topic Re: SX50 HS - (1) increasing write speed & (2) sporting pictures under lights in Point & Shoot Digital Cameras

SX50 HS - (1) increasing write speed & (2) sporting pictures under lights

Hookset — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 00:39:36 GMT

I have SX50 HS. I take photos at my daughters soccer game with dial set on SCN and continuous selected or High Speed Burst HQ .

When taking the continuous pictures, i take the 10 picture burst, but then get the "busy" screen for 5 or 6 seconds. I miss alot of action during goal scoring and celebration during that time and assume this is the speed of writing to the Sd card.

Is this true, and if so do I have choices to upgrade the SD card?

Are there other settings which will reduce this delay?

Second question, when taking sporting pictures under the lights they are always blurry. I assume the lower amount of light is keeping the appeture open longer which doesnt work well with action photos. Is there anything i can do?

Many Thanks

Greg

Re: SX50 HS - (1) increasing write speed & (2) sporting pictures under lights

Hookset — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 00:52:00 GMT

I should add that my SD card is Sandisk Ultra 32GB and the camera and disk is about 3 yrs old and has been fantastic.

Re: SX50 HS - (1) increasing write speed & (2) sporting pictures under lights

TTMartin — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:58:55 GMT

@Hookset wrote:
Hi
I have SX50 HS. I take photos at my daughters soccer game with dial set on SCN and continuous selected or High Speed Burst HQ .

When taking the continuous pictures, i take the 10 picture burst, but then get the "busy" screen for 5 or 6 seconds. I miss alot of action during goal scoring and celebration during that time and assume this is the speed of writing to the Sd card.

Is this true, and if so do I have choices to upgrade the SD card?

Are there other settings which will reduce this delay?

Second question, when taking sporting pictures under the lights they are always blurry. I assume the lower amount of light is keeping the appeture open longer which doesnt work well with action photos. Is there anything i can do?

Many Thanks
Greg

You might see slightly faster performance using a Sandisk Extreme card, but, the issue is really your technique.

Instead of taking 10 picture burst (spray and pray) work on your timing. Try and limit yourself to 3 or 4 picture bursts at the moments of peak action. This way the camera has time between bursts to clear the buffer, and you don't miss out on the action.

As for low light performance, the SX50 HS is a great camera. But, it has a very small image sensor, and a fairly small maximum aperture. There is only so much a sub-$500 camera can do. Professional sports photographers shooting under the lights have upwards of $5000 worth of gear. You just have to accept the limitations of your current camera or be prepared to spend a lot more money.

A minimum set up for soccer photos under the lights would be something like the EOS 7D Mk II and an EF 100-400 IS II or a 70-200 f/2.8 IS II. That's between $3500 and $4000 and that set up still might struggle. Ideally would be an EOS 5D Mk III and Sigma 120-300 f/2.8 OS Sport and now you are looking at upwards of $7000.

Re: SX50 HS - (1) increasing write speed & (2) sporting pictures under lights

Hookset — Mon, 21 Sep 2015 15:52:49 GMT

Thanks for the feedback TTMartin. I often fall int the spray and pray technique because the action happens so quick and I really like to capture the entire sequence of events. It does make sense to reduce the groups to two or three, and will give that a try and practice on my technique.

In terms of the under the lights question, that is what I expected. For the price, this camera is amazing and has more than fulfilled its end of the bargain

Greg