Single shot vs Continuous burst

[tehzeh]

I am an advocate of single shot mode on the camera. I only use the single shot mode on my camera. Yes, it can do 8 fps or something with an additional grip but I couldn't care less.

1. Being able to sync accurately with the jumping or moving object gives me more satisfaction than spamming the frames and then going back to choose which are the ones you want, and that leads me to the second point.

2. Deleting photos, on the camera/ computer, is tiring and unnecessary.

3. No point using the continuous burst if it's not fast enough. Not only the camera, if you are using strobe lights, for most strobes, it wouldn't be able to handle the continuous burst.

Of course, I do recognize that during official events, it's better to be safe than sorry and that's reasonable. One thing I just couldn't subtly understand is that why do some people just love to use the continuous burst for just anything? From shooting dead objects to portraits. Ok, there's this thing called exposure bracketing and that's reasonable too.

As some of you guys might have seen one DRTV's video, what's with the 'capturing the whole moment and decide later' mentality, and people are not retaining the 'decisive moment' mentality.

Or, could it be due to the great extent of deprivation of arms that we have to resort to using cameras to satisfy our 'fetish'?

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What's your take on this?

 

[spree86]

Sometime you just need to use the continuous shots, its there for a reason.

 

[Shibari]

It's a camera, not a machine gun.

Actually the only time I use burst mode is trying to get some action/in the moment shots (e.g. jumping, dancing, stunts).

 

[tehzeh]

Sometime you just need to use the continuous shots, its there for a reason.

Please do list down the reason(s), excluding the ones I have mentioned in my first post.

 

[seanyzf]

action, panning and etc for burst shots seems ok but portraits and landscape?? sounds abit weird.

 

[spree86]

Please do list down the reason(s), excluding the ones I have mentioned in my first post.

Sports, racing, dance, action shots. Most of the actions here is spontaneous and you might not click the shutter fast enough, by using continuous shots, you can get the shot you want. Imagine a sports photographer thinking like you and use only single shots. Going back to the editor and say "Oops, I missed the world cup winning shot because I only took one photo, anticipated the wrong moment"

 

[tehzeh]

Sports, racing, dance, action shots. Most of the actions here is spontaneous and you might not click the shutter fast enough, by using continuous shots, you can get the shot you want. Imagine a sports photographer thinking like you and use only single shots. Going back to the editor and say "Oops, I missed the world cup winning shot because I only took one photo, anticipated the wrong moment"

Firstly, I did clarify that it's reasonable to be safe than sorry.

Secondly, even if the burst could be fast enough, it requires fast-enough focus for some situations. It just doesn't sense to me that you just spam your shutter throughout the whole dance performance. I am exaggerating but I do get your point.

 

[fmeeran]

Firstly, I did clarify that it's reasonable to be safe than sorry.

Secondly, even if the burst could be fast enough, it requires fast-enough focus for some situations. It just doesn't sense to me that you just spam your shutter throughout the whole dance performance. I am exaggerating but I do get your point.

I use continuous bursts for birds(and animals) and human subjects.
Birds and animals tend to move and it is easier to pick the ones which look best. Especially when you are trying to get a bird in flight or an animal in motion.

For human subjects, they tend to do things like blink, turn, etc. So i usually shoot three shots and keep the best of three.

For convenience sake, my camera is always set to continuous burst. I just shoot once if I just want a single shot.

 

[AdyH]

My take is, a lot of people who own camera nowadays are not taking it seriously enough to understand the concept that a photo is A moment captured. To them, i shoot a few n i decide later. They use dslr like a p&s whereby bracketing is used to decide which exposure settings suit them.

Simply put, there's not much of a thinking process going on. Maybe cuz they feel why buy a camera that has the capability of taking 10fps wen u only shoot 1fps. Mentality of using the camera to its max capabilities.

Yes there are time and situation where burst mode it needed and required, but i find more times people r just bursting for the sake of bursting. I cannot understand why myself, but if u were to ask them, i'm sure the reason i gave above would be one of it. At the end of the day, it's their money spend on tat state of the art camera they've used. So dont be surprised why shutter count is 1 of the hot question being asked when buying a 2nd hand camera cuz people are machine gunning their camera like nobody business. And also we hear people complaining why their camera dies way before their expected shutter lifespan.

Nowadays people are more proud of the number of shots they took at an event rather than the number of good shots that they can produced. Well to each his own.

 

[AdyH]

Sports, racing, dance, action shots. Most of the actions here is spontaneous and you might not click the shutter fast enough, by using continuous shots, you can get the shot you want. Imagine a sports photographer thinking like you and use only single shots. Going back to the editor and say "Oops, I missed the world cup winning shot because I only took one photo, anticipated the wrong moment"

Correct me if i'm wrong, the difference between a good photographer and someone who's average is anticipating the correct moment to press that shutter. How fast were the film cameras back then? Did we miss any great moments in sports cuz photographers back then gave excuse by saying "opps i missed the world cup winning shot cuz my camera cudnt go beyong 10fps."

 

[spree86]

Correct me if i'm wrong, the difference between a good photographer and someone who's average is anticipating the correct moment to press that shutter. How fast were the film cameras back then? Did we miss any great moments in sports cuz photographers back then gave excuse by saying "opps i missed the world cup winning shot cuz my camera cudnt go beyong 10fps."

Like what TS said, better be safe than sorry. If it makes your job easier why not use it? Regarding your example, one or maybe a few photographers caught the moment in the past but how many missed it? What is the percentage compared to now?

 

[fmeeran]

Correct me if i'm wrong, the difference between a good photographer and someone who's average is anticipating the correct moment to press that shutter. How fast were the film cameras back then? Did we miss any great moments in sports cuz photographers back then gave excuse by saying "opps i missed the world cup winning shot cuz my camera cudnt go beyong 10fps."

I consider myself an average/below average photographer. Just so you know 50% of people with cameras are below average photographers (that's what below average means).
If I can capture the moment with precision great. If the camera helps me do it by having burst mode, it makes it easier for me.

I'm not saying you should always be using burst mode, but stop turning up your noses at people who might. If you don't ever need to use the burst mode, all the power to you.

 

[ahboy168]

At low shutter speed, bursting increase your change to get a sharp images.

 

[BigBaby]

I find continuous burst mode is useful when you wanna capture a unpredicted moments like example a lightning strike in the sky. It's near impossible to capture a lightning with single shot.

 

[Cowseye]

HDR is one of the reason when I used high speed continuous shot.

 

[ExplorerZ]

I find continuous burst mode is useful when you wanna capture a unpredicted moments like example a lightning strike in the sky. It's near impossible to capture a lightning with single shot.

that is because u are using the wrong technique to capture lighting. yes they requires spamming of shots but definitely nothing even near 1fps

 

[NewbieInCS]

I don't shoot sports, but shoot some panning. I find burst mode to be very useful. It increases my hit rate, not the percentage of hit, but the number of useable photos. Typically I will use the lower speed burst mode over the higher speed because high speed burst seems to fill up the buffer very very fast.

I find burst mode to be quite useful in family events too, especially when cutting birthday cake. I mean shooting digital is almost like free, why not shoot first then decide the best moment later. However, I try not to over do it because my speedlite can't quite catch up after a couple of frames even if just using as fill light.

 

[digitalpimp]

I use burst mode almost all the time (except for landscapes) because I have very bad shooting habits. I can't be bothered though because I don't feel the need to prove anyone anything. I like what I see on my LCD and that's good enough for me.

 

[LUNATIK76]

I use burst mode almost all the time (except for landscapes) because I have very bad shooting habits. I can't be bothered though because I don't feel the need to prove anyone anything. I like what I see on my LCD and that's good enough for me.

*thumbs up*

 

[dandoodle]

Please do list down the reason(s), excluding the ones I have mentioned in my first post.

Hi there. I'm not a pro but I do it sometimes for two main reasons:

1. Bracket exposure
2. Minimise shake (was taught in a class that typically the second shot is more likely to be sharper when handheld)

I try to avoid continuous shots if possible becoz it can be a chore to sift through the photos. However, there were times when I wish I did when it didnt..