Are you shooting too many frames? Pre-Shot Capture Technique

[MartyD]

Just to make sure I understand:

@ 30 fps one can shoot FX and raw's - Correct?

@ 120 fps one can shoot DX and jpg large Corrrect?

@ 60 fps one can shoot ? and ?

This is how I read it......

C30 is FX or DX JPEG Normal Large
C60 is DX Only JPEG Normal Large
C120 is FX Only JPEG Normal Small

Prior to FW 3.0 if a DX lens was attached in C120 mode the release would change to C30 DX Mode, with FW 2.0 if a DX lens is attached in C120 mode the release is changed to C60 DX mode.

 

[ninog]

It's completely your option. The frame rate determines whether you are RAW or JPEG. The high frame rates - 30, 60, and 120 fps are JPEG only.

Hello, I understand that there is no option to pre-capture in raw at 20 fps... or am I wrong?

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

One an NPS webinar today Nikon Ambassador Reed Hoffman talked about how pre-shot capture has completely changed the way he shoots. Reed Hoffman is a baseball photographer as well as lots of other sports. He is using a 0.5 second preshot capture with JPEG files at 30 fps and not triggering the shutter until there is action - a hit, a play in the field, a catch, etc. He does not bother to fire a burst unless he sees action. As a result, he is capturing every hit as the bat strikes the ball without the large number of images associated with photographing every pitch. He's getting every shot and is able to quickly run through the images and choose his selects.
Reed also described the way he photographs lightning - which is by waiting until he sees it. Again with pre-shot capture, he is able to capture a series of images with almost every lightning strike. He showed us a series of nine images from a single lightning bolt - all based on pre-capture and pressing the shutter after he sees the lightning.
The same technique is being used for birds as they take off. He is simply waiting until he sees the bird take off, and then using pre-shot capture, he captures the images as it takes off. The challenge remains getting the subject in focus as it flies away from it's perch - but it is generally very effective.

Reed's approach is one I would advocate for sports with repeating activities -- Baseball is a prime example. BUT then the end-users "have" to be happy with the 11mp, 19mp, or 30mp images c120, c60 and c30 provide. Which means you need to be shooting from a prime spot with great gear and technique to fill the frame with the "action".
I was very lucky to be able to use c120 on a shoot when nothing else gave me the result I wanted. This was before pre-capture was enabled -- and is the only time I "wanted" to use 120fps. This shot was used by NPS and on the inside cover of Nikon Owner -- simply because I was one of the first to shoot something with the new feature.
I suspect folk that use these c30/c60/c120 bursts tend to delete many of their bursts when "nothing" happened. I cannot remember is one can delete a whole burst in camera in one go.
It would be interesting to hear from NBA/Basketball shooters and "even" Tennis and Cricket shooters to see how many use these ultra high fps options and benefit from pre-post capture. Most I know are highly skilled and are used to timing their bursts with the action -- they had to learn decades ago. I still meet up with a Horse Racing photographer who is now in his 90s and still does not trust this new fangled Auto-Focus thing.

 

[agrumpyoldsod]

Hello, I understand that there is no option to pre-capture in raw at 20 fps... or am I wrong?

Pre-capture is only available for C30, C60 and C120 JPG images

 

[ninog]

Pre-capture is only available for C30, C60 and C120 JPG images

Thank you very much, that's what I understood but reading the answers here I had doubts... thank you

 

[MartyD]

I gave the pre-capture a little test a few nights ago with some success, but I was shooting some sports indoors in a poorly lit gym. You lose the flicker reduction when shooting pre-capture but you can still use high frequency flicker reduction. I could adjust shutter speeds a little to improve the images but just due to the nature of the venue and the type of lighting I went back to shooting 20fps RAW. It is a little strange when you can set a shutter speed of 1/832.5 or 1/812 and I need to work with that a little. You don't see the pronounced variation in light cycles in large venues but in small venues it can be pronounced.

I am curious if anything was mentioned about dealing with flicker reduction in the NPS presentation or if they even have to deal with it.

 

[ccirelli]

Another quick follow-up here. I'm assuming ALL the above options / configurations still also include the option to write highest-quality JPEG's to card slot 2, as a backup?

 

[EricBowles]

Another quick follow-up here. I'm assuming ALL the above options / configurations still also include the option to write highest-quality JPEG's to card slot 2, as a backup?

Writing a JPEG or other format as a backup has a significant impact on the amount of data being written. It means you have more data per frame to write, so you will much more quickly fill the buffer or run into challenges with fast bursts. I don't think anything has been disabled - it's just not practical to expect anything high speed if you are writing an additional backup file.

 

[MartyD]

Another quick follow-up here. I'm assuming ALL the above options / configurations still also include the option to write highest-quality JPEG's to card slot 2, as a backup?

Yes, images are written to both cards in backup mode but none of the pre-capture modes are in highest-quality JPEG.
C30 is FX or DX JPEG Normal Large
C60 is DX Only JPEG Normal Large
C120 is FX Only JPEG Normal Small

 

[SuperflyTNT]

Actually this feature would be really great if there is a toggle to Preshot or not
It is tedious to switch between raw & preshot now

It would be even better if it just worked with raw. I’ve had this feature on Olympus for a few years and was excited it was coming to the Z9, then so disappointed it only works with JPEG.