I very rarely have my cameras in continuous mode. About the only time I do is when doing motorsport.

I find that shooting in single mode helps you concentrate on the image you are about to create.

The other downside is it rapidly racks up the shutter actuations on your camera, and the shutters have a finite life. Even if you only shoot two shots instead of one, if you do it every time you take a picture, you're halving the time before your shutter eventually fails.
 
Scarecrow said:
The other downside is it rapidly racks up the shutter actuations on your camera, and the shutters have a finite life. Even if you only shoot two shots instead of one, if you do it every time you take a picture, you're halving the time before your shutter eventually fails.
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Hadn't thought about this aspect at all :(

better stop doing it so much
 
You've got a shutter rated to 150,000 actuations so if that approach works for you I wouldn't worry too much - I personally don't think it's worth potentially missing a picture over shutter life concerns.

Anyway... I always leave it in continuous shooting mode. Normally I take a single picture as it's easy enough to do even in the highspeed mode, but I like to have the option for more when I want it.
 
Mine is always in continus, but at only 3fps it's rare to accidentally double shoot.

Generally I single shoot, but by having it in continuous means there's no stopping to change in the menu when I do want it.
 
The main disadvantage of continuous shots is that you have more to process, even if it's just to bin them. That said it does help cover the "subjects eyes closed" syndrome.
 
More time spend weeding out the crap ones and if shooting wildlife (or trying to be discrete), a shutter and mirror clattering away at 5fps or faster can be a give away.
 
Scott Kelby recommends using Continuous Mode if you're hand-holding the camera in anything but direct sunlight. That way you've got a chance that some of the images will be sharp.
 
Gaz81 said:
Continuous can be good for sports etc, but... the more you take the more you need to edit/delete etc. That can be very time consuming!
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Yeah Gaz tell me about it. I shoot rugby and usually end up with around 400+ and last weeks game shot 515 and it does take quite a while editing/deleting that lot....:lol:
 
i leave the mk3 in low speed cont.. i find in high speed its stupidly easy to knock 5 shots out when not meaning to (maybe im ham fisted).

personally i very very rarely use continuous shooting, 9 times out of 10 i get the shot i want in a single frame.
 
SixToes said:
You've got a shutter rated to 150,000 actuations so if that approach works for you I wouldn't worry too much - I personally don't think it's worth potentially missing a picture over shutter life concerns.

Anyway... I always leave it in continuous shooting mode. Normally I take a single picture as it's easy enough to do even in the highspeed mode, but I like to have the option for more when I want it.
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I worked it out on 150,000 actuations

150,000 - actuations divided by 400 - avg shots per match = 375 matches, 375 matches divided by 30 games per season = 12.5.

So just on rugby alone it would take me 12.5 years to wear out my camera.

Gives me time to save up for a new one.....:lol:
 
Mines permanently set on continuess high speed, but I still only fire a single shot ;o)

just handy for when you want to take a sequence of shots when the need occurs without having to change the settings.

PS, went through 150,000 actuations on an already battered camera body in 1 month on 1 job. That figure is only a guide line and realistically could pack in after 1000 frames if its not looked after.
 
SixToes said:
You've got a shutter rated to 150,000 actuations so if that approach works for you I wouldn't worry too much - I personally don't think it's worth potentially missing a picture over shutter life concerns.
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The important bit about shutter ratings is they are a mean rating.

This means some will fail before, some after, but will average out to the quoted figure.
 
BarryDawsib said:
PS, went through 150,000 actuations on an already battered camera body in 1 month on 1 job. That figure is only a guide line and realistically could pack in after 1000 frames if its not looked after.
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That's a lot of frames in a month!

Totally agree about the actuation count - I think it's useful as a rough guide, but not much more. Some people seem to think the camera will suddenly explode on exposure 150,001 - clearly not the case. You might have problems on frame 1,000, you might get to 500,000, it depends on circumstances and luck.
 
SixToes said:
....Some people seem to think the camera will suddenly explode on exposure 150,001
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Shame that, you could give it to someone in the street and ask them to take a picture of you and when the camera disintegrates sue them for a new one.... :naughty: :lol:
 
neil_g said:
i leave the mk3 in low speed cont.. i find in high speed its stupidly easy to knock 5 shots out when not meaning to (maybe im ham fisted).

personally i very very rarely use continuous shooting, 9 times out of 10 i get the shot i want in a single frame.
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I leave mine on low, that way I can take only 1 if I want. 10fps is useful at slower (ie. 1/60-1/100s) speeds to increase the chance of taking a sharp photo. I feel it makes a difference, maybe not as much having IS.
 
PsiFox said:
The important bit about shutter ratings is they are a mean rating.

This means some will fail before, some after, but will average out to the quoted figure.
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According to the manufacturers that is.

No-one will ever know.
 
gabe said:
Scott Kelby recommends using Continuous Mode if you're hand-holding the camera in anything but direct sunlight. That way you've got a chance that some of the images will be sharp.
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I sometimes do it for this reason. Time and place and whatnot. If I'm just wandering around snapping away, I might fire off two or three, just to (or at least attempt to) negate any nasty camera shake, or if there's a moving subject anywhere in the frame.

I guess one downside would be the life of your shutter. If you fired off 3 shots for every picture taken, your shutter would only live a third of its potential life..
 
Scarecrow said:
I find that shooting in single mode helps you concentrate on the image you are about to create.
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Why? Does switching to continuous mode also switch your brain off? I've read this loads of times and I always think it's complete ballcocks. I concentrate just as hard when in either mode.
 
PsiFox said:
The important bit about shutter ratings is they are a mean rating.

This means some will fail before, some after, but will average out to the quoted figure.
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Can you advise where you found out the rating was some kind of mean?

I've been looking for information on where this rating figure comes from and have never managed to find any documentation even showing the rating let alone explaining how this number was calculated
 
Unless you shoot sports - there is no point

If you shoot pretty much everything else, then the skill is more to do with anticipation, and machine gun shooting kind of destroys that moment. Sports photography is about anticipation too, but everything is moving so damm fast they need to let off a few to bag the shot

The disadvantages are - you wear out your shutter, flatten your battery, fill your memorycard and end up with a lot of stuff you dont want (and that takes time to sort)

I am sure a lot of machine gun shooters ought to go out with a roll of 36 a day for a few weeks to re-discover (or discover inthe first place) how putting a lot of effort and thought into getting one shot right produces a set of 36 shots thats better than 500 mediocre ones (on the off chance seevral of them are OK)

The sports shooters only need to think back to the iconic sports shots of the 60's and 70's to also know they do not "need" to shoot continuiously (even if it is very useful)
 
gabe said:
Scott Kelby recommends using Continuous Mode if you're hand-holding the camera in anything but direct sunlight. That way you've got a chance that some of the images will be sharp.
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yes - its a strange recommendation. Wouldn't it be better to use an appropriate shutter speed to ensure sharp images :shrug:
 
Sport is not the only occasion you need to shoot continuous, taking pics of children playing running around for example, the expressions change rapidly.
Shooting hdr, no advantage to shooting single shot, continuous is quicker.
Anything involving quick movment continuous may capture more shots and may even capture the shot, some things you can anticipate, others you can't.
Yes back in the good old days we used to shoot 8 shots on a roll of 120, but then a bag of coal was 3d at one time too, things change. So somebody wants to shoot continuous, so what if it works for them? Ok it is wearing out the shutter but it's their shutter, and how many people actually keep a camera till the shutter falls over anyway? Most update their kit before it dies these days.
 
The shutter data is called MTBF, Mean Time Before Failure and is widely used to rate products in the manufacturing industry. It's only there to offer a guide based on statistics as 50% will fail before so it's not a target!

I (almost) never have my camera on continuous. Single shot works just fine for 90% of what I shoot. I like the fact that it's a flick of a switch on the D700 to turn from single to continuous and back so it's no problem at all to change it.

The only time I normally use it is shooting confetti shots. Rattle off a few frames so I get some where faces are not obscured and I get the expressions. The rest of the time it's not necessary and I end up with cards full of c***. The numbers I shoot on each wedding keep coming down as I get more decisive over what I shoot and my anticipation gets better.

The others would be children running around and my dogs at full pelt. So 90% single shot for me, changing up when it is necessary.
 
AliB said:
The shutter data is called MTBF, Mean Time Before Failure and is widely used to rate products in the manufacturing industry. It's only there to offer a guide based on statistics as 50% will fail before so it's not a target!
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If it is a mean then not necessarily 50% will fail before.

It still needs some kind of indication of spread to be of any remote statistical importance
 
Uneducated_Rick said:
Can you advise where you found out the rating was some kind of mean?

I've been looking for information on where this rating figure comes from and have never managed to find any documentation even showing the rating let alone explaining how this number was calculated
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Have you tried reading Canon's White papers?
 
boyfalldown said:
yes - its a strange recommendation. Wouldn't it be better to use an appropriate shutter speed to ensure sharp images :shrug:
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A great idea. But not always possible. When you're right on the edge of acceptable shutter speeds, shooting a burst can often result in one of the series being sharper than the others. Indeed, my old Nikon P&S had a mode whereby it would take a burst of three (or was it five) shots and delete all bar the one with the largest compressed file size - working on the idea that a sharp image contains less compressible data.
 
The only time I shoot single frames is in the studio - no point shooting continuous as only the first image will be exposed correctly due to the recycle-time on my studio lights.
At all other times the cameras are set on CL for the majority of work or CH for fast-moving stuff...
 
Uneducated_Rick said:
If it is a mean then not necessarily 50% will fail before.

It still needs some kind of indication of spread to be of any remote statistical importance
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Well strictly speaking it should me Median Time Before Failure and the statistics they use to calculate the MTBF are actually taken from a bell curve so they are indeed 50% before and 50% after but the teminology is not statistically correct. :razz: :D
 
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