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Author Topic: Nikon and Long Noise Reduction setting/buffer or lack of  (Read 2953 times)

Paul2660

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Nikon and Long Noise Reduction setting/buffer or lack of
« on: October 22, 2012, 10:45:59 am »

I finally tried a few 10 through 30 second exposures with a D800 and was surprised to find that with Long Exposure Noise reduction set to "on", the camera takes a dark Frame as expected but you
are locked out from any further shooting until it finishes the dark frame.  This is very unlike Canon with which I admit I have more experience with.  When you turn on Long Noise reduction on Canon,
5d MKII, 1D MKiv, 1ds MKIII 1ds MKII, you can still shoot again while the camera writes the dark frame in the back ground.  If you shoot a bunch of long exposures say, 30 minutes each, eventually
even the Canon Buffer fills up and you are locked out for a while, however in shooting thousands of 5" to 20" shots, I have never hit the buffer.  With Nikon you hit it at shot number 1. 

This surprised me as this is just as Phase One handles a dark frame.  Nikon starts it at exposures of 1" or longer. 

Has anyone found a setting that allows the D800 to continue to shoot while it's writing the dark frame from the previous exposure?  BTW, from what I can tell, Nikon's method is exactly like Phase one in
that you are kept out of shooting as long as the previous frame was, i.e. shoot 20" then wait 20" etc. 

Again I was pretty surprised to find this hope someone has found a way around it besides turning off Long Exposure noise reduction.

Thanks
Paul
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Paul Caldwell
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www.photosofarkansas.com

BernardLanguillier

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Re: Nikon and Long Noise Reduction setting/buffer or lack of
« Reply #1 on: October 22, 2012, 07:02:38 pm »

Yep, this indeed annoying, haven't found any workaround unfortunately.

Cheers,
Bernard

EduPerez

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Re: Nikon and Long Noise Reduction setting/buffer or lack of
« Reply #2 on: October 23, 2012, 01:49:25 am »

As far as I know, all Canon cameras also lock while taking the dark frame; and it makes sense, because the camera has to "expose" the sensor for the same time that was used to take the "real" image. I do not see how this is related to the buffer, perhaps I did not understand your post.
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Paul2660

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Re: Nikon and Long Noise Reduction setting/buffer or lack of
« Reply #3 on: October 23, 2012, 07:45:02 am »

Actually later models of the Canons don't lock.  You can shoot for quite a while before you buffer out.   This true with the
1ds MKII, 1ds MKIII 5d MKII for sure as I have used all of them over the years.  The older 1ds MKI did lock. 

Canon runs the dark frame in the background, allowing you to still make additional exposures.  It's a simple test.
Turn on long noise reduction on your Canon, set the exposure to 2" or longer (1" is not long enough)  fire the shutter, fire it again.  There
is no wait.  With the D800 you will get a message in the LCD on top telling you that it's writing the dark frame.  With Canon, you can
continue to shoot.  Eventually with Canon you will fill up the buffer but it takes a while.

Example is shoot a series of 20 seconds exposures, after about 7 or so the Canon will hold you back for a few seconds as the buffer has
to clear.

Paul
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Paul Caldwell
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www.photosofarkansas.com
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