FPS: Pro Secrets To Better Keepers And Sharper Shots!

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FPS: The Secret To Better Keepers And Sharper Shots!


Frame rate - it seems pretty simple, right? However, leveraging it the right way can unlock a flood of extra keepers - and even sharper photos! In this video, we'll tackle everything you see below and more!

What's the best frame rate for wildlife photography?

Is there a secret frame rate to help you capture more of those perfect moments?

Do you need fast FPS for static subjects? (Psst - the answer will surprise you!)

Can you use frame rate to get sharper images?

How do you handle sorting when shooting at a high frame rate?

Curious?

Then check out the video below - it'll answer all of those questions and it may very well change the way you think about frame rate forever!

 
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Thanks Steve. Great advice. Including on culling. I just got back from a trip to Greenland. We had several encounters with polar bears, musk ox and falcons. I have several hundred to a thousand frames from each encounter (I was generally shooting bursts at 10 fps). Nice to think that I need not look at them all when I have found what I want.
 
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Nice video @Steve

FWIW, here's a quick culling trick I use in LRC for high shot volume situations where I'll be deleting a lot of images.

- First I go through and flag candidates with the P key as discussed in the video
- Then filtering for Flagged images I'll give a rating (e.g. 2) to all keepers that I want to do further work with or keep for some reason
- I might go through one more global pass to see if I should have included others but if I'm confident I then filter for Unrated to get every image where I didn't assign a rating (those I'll trash)
- Select all those images (Cmd-A on the Mac, Ctrl-A on a PC) and with that whole set selected hit the X key to mark them for deletion
- Hit Cmd-Backpace (Mac) or Ctrl-Backspace (PC) to delete that whole set choosing the option to delete from disk
- Then I remove all filters to see the remaining rated shots, select them all and reset their rating to zero and then proceed to work with that much smaller set of images or file them away for future uses.

I've been using this procedure a lot since picking up the Z9 but also use it when periodically going back through older images in my library and asking why I felt the need to keep hundreds of nearly identical portraits and want to do a big cull. That filter for Unrated combined with select all and applying the delete flag with one keystroke is a huge timesaver.
 
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DRwyoming said:
Nice video @Steve.Browne

FWIW, here's a quick culling trick I use in LRC for high shot volume situations where I'll be deleting a lot of images.

- First I go through and flag candidates with the P key as discussed in the video
- Then filtering for Flagged images I'll give a rating (e.g. 2) to all keepers that I want to do further work with or keep for some reason
- I might go through one more global pass to see if I should have included others but if I'm confident I then filter for Unrated to get every image where I didn't assign a rating (those I'll trash)
- Select all those images (Cmd-A on the Mac, Ctrl-A on a PC) and with that whole set selected hit the X key to mark them for deletion
- Hit Cmd-Backpace (Mac) or Ctrl-Backspace (PC) to delete that whole set choosing the option to delete from disk
- Then I remove all filters to see the remaining rated shots, select them all and reset their rating to zero and then proceed to work with that much smaller set of images or file them away for future uses.

I've been using this procedure a lot since picking up the Z9 but also use it when periodically going back through older images in my library and asking why I felt the need to keep hundreds of nearly identical portraits and want to do a big cull. That filter for Unrated combined with select all and applying the delete flag with one keystroke is a huge timesaver.
Click to expand...
Really good method!
 
Something I discovered recently in Lightroom Library is Photo/Stacking/Autostack by capture time. I'm trying to decide what interval to set, I think maybe 3 seconds would be plenty to group related images in a burst together. Thoughts?
 
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People wonder why I take bursts of 4-5 of a stationary subject in good light. Reasons include one shot that is just tad out of focus, subject blinks, subject turns head, something moves through the background or foreground, and as you said, Steve, a sudden unexpected pose or action. I am at max FPS all the time. Haven't changed it on any of my camera bodies in years. :) Great video with lots of practical advice, Steve.
 
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Steve said:
FPS: The Secret To Better Keepers And Sharper Shots!


Frame rate - it seems pretty simple, right? However, leveraging it the right way can unlock a flood of extra keepers - and even sharper photos! In this video, we'll tackle everything you see below and more!

What's the best frame rate for wildlife photography?

Is there a secret frame rate to help you capture more of those perfect moments?

Do you need fast FPS for static subjects? (Psst - the answer will surprise you!)

Can you use frame rate to get sharper images?

How do you handle sorting when shooting at a high frame rate?

Curious?

Then check out the video below - it'll answer all of those questions and it may very well change the way you think about frame rate forever!

Click to expand...
Only issue not everyone is shooting shutterless or fast read-out e-shutter camera’s yet, so are still somewhat concerned about shuttercount. Probably bigger issue if you shoot school sports etc rather than wildlife.

It will probably take me a while to get my head around shuttercount in Z8 is irrelevant number now…, but what a nice problem to have.😀 On my 1st outing with z8, I shot around 500 action frames of my kids on slides etc within 30 minutes. With my D500, this would likely have been around 150 and z6 ii a 100… I thought I was being conservative and kept the z8 at 15fps

Culling has become an important skill to master
 
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bleirer said:
Something I discovered recently in Lightroom Library is Photo/Stacking/Autostack by capture time. I'm trying to decide what interval to set, I think maybe 3 seconds would be plenty to group related images in a burst together. Thoughts?
Click to expand...
Crap, I forgot about that LOL! I had a question on YT about it. Yes, that works. Set the time for like a second or two and it does a pretty good job grouping them.
 
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Bennvdm said:
Only issue not everyone is shooting shutterless or fast read-out e-shutter camera’s yet, so are still somewhat concerned about shuttercount. Probably bigger issue if you shoot school sports etc rather than wildlife.

It will probably take me a while to get my head around shuttercount in Z8 is irrelevant number now…, but what a nice problem to have.😀 On my 1st outing with z8, I shot around 500 action frames of my kids on slides etc within 30 minutes. With my D500, this would likely have been around 150 and z6 ii a 100… I thought I was being conservative and kept the z8 at 15fps

Culling has become an important skill to master
Click to expand...
People worry WAY too much abbot shutter count IMO. The count isn't an odometer and a shutter isn't an engine. Shutters are relatively cheap to replace and it's rare that anyone ever replaces one. I have yet to replace one in fact and I've shot the way described in the video forever :)

IMO, you buy a high-performance camera to help you get shots, so I think trying to "save" it for some future purpose (longevity, used retail etc.) kind of defeats the purpose. So, I blast away when I need to :)
 
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Steve said:
People worry WAY too much abbot shutter count IMO. The count isn't an odometer and a shutter isn't an engine. Shutters are relatively cheap to replace and it's rare that anyone ever replaces one. I have yet to replace one in fact and I've shot the way described in the video forever :)

IMO, you buy a high-performance camera to help you get shots, so I think trying to "save" it for some future purpose (longevity, used retail etc.) kind of defeats the purpose. So, I blast away when I need to :)
Click to expand...
The comment about them being cheap to replace nails it.

The people who worry about replacing shutters probably never will.
 
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Steve said:
FPS: The Secret To Better Keepers And Sharper Shots!


Frame rate - it seems pretty simple, right? However, leveraging it the right way can unlock a flood of extra keepers - and even sharper photos! In this video, we'll tackle everything you see below and more!

What's the best frame rate for wildlife photography?

Is there a secret frame rate to help you capture more of those perfect moments?

Do you need fast FPS for static subjects? (Psst - the answer will surprise you!)

Can you use frame rate to get sharper images?

How do you handle sorting when shooting at a high frame rate?

Curious?

Then check out the video below - it'll answer all of those questions and it may very well change the way you think about frame rate forever!

Click to expand...
Great video Steve. Makes a lot of sense. The culling advice is something I needed to hear. I keep way to many shots
 
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Steve said:
People worry WAY too much abbot shutter count IMO. The count isn't an odometer and a shutter isn't an engine. Shutters are relatively cheap to replace and it's rare that anyone ever replaces one. I have yet to replace one in fact and I've shot the way described in the video forever :)

IMO, you buy a high-performance camera to help you get shots, so I think trying to "save" it for some future purpose (longevity, used retail etc.) kind of defeats the purpose. So, I blast away when I need to :)
Click to expand...
I agree, as I have seen very little instances of where shutter actually needed replacement And even less so on what such cost actually amounted to. Effect on used prices seems real enough though, but proberbly also driven by irrational internet fears rather than what actual repair cost would be.

My worry is probably a bit more real, as it might involve return courier costs to Uk or Germany if cannot be be fixed in South Africa (I am in Namibia).
Nikon mea - middle east and africa, lists no authorised repair centre in South Africa, but the distributor has a service centre in Johannesburg. As to what they can and cannot do at what cost remains a mistery. I see they do list authorised repair centres in Mauritius and Maldives, so I might have to take in personally then if ever needed…

Customs docs and fees can also be a nightmare as they always want a value of the repair to tax you on. I send the instrument cluster of my LR3 Landrover to the uk for repairs for canbus issue and repair cost was 120GBP and courier 300GBp. Had to pay further 50gbp for duties and taxes on repair cost, even though I am pretty sure there should be no excise duties on labour… - just not worth the fight.

On my Z8, I waited a month to get a unit not effected by the two recalls.
 
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Super video, Steve and I appreciate your disarming enthusiasm. Yes, years ago when we carried 36 frame rolls of film and a fast camera had a FPS of 2-3, one had to be much better anticipating the action (worked well for sports), though as you observed, we frequently never knew what we were missing. With cards as large, fast, and inexpensive as they are, and camera bodies and lenses will facilitate 20+ FPS, there is no reason not to take advantage of these benefits. The points regarding culling were well founded too, and now I don't even bother with entire series of shots if I see, for example a branch or some other obstacle obscuring the subject in the frame. For the purists who don't like "deleting" images, simply ascribe a or several stars to the key images, and sort based on that. It's a whole lot easier than looking at frame after frame and deciding to keep or delete.
 
I think for us mere mortals with mechanical shutters, the electronic first curtain shutter is the best compromise. Only half the mechanical actuations, no rolling shutter, no loss of bit depth.
 
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Very good video, thanks Steve. I came from SLRs with one frame on the film for each shutter release :) It took awhile for me to get used to shooting more than 1 frame at a time. The sorting is getting faster now. Thanks again for the information!!
 
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