Nikon D800, buffer tips for action photography

[Grant Atkinson]

I just finished a photo safari, two folk in the group had Nikon D800 bodies. We noticed that one was hitting the buffer more often than the other when we were photographing action sequences, so I put the two together to see where the difference was coming from. One camera was showing a raw buffer of 16, whilst the other was only 13 images.
Both cameras were shooting raw only, and all high-iso noise reduction, in camera noise reduction, was all switched off or disabled to max out speed. We found the difference in Auto-Iso, with the camera in either Aperture or Shutter priority, setting it to Auto-Iso lowered the buffer size to 13, going to user selected Iso settings brought the buffer size back to 16.
We also found that the camera seemed to clear its buffer quicker with a 90mb/s Sandisk CF card as opposed to a Sandisk 90mb/s SD card...
Any shooters using D800s for action shooting might find this useful.
cheers
Grant

[Trevor Ives]

Interesting observation.

This auto ISO thing... really messes with your file sizes. They say that there is a 'cleanest' ISO setting, and you know what? Files sizes taken with that ISO are smallest - there is less interpolation and 'odd' pixels when the file is cleaner. That's probably why the buffer is smaller - the camera doesn't know what the ISO will be for frames that go into the buffer, so limits how big the buffer (almost typed bugger) will be.

IIRC correctly, a TIFF of any image that's 2000x2000 will be a particular size, regardless of the scene content. Convert random scenes to JPEG and see the variance. Makes me wonder how raw, RAW actually is.

[Leo Theron]

Normal RAW, compressed RAW?

It MIGHT be that the buffer is used for some work by the system during Auto-ISO shooting, therefore reducing the available buffer size.

[Forgiss - Sean Nel]

...We also found that the camera seemed to clear its buffer quicker with a 90mb/s Sandisk CF card as opposed to a Sandisk 90mb/s SD card...

The 90mb/s is a "top speed" rating, best case scenario burst speed. The Class or UDMA rating is the one that is the minimum sustainable write speed. Actual speed should pretty much vary inbetween the two

[Grant Atkinson]

HI Leo, both cameras were set to shoot 14 bit RAW, not the compressed variety.
cheers
Grant

[lensman.se]

I have been using the Auto-ISO feature on my D800 since I got it in April.

I purchased the battery grip to gain some extra fps while shooting in DX but my feeling was that it didnīt give me the extra speed. So I read the manual and discovered that the Auto ISO needs to be turned off if you are to gain the maximum fps from the camera.

When I read this thread I get the feeling that the "photo buffer" is reduced while having Auto-ISO turned on and that is probably why you need to turn it off to gain the extra fps.

I will do some tests of my own to see what happens with the buffer and fps when Auto-ISO is turned on or off.

[Forgiss - Sean Nel]

Hi Lensman, Welcome to ODP!

Let us know about that Auto ISO tests. It's an interesting twist, and I am not sure why it should make any more difference than any of the other auto modes.

[kobuspotgieter]

Sean - did a quick test on my D800.

Yes, Grant's observation is correct - in a sense. The camera indeed show a buffer (shots remaining) of 13 when auto iso is on and 16 when off. ( 12/14 bit lossless compressed)

BUT....... it makes no difference when you actually shoot.

Nikon have a few of "settings" for RAW. You can choose between 12bit and 14 bit. Then you can also choose between 1. Uncompressed 2. Lossless compressed 3. Compressed (only the last two on "smaller" models like D7000)

My tests using a 95mb/s Sandisk Extreme Pro SD 32GB card and a Sandisk Extreme4 8 GB CF card yielded the following results: (first figure what the camera show and last figure at actual shooting up to the frame the camera slow down)

Uncompressed 14 bit iso 100 : 13/16
14 bit iso 3200: 13/16 (Noise reduction OFF)
14 bit iso 3200: 13/16 (Noise reduction NORMAL)

Lossless compressed 14 bit iso 100: 16/18
14 bit iso 3200: 16/17

12 bit iso 100: 16/21
12 bit iso 3200: 16/20
12 bit auto iso (upped the ss to force camera to iso 6400) 13/20

Haven't tested the "buffer clear" speed between the cards, but my gut feel is that the SD card I am using clears a bit faster than the CF card I am using.
Have also not tested "compressed". I never use it.

Personally I always shoot (also when using the D3) on Lossless Compressed and 14 bit for situations where the buffer size do not matter and 12bit for sport/birds etc. Not that I have even 1 example to show myself that 14bit have something extra above 12bit, but doing it anyway.

Have shot 1 shoot sport in the compressed setting (using the D3). Was convinced afterwards that I did lose a bit of highlight detail at least.

[lensman.se]

Thank you Sean…

I just tested the Auto-ISO vs fixed ISO.

The camera indicates r13 with Auto-ISO On and r21 with Auto-ISO Off but it makes no difference when you shoot it. I hit the buffer after 27 photos using either setting. I tested in Dx mode with a SanDisk 95Mb/s SD card.

[Forgiss - Sean Nel]

Sounds like Nikon was just being conservative then, or may it be that the cards actually start clearing the buffers and that the effect is less pronounced on a fast card (which would also be good to know...)

[walterpike]

Sounds like Nikon was just being conservative then, or may it be that the cards actually start clearing the buffers and that the effect is less pronounced on a fast card (which would also be good to know...)

Have read some articles on this. The suggestion is to use the very fast CF cards for stills as they will outperform SD cards to clear the buffer. I think that's the important thing. I think using these cameras is going to mean investing in those fast CF 1000x Lexar CF cards