Why Does Sony Pixel Shift Operate at Only 2 Frames Per Second?
Related: Alfred W, digital sensor, fairy dust aka hot/stuck pixels, pixel shift, reader comment, Sony, Sony A7R, Sony A7R II, Sony A7R III, Sony A7R IV, Sony A7R V, Sony mirrorless, Sony Pixel Shift, true-color sensor or image
re: Sony pixel shift
Reader Alfred W writes:
Shooting @ 1/60 second, Iso 100, how long will a four shot Sony pixel shot take?
DIGLLOYD: in theory, it should be possible to capture pixel shift frames as fast as the camera can otherwise take pictures given a shutter speed supporting the maximum frame rate eg 10 fps for the A7R V.
That implies something approaching 4/10 second for 4-shot and 16/10 second for 16-shot.
In practice, the time required is molasses slow, for reasons I do not understand. Perhaps it relates to moving the sensor to the precise position required?
Sony A7R V
I tested the Sony A7R V at 1/500 second with — as fast possible.
Sony A7R V:
4-shot pixel shift: 2 seconds
16-shot pixel shift: 8 seconds
In other words, the Sony A7R V takes 1/2 second per shot for each shot of the pixel shift capture which equates to five (5) times longer than one might hope for. Why?
Sony A1
The Sony A1 is faster, which might be expected given its 20 fps raw capture rate (lossless raw, full-frame). But it is not twice as fast in spite of that. Indeed, the A1 takes 7.5 times longer than its frame frame rate allows.
Sony A1:
4-shot pixel shift: 1.5 seconds
16-shot pixel shift: 6.0 seconds
Actually, the A1 ought to be able to capture at 30 fps and still save as lossless compressed (instead of its "stupid mode" uncompressed raw), which would make it 11.25X slower than one might expect. All it has to do is capture, then compress them and write to card; it’s not a burst capture but a known-in-advance capture of 4 or 16 frames—no technical limit stopping 30 fps.
