Canon 5D MKIII takes a single photo in High speed continuous shooting

[newbie_phtgphy]

Hi!
So I recently got hold of a 5D MKIII, and was trying out the High Speed Continuous shooting mode and realised that despite the shutter going off 3-4 times, it only shoots a single photo in Manual mode.

The only time it continuously shoots multiple pictures is when its in A+ mode

Super new to using this camera, so would really appreciate the help!

Thank you!

[Tronhard · Accepted solution]

First question is, did you do a factory reset of features when you got the camera?  It is not uncommon for previous users to have incorporated their own settings into the camera's operation and one, or a combination of those may make things complicated.

If this, or any other post resolves this issue, please mark this thread as resolved and select the post with the correct answer so that others know that it is sorted.  Thank you.

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

This sounds like the camera is set to HDR mode, where it takes three photos and combines them to a single JPG image.

HDR mode is found on the bottom of the SHOOT 3 menu. You'll need turn the mode dial away from A+ mode to see this. Normally it cancels after a single shot, but can be left active all the time which is what it sounds like you have.

[Tronhard · Accepted solution]

First question is, did you do a factory reset of features when you got the camera?  It is not uncommon for previous users to have incorporated their own settings into the camera's operation and one, or a combination of those may make things complicated.

If this, or any other post resolves this issue, please mark this thread as resolved and select the post with the correct answer so that others know that it is sorted.  Thank you.

[newbie_phtgphy]

Hi Tronhard,

thank you for the reply, the reset definitely worked after turning off the HDR mode on top of the reset

wanted to ask if its normal that the camera can only take up to 13 burst shots before its "busy"

thank you. !

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

This sounds like the camera is set to HDR mode, where it takes three photos and combines them to a single JPG image.

HDR mode is found on the bottom of the SHOOT 3 menu. You'll need turn the mode dial away from A+ mode to see this. Normally it cancels after a single shot, but can be left active all the time which is what it sounds like you have.

[newbie_phtgphy]

Hi p4pictures!

thank you for the reply!
after doing a reset and turning off the HDR settings, it definitely improved and can take up to 13 photos continuously now, wanted to ask if that's the maximum it's able to shoot at one go? as after it hits 13 pictures, it just becomes "busy " for a while, before returning back to normal!

[Waddizzle]

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@newbie_phtgphy wrote:

Hi p4pictures!

thank you for the reply!
after doing a reset and turning off the HDR settings, it definitely improved and can take up to 13 photos continuously now, wanted to ask if that's the maximum it's able to shoot at one go? as after it hits 13 pictures, it just becomes "busy " for a while, before returning back to normal!

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Off the top of my head, I would not know.  I would need to download the User Guide from the Canon Support page for the camera and look it up in the specs.

[Tronhard]

This is where you need to do your research on the manual - in these days it is STILL an important resource.  So the likely reason you are getting a burst of 13 shots is because the card is 'choking' on the data being pushed to it from the camera.  That is normal. 

If you find any answer resolves your issues, please mark the topic as resolved and identify the solution posts - you can pick more than one - so that someone with a similar issue can find the answer quickly.

The camera shoots at high speed and produces a lot of data.  That data is fed into a buffer which accepts the image info at high speed, but then has to feed it to your cards as fast as they will accept it.  Cards are much slower than the buffer and the speed of a card is actually quite variable.  My first advice is to get fast cards - check you manual for what the camera will work with and get the fastest versions of those.  It has both a CF card (NOT a CF Express card) and an SD card.   The larger the card generally also the faster it will write.

If you are shooting RAW and JPG, you can set the larger RAW files to go to the fast CF card, and the JPG files to go to the SD card, thus also providing a backup in case something goes awry.  Again, check your manual for instructions on how to do this.

[p4pictures · Accepted solution]

13 pictures before it's busy sounds like a slow speed card. Is the red card writing light illuminated before and while busy is displayed? 

The EOS 5D Mark III uses two types of cards, CF and SD. The controller for the SD card slot in the EOS 5D Mark III is actually pretty slow, so even putting faster SD cards in it doesn't make much difference. If you want the longest burst then you need to use fast CF (CompactFlash) cards, preferably ones that are marked with UDMA6 or 90MB/s or more.