cancel
Showing results for 
Show  only  | Search instead for 
Did you mean: 

Canon EOS slowing or Jamming when taking continuous pics

Marshpike
Apprentice

Firsty going to have to apologise as although I've had m camera for 1.5 years I'm a little wet behind the ears with it.

 

I have an EOS70D with a Canon Zoom Lens EF 70-300mm 1:4-5.6 L USM lens, and I never take the hood (mentioning incase its relevant).

 

I use the camera to take pics at the local running races which I've been doing since I've had the camera but recently the camera seems to be jamming up, not sure if its struggling with focus, but it starts off good then half way through the pack of runners its stops for a rest before letting me take another single snap or two then needs a rest??

 

I haven't a clue what's causing this as its never happened in the past, takes great photos for the first few minutes before this starts to happen, apprecaite any ideas>???

12 REPLIES 12

jrhoffman75
Legend
Legend

Sounds like you are filling the buffer internal memory in the camera and it has to stop while it writes to the card and frees up buffer memory space.

 

If you arfe confident it didn't do it before under the same shooting conditions and frame rate then look for differences - new card (with slower write speed?)? - has card been formated in camera recently (if not, do it).

 

Based on what you described I don't think you have a camera problem.

John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic

I think John diagnosed it correctly and it doesn't sound like a problem with the camera itself.

 

Are you shooting in RAW or JPG (or RAW+JPG)?  JPG will allow a larger burst with most (maybe all) current cameras compared to RAW so depending upon your model if you must have a high sustained burst rate you may need to consider JPG for some of your shots.  I always shoot RAW files only but saving as JPG instead of RAW is a possible solution to the issue if  you are currently using RAW.

 

As John noted card speed has a major impact on how fast the camera can flush the buffer to the card and all cards are definitely not created equally.  The results in this site are a bit dated but it does serve to illustrate the differences in card writing speed and the impact from shooting RAW vs JPG or RAW+JPG to help you decide what will work best for you.

https://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/canon-70d/fastest-sd-cards/

 

I suspect that formatting the card in camera vs having a card that has simply had the images erased multiple times will also impact how quickly the buffer can be flushed to the card so you might try an in-camera format of your card if you have just been erasing images after shooting.

 

Rodger

EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video

Thanks for the responses, just confirmed JPG only but god knows what card I'm using.

 

Think this could be an issue along with never formatting it, any advice on what card to purchase to see if it improves.

 

EOS 70D

"I've never formatted the card (just done) one thing i noticed when it was 'resting' was the [999] how many frames left was flashing"

 

I'm pretty sure it does that when the card is being written to - camera can't tell how many shots remain because its in the process of putting images on the card.

 

Any SDXC card should be compatible with your camera.

John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic


@jrhoffman75 wrote:

 

Any SDXC card should be compatible with your camera.


Not really.  Most 64GB cards should be okay.  But, most SDXC cards are UHS-II, which is not compatible with most Canon DSLRs.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

From SanDisk

 

“Ultra High Speed Phase II (UHS-II) bus design for SDHC and SDXC was added in SD spec 4.0. This is an additional design enhacement with connector interface modifications to increase performance.

UHS-II specification defines bus architecture for options of 156MB/s and 312MB/s. Manufacturers implemented the 312MB/s option in memory cards. These are theoretical maximum limits and actual maximum performance for a specific card is defined on the label or in advertising.

Host devices will obtain the maximum UHS-II speed when both the card and the host device support UHS-II. Otherwise, the host device and card will use the highest compatible UHS-I or SD bus speed.

There is no compatibility problem using a USH-II card in a UHS-I or non-UHS device.”

John Hoffman
Conway, NH

1D X Mark III, Many lenses, Pixma PRO-100, Pixma TR8620a, LR Classic

In general, when possible I try to stick with accessory devices that are explicitly designed to match the standard of the product to which they are being paired.  As anecdotal information, USB 3.x memory "sticks" are supposed to be fully backwards compatible with devices designed for USB 2.0 yet a variety of different manufacturer USB 3 sticks create intermittent problems when used with the infotainment system in my 2018 GMC Denali heavy duty pickup while USB 2 sticks perform flawlessly.

 

There are big performance differences between different memory cards of supposedly identical specs which is why I suggested choosing a memory card from the link I posted earlier in the thread that tested the actual performance of several different cards in the specific camera. 

 

Some of the most egregious examples of this sort of performance difference are found in some current Cfast cards where components designed for a regular CF card are being used to produce cards that fit into a Cfast slot but produce performance that doesn't even equal that of a regular good CF card in a CF slot.

 

Rodger

EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video


@jrhoffman75 wrote:

From SanDisk

 

“Ultra High Speed Phase II (UHS-II) bus design for SDHC and SDXC was added in SD spec 4.0. This is an additional design enhacement with connector interface modifications to increase performance.

UHS-II specification defines bus architecture for options of 156MB/s and 312MB/s. Manufacturers implemented the 312MB/s option in memory cards. These are theoretical maximum limits and actual maximum performance for a specific card is defined on the label or in advertising.

Host devices will obtain the maximum UHS-II speed when both the card and the host device support UHS-II. Otherwise, the host device and card will use the highest compatible UHS-I or SD bus speed.

There is no compatibility problem using a USH-II card in a UHS-I or non-UHS device.”


I have never heard that before about UHS-II card compatibility modes.

 

Maybe some brands are able to do that.  I have always had the impression that “UHS-I Compatibility Mode” meant transferring data at, or near, the minimum speeds defined by the selected operating mode.  

This is a screenshot from th 80D Instruction Manual.  It reads “UHS-I cards are supported.”

9BBAAC62-780D-4A7B-8399-45987D00F80F.jpeg

While current Canon DSLRs can support UHS-I mode, I am not certain what operating mode would be in effect with the a UHS-II card.  Nowhere do I see where UHS-II is supported, and I suspect that the native mode for the SD slot may not necessarily be the UHS-I mode.

--------------------------------------------------------
"The right mouse button is your friend."

Take a look at the site I posted earlier to see what the faster cards were and if it is still available get one of those or the current version from that manufacturer.

 

I strongly urge you to purchase from B&H or another camera retailer; a couple of years ago the cards I ordered from the "amazing etailing giant" were counterfeit.  It was easy to return them but apparently counterfeit cards are very common so be careful where you buy.  I get all of mine from B&H now.

 

Rodger

EOS 1DX M3, 1DX M2, 1DX, 5DS R, M6 Mark II, 1D M2, EOS 650 (film), many lenses, XF400 video
Announcements