Canon XTi and busy signal

[downingp]

I have a quick question and I thought someone could give me an answer to it. I have a Canon XTi camera with a 4gb Sandisk Extreme III memory card.
I have noticed after taking a few pictures, 4 pictures or so, I am not able to take any more pictures for a few seconds because I get a "busy" signal. Why am I getting the busy signal? Is it from the XTi itself, the built in flash, or the memory card?

Thanks.

 

[miloblithe]

It's definitely the built in flash. I've never had a busy signal (on the back of the camera, right?) for loading pictures onto the card. When the buffer is full, the camera simply stops taking pictures (after say 10 Raw files at 3fps) until enough space in the buffer clears to take additional pictures.

 

[downingp]

I was also leaning towards the built in flash. I suppose an external flash would help this out?

 

[miloblithe]

I was also leaning towards the built in flash. I suppose an external flash would help this out?

Significantly. I had a 430EX flash that I unfortunately lost, but I think with that if the flash isn't charged, the camera will still take the picture (which will be improperly exposed though). And the recharge rate on the external flashes is a lot faster and they can probably do more than 4 shots in quick succession without depleting their charge. I almost never had any issues with the 430EX of the flash not firing when I took a picture, yet often do with the built-in flash..

 

[compuwar]

I was also leaning towards the built in flash. I suppose an external flash would help this out?

Up until the point where the flash shuts down if it has a thermal protection circuit or melts if it doesn't.

In other words, if you're regularly shooting a lot of flash shots, be very careful in which flash you choose and its feature set.

My Nikon SB-800 manual warns about meltdown/fire and the unit does not have a thermal protection circuit (one of the biggest "flaws" for an ultra-high-end flash IMO, but it doesn't affect my shooting style.)

 

[wheelhot]

Yeah, definitely the built-in flash. Because of the lag after using the built-in-flash Im thinking of getting my own external flash in the future before investing into lens.