Camera Labs

I was looking at the 7d which can shoot 8fps, but it turns out only for 20 frames or so. Are there any HDSLR's that can shoot around 8fps until the card fills up?

Well that is two and a half seconds of action. What are you planning on shooting that means you are holding the shutter down for that long?

Continuous shooting is really designed for short, sharp bursts, not extended use.

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Nikon D5000 and D300 with 12-24mm, 35mm f1.8, 50mm f1.4, 60mm f2.8 Macro, 18-200mm, 17-55mm f2.8 (all Nikon)

If you put a fast enough card in the 7D I think you might be able to squeeze unlimited jpegs at high speed continuous out of it. It isn't rated for unlimited jpegs but I'm not sure Canon used the fastest cards around when determining that rating. If you can make do with 6.3 fps then the 50D is rated for unlimited jpegs.

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Canon DSLRs: 7D, 5D2, 1D, 600D, 450D full spectrum, 300D IR mod
Lenses: EF 35/2, 50/1.8, 85/1.8, 135/2+SF, 28-80 V, 70-300L, 100-400L, TS-E 24/3.5L, MP-E 65, EF-S 15-85 IS
3rd party: Zeiss 2/50 makro, Samyang 8mm fisheye, Sigma 150 macro, 120-300 f/2.8 OS, Celestron 1325/13
Tinies: Sony HX9V.

There comes a point where continuous still shooting becomes video. I suppose the question is what are you trying to capture or what effect are you looking for.

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Nikon D90
Nikkor AF-S DX; 18-105 f/3.5-5.6G VR, 55-300 f/4.5-5.6G VR, 35mm f/1.8G
Speedlight SB-700

http://keystrokesukimages.com

I think you're setting your hopes a bit too high. There isn't only the buffer overload to take into account, you also need to consider the fact that with almost any machine, parts that move rapidly for a sustained amount of time tend to build up heat and friction, leading to overheating if not adequately cooled.

If I remember correctly the 1D Mk IV can shoot up to 120 frames in a single continuous 12-second burst. I don't remember what the maximum number of frames is with the earlier versions of the 1D but only the 1D Mk IV can record HD video.

Like keystrokesuk implied, the effect you're looking for may be more easily be achieved with a higher frame rate than with a higher number of frames or vice versa.

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Bodies: Canon EOS 550D w/ Magic Lantern
Lenses: Tokina AT-X 116 Pro DX f/2.8, Canon EF-S 15-85mm f/3.5-5.6 IS USM, Canon EF-S 18-55mm f/3.5-5.6 IS, Canon EF 50mm f/1.8 II, Canon EF 70-300mm f/4-5.6 IS USM
Accessories: YongNuo Speedlite YN-468 Flash, Neewer Macro LED Ring Light, Meike Battery Grip, YongNuo RF-602 Wireless Flash Trigger & Receiver YongNuo WR-128 Wireless Remote Control

Correct, you're disregarding sensor heat. Especially CMOS sensors get quite hot when continuous shooting, I'm assuming that's why even my D2H has a hardlimit of 40 shots in burst.

As a matter of fact, the large sensor Hasseblad has a heatsink on the sensor

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I take pictures so quickly, my highschool was "Continuous High".

"You don't need to capture the decisive moment, you just capture the whole moment and decide later."
-Kai Mrk. II, DigitalRevTV



I don't see why you'd need the continuous shooting either, the most that I'd ever shoot in a continuous sequence would probably be 15 photos or so, but that's just me.
Look at the Canon 7D or Nikon D300s. Better yet. wait for the upcoming D400 from Nikon. You can't go wrong with either camera.

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-Evan

Gear: 7 Nikon Nikkor AI-S and AF-S lenses, SB-700 flash, Nikon D7000, Nikon FM, variety of accessories

"There are no rules for good photographs, there are only good photographs."
- Ansel Adams

Add my voice to the chorus...any more 'continuous' shooting than the better DSLRs can already do, and you might as well just shoot video. I cannot think of any situation where I'd want to shoot an unlimited number of frames at 4-10 frames per second - rarely would I exceed 30-40 frames in the most wacked-out crazy sports situation I can imagine. I use burst often - I shoot wildlife and birds, and when shooting in-flight birds, continuous shooting is virtually a necessity, to capture just the right wing pose and moment. but there haven't been situations where I simply mashed down the shutter and held it open for 28 seconds, firing 7 frames per second. Of course, the camera couldn't do it (don't think any could), but why would I want it to? 200 frames of the same subject over a 28 second period...I might fall asleep while shooting. Typically, I fire 'bursts' of continuous frames - I'll keep the camera in 7fps mode, and fire 7-14 frames at a time in 1-2 second bursts, pausing in between, then maybe pulsing off another 7-14. I might end up with as many as 30-40 at maximum during a sequence, usually taken in 3-4 separate bursts over a 5-8 second period.

I'm not sure what the max buffer is on my camera, but it's big enough to handle about 35-40 JPGs at 7fps without a slowdown - I'm sure the limit for RAW would be closer to 20 or so...after that, it can keep shooting continuous, but won't maintain 7fps - it will slow down as the buffer offloads to the card to clear space. The faster the card, the better the continuous frame rate will be, but it won't be 7fps - more like 3fps. I did buy the A550 over the A500 for a few reasons - the size of the buffer was one of the biggest of them, along with the faster 7fps shooting rate.

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Justin Miller
Sony DSLR-A580 / Sony 18-250mm / Minolta 50mm F1.7 / Sigma 30mm F1.4 / Tamron 10-24mm / Tamron 200-500mm / Tamron 90mm F2.8 macro / Minolta 300mm F4 APO
Sony NEX5N / 18-55mm F3.5-5.6 / 55-210mm F4-6.3 / Pentax K adapter / Konica K/AR adapter / bunches o' Konica & Pentax lenses!

Galleries:
http://www.pbase.com/zackiedawg

Another approach could be to shoot HD video and the cut out the frames you don't want...? that way you bypass any sensor-heat problem etc. and you decide your own FPS speed.

At 24 frames per second, you cut out 3 of every 4 frames and you have 8FPS, for example.

Cheers

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Nikon stuff and other stuff, but not nearly as much stuff as I really want!