Canon 100/400 trombone vs 400mmdoII 7dII fps question: Took my Canon 100/400 (trombone) to the LA Zoo yesterday vs my 400mmDOII for flexibility. It seems to me, the 100/400 7DII combo...

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

Took my Canon 100/400 (trombone) to the LA Zoo yesterday vs my 400mmDOII for flexibility. It seems to me, the 100/400 7DII combo does not have the burst rate that the 7DII-400mmDOII combo has. The zoom combo actually seemed to slow down while taking multiple exposures. I was wondering whether there was a camera issue, so I put the DOII on this morning and everything seems fine. Does anyone have an explanation why the 100/400 would cause the fps on the 7DII to be reduced, and possibly slow down during continuous shooting, like 10 exposures.

Thanks for your comments.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Nalu wrote:

Took my Canon 100/400 (trombone) to the LA Zoo yes... (show quote)

Primes almost always out perform zooms. But they are not as versital.
Did you by any chance have the 7DII set for the slower of the two burst rates or one of the other options that slow it down, like no shot until focus is locked. With a moving subject that one will cause a slow down because it won't trip the shutter until it achieves focus.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

robertjerl wrote:

Primes almost always out perform zooms. But they are not as versital.
Did you by any chance have the 7DII set for the slower of the two burst rates or one of the other options that slow it down, like no shot until focus is locked. With a moving subject that one will cause a slow down because it won't trip the shutter until it achieves focus.

Same settings on the camera. Battery level the same as well. I am wondering whether the older lens is simply not as efficient and draws more power so the battery has to work harder. Interestingly, the zoom was not only slower, but as the number of shots increased during a burst, it actually got slower as the shutter count increased.

Maybe a question for Canon?

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

Nalu wrote:

Same settings on the camera. Battery level the same as well. I am wondering whether the older lens is simply not as efficient and draws more power so the battery has to work harder. Interestingly, the zoom was not only slower, but as the number of shots increased during a burst, it actually got slower as the shutter count increased.

Maybe a question for Canon?

One possible for the slow down on burst. The memory card, a faster card empties the buffer faster. If you were in RAW then the buffer is good for about 33 shots before it slows down to the rate at which it can write to the memory card. With RAW + JPEG it slows down sooner.

Nalu Loc: Southern Arizona

robertjerl wrote:

One possible for the slow down on burst. The memory card, a faster card empties the buffer faster. If you were in RAW then the buffer is good for about 33 shots before it slows down to the rate at which it can write to the memory card. With RAW + JPEG it slows down sooner.

Nope, same card. Both in raw, I shoot nothing but. Has to be in the efficiency of the lens. Must take more power to operate the shutter in the older lens and as such causes a drain on the body. It is an old lens, approx ten years. I wonder whether the connections need to be cleaned. Do you think that could make a difference?

SharpShooter Loc: NorCal

Nalu wrote:

Took my Canon 100/400 (trombone) to the LA Zoo yes... (show quote)

Nalu, I don't often use my 7ll at the fasted fps, so I may not notice that stuff, but, if you have the zoom at 400 it's at 5.6, so the DO is getting better light and speeding things up. The faster the lens, the more cross focus points it can activate, so the faster the lens/camera combo can find, lock the focus, and shoot.
With the DO you are at a group 2 lens. With the 5.6 I think you've already dropped to Group 3. That's why they make the f2.8's. They are group 1 lenses and can use the super sensitive cluster around the central points, especially if you are spot focusing. That's why the 400 2.8 is the biggie for sports and not the 500.
Also how you set up the cases affects how fast the camera can focus and shoot. For the fastest shooting you will give up a little bit of focus accuracy and v/v.
Anyway, just some of what you may be noticing, all else being equal!! Good luck. ;-)
SS

imagemeister Loc: mid east Florida

Nalu wrote:

Same settings on the camera. Battery level the same as well. I am wondering whether the older lens is simply not as efficient and draws more power so the battery has to work harder. Interestingly, the zoom was not only slower, but as the number of shots increased during a burst, it actually got slower as the shutter count increased.

Maybe a question for Canon?

Yes, this may be a question for Canon.....Some of the things already mentioned can have an effect. f4 vs f5.6, memory card speeds, battery level and yes the contact connections also. Another thing that is a little different between these lenses is the IS - so do not rule out IS complications.

TalonFangClaw Loc: Provo, Utah

Hi Nalu,
I have been shooting hummingbirds lately and at a high shutter speed to stop the wings. A couple of days ago I broke out my old 100-400 to see how it did on image quality, etc. I had the same experience you did. The 100-400 performed much slower than my Tamron 150-600 using the same camera settings. It has to be the lens. I hope someone can address this for us. I'm sure there are still a lot of HOGS with the older 100-400 out there.
Doc Hansen

PS: I failed to say I's using the Canon 7DII as well.

Bob Boner

Is the 100-400 the new one or the old one. Might that make a difference if it is the old one?

TalonFangClaw Loc: Provo, Utah

Sorry, Bob. I guess I didn't make it plain enough. It is the older, Mark I "trombone" model. I'm sure the older model doesn't perform as well as the new one but I still don't know why the burst would be so much slower.
Doc Hansen

flyguy Loc: Las Cruces, New Mexico

robertjerl wrote:

One possible for the slow down on burst. The memory card, a faster card empties the buffer faster. If you were in RAW then the buffer is good for about 33 shots before it slows down to the rate at which it can write to the memory card. With RAW + JPEG it slows down sooner.

:thumbup: :thumbup: :thumbup:

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

Nalu wrote:

Took my Canon 100/400 (trombone) to the LA Zoo yes... (show quote)

There are a couple of things that can cause this. One is that you've got settings so that your shutter speed is slower on the zoom because of the variable aperture it has verses the prime. The other possibility is that the zoom does focus slower than the prime hence if your camera is set so that it takes focus into it's highest priority, and the zoom is focusing slower, it will halt or slow your shooting if a good focus can't be achieved.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

I suspect the 7DII is the same as my 7D's... which slow down from their top FPS at times, in order to focus or meter as accurately as possible.

A $7000 f4 prime that was introduced within the last year is likely to have more advanced and high performance focus drive than a 17-year-old, f5.6 zoom model that cost around $1700.

Maybe you have your 7DII set so that focus accuracy is a priority over shutter release speed. That's up to you and can be set separately, depending upon whether it's the first image in a burst or the second & all subsequent image(s) in a burst. The latter would particularly effect frame rate and you certainly might notice a difference with a lens that delivers less light and has a slower AF system. I set up my cameras to prioritize focus accuracy, even if it slows shooting speed a little. I'd prefer that my shots be in focus as best possible.... rather than get more shots, some of which may not be as accurately focused.

TalonFangClaw Loc: Provo, Utah

amfoto1 wrote:

I suspect the 7DII is the same as my 7D's... which... (show quote)

Alan, I think you have found the right button. At least in my case, I have set focus priority on both first and second frame on my 7DII. That would surely affect the frame speed in an older, slower lens. Thank you.
Doc Hansen

speters Loc: Grangeville/Idaho

Nalu wrote:

Nope, same card. Both in raw, I shoot nothing but. Has to be in the efficiency of the lens. Must take more power to operate the shutter in the older lens and as such causes a drain on the body. It is an old lens, approx ten years. I wonder whether the connections need to be cleaned. Do you think that could make a difference?

The older lens also has an older AF system, that is slower than the new one, so it's not a surprise it has to slow down the burst a bit to keep things in focus.