Categories

Canon EOS R6 Shooting Frame Rates

On the Canon EOS R6, if like me you wondered how to find the single shot vs continuous shooting setting and couldn’t find it, read on.

Use the Q button to bring up the menu items. The shooting setting is fourth from the left on the bottom row. Tap on that and now there are options, including self-timer options, Slow Speed Continuous, High Speed Continuous, and High Speed Continuous+

Not surprisingly the difference between High-Speed Continuous and High-Speed Continuous+ is their maximum shooting speeds.

High-Speed Continuous+ shoots up to 12 fps with the mechanical shutter and up to 20 fps with the electronic shutter.

High-Speed Continuous shoots at 8 fps with the mechanical shutter. In fact, High-Speed Continuous mode is only available with the mechanical or first-curtain electronic shutter. With electronic shutter, the only high-speed option is H+.

High-Speed Continuous suits me because 8 fps is already a shock even when I am expecting it. Plus, it is supposed to have more reliable AF tracking than H+.

Rio Matchett

Rio Matchett Artistic Director, Camden People's Theatre

Rio Matchett Artistic Director, Camden People’s Theatre describing her experience at CPT, in what she considers to be a rare nurturing environment. After posting this photo I looked up Rio and she has an interesting story with a soon to be published book detailing how at 18, she set fire to a church, for which she was sectioned then imprisoned for arson, and her steps to redemption.

What is Focus By Wire

Let’s start with mechanical focus systems. They have a focus ring that is directly coupled to and moves the lens elements.

Focus by wire uses electronic signals to control focus. The photographer turns the focus ring but that doesn’t change the focus. Instead, turning the focus ring controls the motor(s) built into the lens. The motor(s) take their instruction from the movement of the focus ring, and the motor changes the focus.

Focus by wire gets its name from fly-by-wire systems used in aircraft. Except on small aircraft the pilot doesn’t move the control surfaces on the wings directly because it would be impossibly hard. Instead, the pilot presses a pedal or turns a dial and electronic motors move the control surfaces..

And because the aircraft is so big, any small errors are not relevant.

In cameras it is different because small movements can be seen and felt. This is true in still photography and in video.

And that has been the source of the criticism of focus by wire – that the systems are laggy and prone to overshoot.

The photographer turns the focus ring quickly, and the system plays catch-up.

Photographers report that they feel divorced from the focusing, which is the exact opposite of what one should feel when trying to take a photo that needs critical focusing. The pressure might be off in a studio or with landscapes, both of which are situations where the photographer has time to focus. But on the street or with any fast paced action, the photographer needs to feel that the response is immediate and consistent.

The situation is improving and some focus by wire systems have smooth focus changes.

It’s helpful to know how the focusing system is on a lens feels before you lay down money for it.

Wayne Avrili

Wayne Avrili performing outside Tate Modern
Wayne Avrili performing outside Tate Modern

He was performing, guitar and vocals, outside the Tate Modern. The song was Knocking On Heaven’s Door, a song that usually makes me see in my mind’s eye, the scene in Pat Garrett & Billy the Kid where Slim Pickens is shot and sits down on the river bank, dying. His wife or partner, played by Katy Jurado, sees he has been shot and she comes to comfort him. She is on her hands and knees, a respectful distance as he goes through what he is going through, and they look at each other with love and sadness.

Meanwhile, Pat Garrett is tackling another outlaw back at the cabin seventy yards away or so. So there’s a split narrative in the scene as it cuts back and forth – and it is full of love, regret, acceptance, and death.

Wayne’s card says he is available for gigs singling and playing classic pop from the 50’s to the present, including the Beatles, Oasis, Bob Marley.

Canon R6 and Canon RF 35mm lens

Camden People’s Theatre Thirty Years

Camden People’s Theatre in London celebrated its thirty years of existence with a private fundraiser and a show.

Performers who had been nurtured by CPT and gone on to fame in the wider world reprised the first part they performed when CPT gave them their start.

Before performing, each of them talked about the supportive atmosphere at CPT, where artistic expression was respected and valued. They said that that encouragement had given them the confidence to do things in public they never thought they could do.

Then the people behind the scenes outlined what CPT did, and asked the audience to give them money so they could continue doing it. Times are hard, they said, with ventures closing down. So it was all the more important to support CPT.

I was invited to photograph the evening, the social mixing before the show and then the show. I shot everything with the Canon RF 28-70mm f2.8 lens. The lighting was a real mix and low and I shot everything at 6400 ISO. It’s been a while since I have taken photos to someone’s requirements, and in such poor lighting.