Dougi Loc: Lynnwood, WA

I was at my grandson track meet shooting some pictures along next to another gentleman. I had my camera on continuous shooting at around 500 5.8 ISO 1600. I don't know if the settings mattered but when he shot his camera it was shooting faster than mine. I think he had a 60D? He left before I had a chance to ask him why. I shoot a T2i and my SDHC card is a class 6 . If I got a class 10 would I be able to shoot more frames per second? Is there a way to make my camera shoot more frames per second. Can I assume shutter speed is a factor?

Nikonian72 Loc: Chico CA

For fastest capture rate, shoot JPG basic only. The larger your chosen JPG size, the slower your download rate to your card. Adding raw to capture, will slow transfer even more.

FAQ: What is the best Memory Card for my type of Photography?
http://www.uglyhedgehog.com/t-49334-1.html

DaveMM Loc: Port Elizabeth, South Africa

I think you will find the 60D has a faster frame rate than the T2i as it is a higher grade of camera. The memory card will make no difference at all, although a slow card may reduce the number of frames you can shoot before the buffer fills up.

Look at it like a tap filling a leaky bucket. The frame rate is analogous to the size of the tap. The memory card speed is analogous to the leak size. You can't do anything about the tap, but a faster leak will allow more water to flow before the bucket fills up.

EstherP

No you can't shoot more fps and no, you can't assume anything when it comes to cameras.
Have you checked your camera's manual?
On page 57 it states that your camera can take a maximum of 3.7 frames per second - and I'd add to that: regardless of the speed of the memory card.
BTW, the 60D is rated at 5.3 fps.
EstherP

Waxhouse Loc: Tampa Via Philadelphia

The question you should ask yourself is, what will you be using your images for.
Burst buffering is slow in raw but very quick in jpg.

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

There are numerous ways for a camera to slow the memory card dump from the buffer. However, there is no way to speed this process up faster than the camera clock rate. Yes, using smaller files will speed this process up but only to the max rate of your camera's internal clock transfer rate. One way is to take only JPEG photos and to reduce the quality of each photo when shooting continuous frame mode.
I think that if you look, you will find that the continuous frame shooting rate is faster on your son's camera or he was shooting JPEG only. Your manual will tell you what the max frame rate is for each particular camera.

CurreyPhoto Loc: Reddick, Florida

To the OP: This response and the one prior to it are the right answer. Ignor the rest. If you want more frames per second you will need a camera whose specifications say it will shoot more frames per second. I believe the Canon 1Dx shoots at 11 frames per second at full frame and full resolution. A Canon expert can correct me if I'm wrong. Having said that, though, I sold a lot of action pictures with a camera that shot 1.5 fps. So, keep shooting and enjoy what you have. When shooting fewer frames per second it becomes more important to get the timing of your first frame right.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

I owned a T2i and they are very slow. If you are shooting small jpg images the best it can do is 4fps. The 60D does 6fps. The memory you use has little to do with how fast the frame rate is. When I owned my T2i this is what I discovered while using class 10 cards (the fastest):

1. shooting jpg I could capture about 4 or 5 images at the 4fps rate then the camera buffer filled up

2. when shooting raw, I could only shoot 2 images and the buffer was full.

The buffer is the cameras internal memory that holds the captured image until the camera has a chance to transfer it to the memory card you insert into the card slot. When the buffer is full, the camera slows to a crawl and severely limits how long it takes before you can take another image.

The T2i just isn't made for taking a lot of images in burst mode. I'm sure the 60D does a lot better.

I've got a 7D now and after Canon updated the firmware I can shoot at 8fps and capture about 22 images in raw. That's the difference between a $1500 prosumer camera body and a $600 entry level Rebel.

russelray Loc: La Mesa CA

Although some of the responses say that a faster card would make no difference, when I first started out with my Rebel XSi and then the T2i, I found that the Class 10 cards gave me much better continuous shooting than did the Class 6 cards. I even found a difference between the best (most expensive) Class 10 cards and the worst (least expensive) Class 10 cards.

bunuweld Loc: Arizona

I agree with EstherP. The fps number limit is determined by the camera, not the card.The images captured go into a buffer and then into the card. In my limited understanding of the process RAW images go into the buffer faster because they are not processed by the camera into JPEG, which consumes some micro-time. However, the buffer fills up with fewer RAW images than it would with JPEGs because RAWs are are larger. The card speed makes the biggest difference when downloading into the computer, and possibly in the uptake speed from the buffer, but should not affect the fps speed of the camera. For continuous shooting, the discharge speed from the buffer to the card would be a limiting factor. And a slower card would slow down the continuous shooting.

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

You are absolutely wrong. If you have a memory card that is slower than your buffer download speed, the buffer empties slower into the memory module. To maintain maximum fps rate for your specific camera, the memory must be able to accept data at least as fast as your camera's buffer can feed it. The memory should never be slower than the camera buffer speed. The actual speed required is published in the manual for most DSLR camera and sometime even posted memory mfgr's websites under COMPATIBILITY or READ/WRITE speed. It's all in the manual.

EstherP

Well, I'm sorry but my manual does not tell me the actual speed required.

As to the card, the manual tells me to use SD, SDHC, SDXC or CF Type I UDMA-compatible. No speed class given.

So, when I select sequential shooting, the camera shoots 5 frames per second for as long as I keep the shutter button pressed (quoted from the manual).
I haven't actually tried to go for many seconds, but I do know that my card cannot keep up with even, say 2 seconds of sequential shooting (10 images). As soon as I release the shutter button, the card access lamp starts to blink telling me that the images are being transferred from the buffer to the card. I cannot take any more photos until the card access lamp stops blinking. So the total number of photos at the fps rate determined by the camera depends on the size of the buffer and not on the size or speed of the card. And oh, yes, I still have a couple of class 2 and class 4 SD cards and they work just fine with both my camera and sequential shooting.
EstherP

bunuweld Loc: Arizona

I tried to make a difference between the camera's frames-per-second and continuous shooting. Slowing of the buffer emptying into the card because of a slow card will affect the *continuous* shooting, that is, the time interval between volleys of fps, but it will not affect the camera's fps of each volley. The manual recommendations that you mention probably take into consideration the speed of buffer emptying into the card, but that is different from the frames-per-second capability of the camera. If you re-read my brief post, you will see the difference.

EstherP

Is there a difference? The way I understood it from the beginning and the way I have discussed it with several photographers is that when you use the camera for continuous shooting it does so at the stated speed, in the case of my camera at 5 frames per second.



But if you have time intervals between volleys it isn't continuous shooting, is it? It is a stop-go-stop-go....
Actually, while what's in the buffer is being written to the card, I cannot start a new volley. I have to wait until the card activity light stops blinking. So that if I use a fast card, I can start the next volley earlier than if I use a slow card.



No sorry, I must be thick or missing something. I still maintain though, that the frames per second is set by the camera manufacturer and is camera specific. And has nothing to do with the size of the card or the speed of the card.
My manual specifically states "Shoots at 5 frames/sec.for as long as the shutter button is pressed (during S-AF, MF)."
Or maybe we are talking at cross-purposes, calling the same thing by different names or different things by the same name.
EstherP

singleviking Loc: Lake Sebu Eco Park, Philippines

The manual should tell you what class of SD card your camera required. The actual speed of the buffer transfer should be elaborated in the manual but maybe some manuals forget to quote that spec. However you did demonstrate that your camera will cease taking photos after 2 seonds of continuous shooting or 10 frames. This shows that your transfer rate is not fast enough to empty the buffer before it fills up and needs more time to write the data onto the SD card. It takes almost 3 times longer to write that data onto a class 4 card than it does to write to a class 10 card. Most high end cameras can write data at 40 to 60 Meg per second so the size of each photo file determines the wait time before your camera can continue shooting.