Write times

[suethomo]

Hi,

I am new to DSLR's and am looking at the Minolta D7. However I have read it has slow write times. (Up to 12 seconds for Raw) Does this mean one has to wait 12 seconds before another shot can be taken - or is there some sort of buffer so it can write while shooting continues. Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Sue

[D70FAN]

Hi,

I am new to DSLR's and am looking at the Minolta D7. However I have read it has slow write times. (Up to 12 seconds for Raw) Does this mean one has to wait 12 seconds before another shot can be taken - or is there some sort of buffer so it can write while shooting continues. Any help appreciated.

Thanks

Sue

The 7D does have a buffer for continuous shooting of 3 frames per second (fps) with a depth of 9 frames for RAW and 12 frames for Fine JPEG. I don't know where the 12 seconds came from, but it may be to completely clear a full buffer (128MB), but you will be able to continue shooting at about 1.2 frames a second even while this is happening.

While it is a little slower buffer-to-flash transfer than it's competitors, this will only come into play if you need to shoot more than 3 - 4 seconds in continuous mode.

There is a firmware update V1.0 that speeds this up as well as the USB transfer rate (although still only Full Speed at 2MB/sec).

http://kmpi.konicaminolta.us/eprise/main/kmpi/content/cam/cam_product_pages/Maxxum_7D?mDetail=Software

If you are shooting in single frame mode there should be no pause between shots, so this is really a non-issue.

Unless you have an extensive lens collection, I always recommend trying all of the dSLR's before putting your money down. I seriously doubt that you will find any performance shortcomings in any of them, so go with what you like.