topic Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:50:23 GMT

Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

Recently, the FPS on my electronic first curtain has dropped from the “stated” 15 FPS to about half that speed. I know it has dropped because I have always used EFC since the day I bought and set up the camera (little over a year ago) until just the last couple of weeks when I’ve noticed the slowdown.

The full electronic curtain sees to be maxing out (30 FPS) and the mechanical curtain seems to be accomplishing its stated 15 FPS. Any idea what may have happened?

As background, the battery is a Canon battery (not a generic) and it is full (actually has ranged during photo shoots from 70%+). I have 2 SIM cards loaded and the main (#1) card is a ScanDisk 128GB 300 MB/S Extreme Pro (v90) (usage about 25%). The second card is a SanDisk Extreme Pro 64 MB (v30) and that is the "rollover card that is hardly ever used). The shoots have ranged from capturing wildlife to beach settings to still life / landscapes. “Slowdown” has occurred on shutter speed setting as well as aperture setting. Using spot metering. High Speed continuous. AI Servo. AWB. I have experienced the slowdown on both RF and EF lenses - heretofore the lens didn’t matter as to the speed.

I will note that these are not really any different settings than I have used previously with EFC and have obtained higher FPS (i.e., > 6-8 FPS I’m now getting). Any idea or suggestion as to what has happened and / or what I must do? I’ve gone on line and through YouTube, but I’m not finding an answer. I’ve not changed any settings so (i.e., other than AV or TV or white balance, etc. - the “normal" changes you make). This is very frustrating to “lose" the EFC.

Re: Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

Danny — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:40:15 GMT

Thanks for joining the conversation, heelfan78!

So that the Community can help you better, we need to know exactly which Canon camera model you're using. That, and any other details you'd like to give will help the Community better understand your issue!

If this is a time-sensitive matter, click HERE search our knowledge base or find additional support options HERE.

Thanks and have a great day!

Re: Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 19:42:11 GMT

I am using the Canon EOS R7 and it is about a year old.

Re: Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

p4pictures — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 21:49:35 GMT

Do you have the Anti-flicker shooting enabled in the red menu section?

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Tue, 25 Jun 2024 21:54:20 GMT

Hi Brian. Anti-flicker is Off / Disabled. Thank you for reaching out.

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

p4pictures — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 12:28:36 GMT

Have you tried to do a test to confirm the slowdown, specifically in comparison with the same test using mechanical shutter mode?

By test I'm suggesting the following:-

Manual exposure mode
1/125s, ISO 100, f/5.6
Camera set to RAW only, not RAW + JPG and not writing to two cards.
Lens set to manual focus
High ISO noise reduction set to standard or off
High speed continuous drive
Simply hold the shutter down for two seconds
Count the number of frames captured - doesn't matter about the content of the frame or even if the exposure is correct.

Under such situation mechanical and 1st curtain electronic shutter mode should both have around 30 frames saved for the sequence. I would use the rate or protect feature to mark the ending picture of the sequence before taking the next set. I expect 30 frames as both electronic 1st curtain and mechanical shutter should run at 15fps. If your camera really does give very different number of pictures then it sounds like a trip to service, if not then there's no problem as most of the settings will slow mechanical as well as electronic first curtain.

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

kvbarkley — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 13:12:49 GMT

Also turn off any DLO or other lens corrections.

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Wed, 26 Jun 2024 16:34:48 GMT

Good afternoon, Brian. Thank you for getting back to me and your excellent step-by-step guidance here.

I set my camera as you suggested. As a not, for the two seconds I did the "one, one thousand; two, one thousand" so the timing is probably imperfect. Here's what I got for two seconds:

Mechanical - 12 frames, 12 frames, 10 frames, 12 frames

EFC - 13 frames, 14 frames, 13 frames, 12 frames

Electronic - 26 frames, 28 frames, 28 frames

I took the pictures with a Canon rf 100-400.

As a note, I am on Firmware Ver 1.1.0.

Your thoughts and suggestions after seeing the results?

I am grateful for your assistance!

Battery = 90%

Brand new ScanDisk V90 card (nothing on it before shooting these images)

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

p4pictures — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 05:26:16 GMT

Form those results it would appear that electronic first curtain and mechanici are basically operating at the same speed, so maybe it’s the different sounds that makes you think it’s shooting less frames. In mechanical the first curtain has to close then open before the second curtain closes to end the exposure, so two shutter sounds, with electronic first curtain the first curtain to start the exposure is not physically moved only the second.

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Thu, 27 Jun 2024 19:18:27 GMT

Hi Brian. I suppose that would seem reasonable that they would be the same, but the posted FPS is for 2 seconds - not one. Should the FPS be greater - twice as many frames as I got - for two seconds?

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

p4pictures — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 10:19:34 GMT

In your tests, can you look at each sequence and see the timestamp in the image. You should be able to find the first and last frame with the same timestamp and then count them. Check for the seconds since all the images taken in the same second will have the same timestamp. You might need to shoot a slightly longer sequence to check.

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Fri, 28 Jun 2024 13:53:03 GMT

Good to know. I was not aware of that option so I will try that.

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 18:21:52 GMT

Hey Brian. How do I find and see the timestamp in the image? Is there a way I can do so while looking at the images on the back of the camera? I can see the image count and the number of images, but I don't see a timestamp. I did this for 5 seconds and I can't see anything that looks like a timestamp on the images. What am I missing? I thank you for your continued assistance!!!

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Wed, 03 Jul 2024 18:37:05 GMT

Hey Brian. I kept "fiddling" and I found the timestamps. For the test sequence, I got the following frames within each second on EFC: 7,7,8,7,8,7. For mechanical I got the following FPS: 7,6,6,6. Using Electronic, I get the following FPS: 7,6,6,6.

BTW, just to be sure I'm measuring this right, when viewing the images on the back of the camera, I see the photo count on the upper left, then on upper right I'm seeing the date and then the time of day HH:MM:SS.

What is my next step? Why has the FPS gone down so much?!?!?!

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

p4pictures — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 10:38:49 GMT

Here's the examples from my EOS R6 Mark II.

First shows the first and last images in a sequence taken with 1st curtain electronic shutter mode. The last four digits on the top right is the file number, then below it is the time-stamp, I am showing the first image with the timestamp and the last. Second image shows the same but using electronic shutter mode.

So I have IMG_7694 through to IMG_7705 all with the same timestamp that's 12 images per second.

For electronic shutter I have IMG_7759 though to IMG_7798 so that is 40 frames per second

On my camera the H+ icon turns green to indicate that the camera will shoot at the maximum speed, if an older LP-E6 battery is used it will never go green, and if the battery has little charge left or has weak charge performance then it cannot shoot at the maximum either. I checked the manual for your EOS R7 but didn't see any mention of the colour of the H+ icon. However I would check the status of your batteries. This is found in the SET UP menu tabs page 6 for your camera. If there are two or three green squares showing then it should be ok, if there is only a red square then you won't get full speed.

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

heelfan78 — Thu, 04 Jul 2024 16:42:06 GMT

Hey Brain. Thank you for the excellent graphics - that is exactly the way I checked my shutter count that I gave in ,y previous email (glad to know of this "trick" - thanks for adding on this!).

Battery has / had 2 green squares at the time. But my H+ icon is white (on the back screen of my camera - I have never seeing green to the best of my recollection.

Using a Canon RF 100-400, AV, ISO 100, AWB, f5.6, AI Servo, spot metering.

Here are the tests today: Electronic = 13, 13, 14; EFC = 8, 8, 8, 8; Mechanical = 6, 7, 6.

Greatly appreciate all you have been helping me with!

Re: EOS R7 Help!!! What is wrong with the FPS on my electronic first curtain?

GregSmith — Wed, 06 Nov 2024 07:52:57 GMT

Hi Heelfan78. Did you manage to resolve this issue? I had a similar issue. It turned out to be the battery, despite the battery health status registering as healthy by the camera. I tried a new OEM battery, and it solved the problem. I hope your issue was resolved and this post can help someone else who may be experiencing a similar issue.