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

[heelfan78]

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.

[p4pictures]

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. 

[heelfan78]

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

[heelfan78]

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!!!

[heelfan78]

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?!?!?!

[p4pictures]

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.

[heelfan78]

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!

[GregSmith]

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.