Canon® EOS Digital Photography Photo Workshop

2.7. WHAT DIFFERENCE DOES FRAME RATE MAKE?

The frame rate of a camera is the speed at which images can be continuously recorded and saved. Frame rate is governed by several factors, including the resolution (number of pixels), the buffer size, the speed of the image processor, and the write speed of your memory card. Obviously, higher-resolution cameras such as the 5D and the 1Ds Mark III have more information to transfer, which takes more time. The buffer size in a digital camera is basically the amount of memory or storage the camera has available, which temporarily stores images until they can be written to the memory card. In turn, this dictates how many images you can take in rapid succession. Once the buffer is full, you are out of the picture-taking business until some images can be written to the storage device, in this case your memory card. As the buffer frees up space by downloading to the card, the camera is able to shoot photos to the capacity of that space. Normally it takes several seconds for the buffer to completely clear, depending upon how large it is, how large the images are, and how fast the camera processes the images.

Obviously frame rate is more of an issue for sports, news, and action shooters than it is for landscape photographers. How important it is to you as a photographer once again comes down to your particular style of photography.

Figure 2-9. These two images were taken from the same position with exactly the same lens and focal length, but on ...