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  1. #1
    Junior Member
    Join Date
    May 2008
    Location
    Virginia, USA
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    1

    E Volt 500 lag time

    OK, I'm a newbie to the forum with a question. If it's already been answered somewhere else, please let me know. Here goes:

    I use my Olympus E-Volt 500 to do sports photography--specifically, horses jumping; so, timing is critical, because you have to catch them at exactly the right moment at the arc of the fence. I used a Nikon 35mm for years and had my timing down perfectly. With the E volt, my problem is that I'm always a fraction of a second too late and don't get the shot I want. I know this is caused by a lag in writing to memory, but what do I do about it?.

    I talked to someone the other day who said that I needed a faster card. She recommended that I get a card designated "Pro" and said that would help solve my problem. Is she right? If so, my question is--what card? DX or CF?

    I know there's been a discussion here about Dx vs CF and the answer seemed to be "CF cards are faster", but what is a "Pro" card and will this solve the lag time issue?

    Thanks for any advice.

  2. #2
    Captain of the Ship Photo-John's Avatar
    Join Date
    Aug 2001
    Location
    Salt Lake City, Utah, United States
    Posts
    15,422

    Re: E Volt 500 lag time

    Are you talking about shooting sequences? Because the card writing takes place after the image has been captured. Unless you're shooting sequences and the capture rate isn't fast enough, the problem isn't card write speed. Plus, card write speed only makes a difference after you fill the camera's buffer. That would be after you shoot a sequence of a few frames. Until you fill the buffer, any lag is caused by camera electronics. Fast cards are nice if you shoot a lot of frames quickly. But for me - and I shoot sports too - I really only notice the speed when I'm transferring to the computer or reformatting my cards. It's rare that I actually hit my camera's buffer and rely on card speed. That said, I do buy fast cards because I know that when I do hit the camera's memory buffer, I will not have to wait longer than necessary for the files to write to the card so I can shoot again.

    Most likely, you're going to have to learn to adjust your timing a little. You could also upgrade your camera body. The Olympus E-3 is very, very fast. Your E-500 is a couple of generations old now and a new body would perform better in many areas and have noticeably better image quality.
    Photo-John

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