Sony A7 buffer memory

[sublo12]

Dear photographers,

Does anyone know what the internal buffer memory of Sony A7 is able to handle and how it works??

During my last timelapse sequence shoot I had experienced problems of writing images onto the SD memory card. The timelapse was 5 sec exposures + 1 sec interval between exposures … after several exposures the camera started to slow down and could not write fast enough. My 128 GB SD card was half full … for its parameters please see the attached picture.

I would like to start star trail timelapse but it requires 30 sec exposures and 2 sec interval … but I am quite skeptical.

I would be grateful for any advice or experience sharing.   

Thank you.

Sublo12

[Mick_D]

Hi @sublo12

That doesn't sound right at all and indicates an issue with the SD card. Have you tried swapping the card for a 'known good' one? 

Mick

[sublo12]

Hi Mick D,

No I have not tried another card since I am using the same for more normal exposure timelapse sequences (1/60 s + 2 s interval) and it works fine.

I just did another test (+ erased all images and new formatting of the card before the test) … 0.5 s exposure + 2 sec interval (of course I am shooting RAW). The first 25-30 exposures were OK … than the intervals between images were somehow randomly longer and shorter (I think depending on the status of memory buffer).

I also did few minutes ago 6 s exposure + 2 s interval and after each exposure the camera needs about 5-7 s for “Processing”. The intervalometer keeps sending impulses for next exposures but the camera refuses to do the next shoot because of “Processing” the previous image. The longer the exposure the more time for “Processing”. After each image is Processed the camera is ready for the next shoot.

… I do not think that the problem is in the SD card.

Can you please do simple test with your camera? … hopefully you have the basic A7 version.

Thank you.

Sublo

[sublo12]

Hi Mick D,

HEUREKA ... the problem has been solved ... I had "Noice reduction for long exposures" ON. After I switched it OFF, everything is perfect.

Cheers,

Sublo

[MartinB57]

Thanks that’s great help to me too, as I’m attempting my first star trail images with a several A7riii photographers tonight.

[sublo12]

... learning by experience .. good luck