# 1D X - 12 FPS or 14 FPS?



## expatinasia (Apr 2, 2014)

I often shoot sports and was just wondering how many here use 14 FPS?

I used it once, but that was by mistake and only for a few moments. I really only ever shoot at 12 FPS. What about you?


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## Jim Saunders (Apr 2, 2014)

I've never used 14 FPS, I regard the trade-offs as not worth it. Lights recycling have been more of a limit than the mirror.

Jim


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## ahab1372 (Apr 2, 2014)

I don't have a 1DX, but if I did, I would shoot at 12. 14 fps means the viewfinder is blocked, there is no AF tracking during the burst, and it is jpg only


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## neuroanatomist (Apr 2, 2014)

I've never even tried the 14 fps setting.


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## jrista (Apr 2, 2014)

I read an article a while back...actually, a good while back now, shortly after the 1D X was released. It was written by a pro sports photographer who had purchased two 1D X's. His approach was to use the 1D X on a fixed tripod at one end of the field, pointed in a certain direction, with mirror lockup and 14fps, on a moderately long lens for certain kinds of action shots. He used his other 1D X at 12fps, with a variety of telephoto lenses like the 300/2.8, 400/2.8, and 200-400 TC.

Both of his cameras were connected to laptops via ethernet, and he had some kind of automated/remote control for the fixed 1DX + long lens setup.

It seems that is generally how one would use the 14fps setting. When it's automated and fixed. 

I would also see it being used for automated bird photography setups. Such as hummingbird flash photography, where you put together a carefully constructed bait and flower setup, surrounded by your various flashes and the 1D X along with an automatic trigger (which keys off the presence and motion of the hummingbird, for example). Such setups are pretty common, people usually use the 7D or 5D III, but a 1D X with mirror lockup and 14fps would be even more ideal for capturing that perfect wing position (which is really hard to do with humming birds.) 

You can use similar techniques for capturing larger birds in flight, songbirds in flight, etc. Alan Murphy, a renown bird photographer from Texas, has published a couple of eBooks that cover a lot of these techniques. He uses Nikon, but the techniques could easily be adapted to a 1D X @ 14fps for even better results.


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## pwp (Apr 2, 2014)

I still shoot sports with 1D MkIV which maxes out at 10 FPS. I'm still consistently amazed how much actually happens between frames at 10 FPS. There is still room for great skill in anticipation combined with exquisite timing for that "hero" action shot. An effective action shooter learns to see into the future.

But 12 or 14 FPS will certainly deliver more "peak moment" action images than 10 FPS, which in itself was a huge leap up from 8 FPS in terms of a burst delivering you that peak image. 6 FPS seems almost glacial.

As long as your buffer can clear to a good fast very high capacity card and your post-production sorting, ranking and editing skills are quick and ruthless, I say go as fast as the technology permits.

-pw


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## neuroanatomist (Apr 2, 2014)

jrista said:


> I would also see it being used for automated bird photography setups. Such as hummingbird flash photography...



Flash photography at 14 fps? ??? How does that work? Are there flashes that recycle that fast? Also, you can't get 14 fps at max Xsync, you need at least 1/1000 s for 14 fps.


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## Halfrack (Apr 2, 2014)

neuroanatomist said:


> jrista said:
> 
> 
> > I would also see it being used for automated bird photography setups. Such as hummingbird flash photography...
> ...



Yep, Profoto B4's will do 30 fps - but at low power of course. Shortest flash duration at 1/25,000th

http://profoto.com/int/products/pro-system-generators-heads-accessories/pro-battery-generators/item/pro-b4-1000-air#technical-specification


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## neuroanatomist (Apr 2, 2014)

Halfrack said:


> Yep, Profoto B4's will do 30 fps - but at low power of course. Shortest flash duration at 1/25,000th



Thanks, good to know! You'd still need 1/250 s, which would preclude 14 fps.


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## David_in_Seattle (Apr 3, 2014)

I never had the need to shoot at 14fps in Jpg with focus locked. 12fps has always been more than enough. I shoot a lot of up-close action events like dance competitions, concerts, and indoor sports...usually with poor lighting. So it's essential for me to be able to use Servo AI at wide apertures and high ISOs.


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## jrista (Apr 3, 2014)

neuroanatomist said:


> jrista said:
> 
> 
> > I would also see it being used for automated bird photography setups. Such as hummingbird flash photography...
> ...



I'm not sure what you mean about "you need at least 1/1000s for 14fps". Technically speaking, ignoring shutter lag and such, 14fps is 1/14th of a second...with the overhead, maybe, what, 1/20th of a second? The 1D X X-sync is 1/250th of a second. I'm sure I'm missing something about the 1D X 14fps mode (I've not used it myself) that you are referring to, however theoretically I don't see why flash at 14fps would be impossible.

Halfrack already covered high speed flash units. Flash hummingbird photography is nothing new, people have been doing that for years, including with 1D IIIs and 1D IVs at 10fps. Lot of people put a lot of money into it as well...AC power adapters for their flash units and the like so recharge times are practically instantaneous (or they use the real high end, high speed Eneloop reghargable batteries...although I'm not sure if that would actually support 12fps, let alone 14fps...maybe 10fps). The flashes are usually relatively close to the bird, manually set, so they are usually on pretty low power, and low power flash pulses are generally very short, 1/10,000th to 1/25,000th of a second durations. The short, low power also helps recharge rates. I've even managed 8fps for the better part of a couple seconds with my 7D and 430EX at low power and the good Eneloop batteries (although after each burst, you usually have to wait a while for the charge to recover before you can do that again. )


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## neuroanatomist (Apr 3, 2014)

jrista said:


> I'm not sure what you mean about "you need at least 1/1000s for 14fps". Technically speaking, ignoring shutter lag and such, 14fps is 1/14th of a second...with the overhead, maybe, what, 1/20th of a second? The 1D X X-sync is 1/250th of a second. I'm sure I'm missing something about the 1D X 14fps mode (I've not used it myself) that you are referring to, however theoretically I don't see why flash at 14fps would be impossible.



Canon states that 1/1000 s or faster shutter speed is a requirement for achieving 14 fps (p.111 of the FWv1 manual, since that's the one on my iPhone).


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## jrista (Apr 3, 2014)

neuroanatomist said:


> jrista said:
> 
> 
> > I'm not sure what you mean about "you need at least 1/1000s for 14fps". Technically speaking, ignoring shutter lag and such, 14fps is 1/14th of a second...with the overhead, maybe, what, 1/20th of a second? The 1D X X-sync is 1/250th of a second. I'm sure I'm missing something about the 1D X 14fps mode (I've not used it myself) that you are referring to, however theoretically I don't see why flash at 14fps would be impossible.
> ...



Hmm, bummer. Wonder why they impose such a limitation. There can't be that much overhead for 14fps (especially since the mirror is locked up).


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## Northstar (Apr 3, 2014)

almost always at 12 fps.

i've experimented with 14fps and MF on a select spot...it's cool, but too limited. 12 fps is fast enough.


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## CarlTN (Apr 3, 2014)

Why wouldn't an array of strobes work? One could hand off to another, that way you could either have more flash power and fast recycling time, or even more flash pops per second. Of course the light source/direction from each strobe would alternate between each photo frame, but that might give more interesting lighting to choose from in post...besides the added wing positions.


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## docholliday (Apr 4, 2014)

CarlTN said:


> Why wouldn't an array of strobes work? One could hand off to another, that way you could either have more flash power and fast recycling time, or even more flash pops per second. Of course the light source/direction from each strobe would alternate between each photo frame, but that might give more interesting lighting to choose from in post...besides the added wing positions.



You would use a bi-tube setup with one tube to each power pack - Bron Pulso Twin on two Scoros or Profoto Protwin on two B4s. Packs set to fire in ping-pong so that alternating packs/tubes are fired. Since it's a single head, with one modifier and one position, the images would be repeatable.


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## CarlTN (Apr 4, 2014)

docholliday said:


> CarlTN said:
> 
> 
> > Why wouldn't an array of strobes work? One could hand off to another, that way you could either have more flash power and fast recycling time, or even more flash pops per second. Of course the light source/direction from each strobe would alternate between each photo frame, but that might give more interesting lighting to choose from in post...besides the added wing positions.
> ...



Very cool!


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