One of the many things your camera indicates is its remaining image buffer space. Buffer space means “how many pictures will fit in the camera’s buffer until it slows down”. You see, the pictures are first written to a fast camera buffer, and then, more slowly, to the memory card.
If your camera indicates this buffer, it indicates it in the viewfinder by way of a small number (like “9”, “09”, or R09″) that decreases as you fill the buffer.
If you set your camera to take continuous pictures and then hold down the shutter down (click-click-click-click-click-etc), you will see that the buffer eventually fills up; at that point, the camera slows right down, until the buffer has once again been part emptied.
There are several ways to get better performance/more images until you slow down:
- Buy a faster memory card
- Shoot JPGs instead of RAW images
- On some cameras, shoot medium-sized or small RAW instead of large RAW.
Normally, I would prefer option 1, since the others involve downgrading image quality, but on the other hand, it’s not REALLY a problem to shoot JPG, if you know what you are doing.
More importantly. If you shoot professionally and you are not fully familiar with your camera’s functions, displays and controls, consider taking a refresher course or doing a couple of hours of consulting one-on-one. You will be surprised how much you’ll learn, since these sessions are highly individualized. See http://learning.photography/collections/training for some more information on options, etc.