CF Card for Video Use in 5DMKii

Dogdots · January 2, 2012

I use SanDisk cards in my cameras. I have Mostly UltraII's in 4 & 2 GB sizes. I do have one Ultra that's 8GB and one ExtremeIII that's 4GB. Will any or all of these cards I have work well for videoing with my camera or should I get a card that would work better?

JimKarczewski · January 2, 2012

It may, the only way to really tell is start recording and see what happens. If it craps out in 20 seconds you know they won't work.

Cheap alternative cards that do work for video, 16 & 32GB Kingston Green 133x cards. I don't know if you can get them anymore, but last time I bought them they were $89 for 32GB. New ones are 266x but the 133 are just fine for video.

http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=9SIA07R06W3566 old ones..

new ones...
http://www.newegg.com/Product/Product.aspx?Item=N82E16820139056&Tpk=Kingston%20266x%2032gb

ziggy53 · January 2, 2012

Sandisk card names are pretty confusing, because they recycled some of their names from their old cards to their new cards.

It's best to use 2 determinants for video acquisition on the Canon 5D MKII:

UDMA, make sure that the card is UDMA capable.

30MB/s, minimum speed rating.

If your cards say those 2 things, or if they are faster than 30MB/s, you are pretty much good to go.

If they don't say those 2 things, test the card with some sort of moving object, even if it's just constantly moving your hand in front of the lens. Record at Full HD, 30p(29.97p)-1920x1080, for more than 12 minutes. If the video playback looks smooth over 12 minutes (4GB), you're probably OK.

angevin1 · January 2, 2012

Dogdots wrote: »

I use SanDisk cards in my cameras. I have Mostly UltraII's in 4 & 2 GB sizes. I do have one Ultra that's 8GB and one ExtremeIII that's 4GB. Will any or all of these cards I have work well for videoing with my camera or should I get a card that would work better?

What you need to worry about is transfer rate of the card. So look up your cards and make certain their over 45MB/second rated...I "think" thats about all you'll have to worry over in Video. 4GB-CF card will yield a 15 minute video, which just happens to be the recording limit built into the 5Dmk2.

You might want to look here on DPreviews test with one of your cards with the 5Dmk2.

I'd stick to the UDMA's if I were buying new..

There are some Post Hack-ware out there that has Higher numbers being transferred by the 5dMk2, but almost everyone reports that they cannot see any gain.

Dogdots · January 2, 2012

Thanks Tom, Ziggy and Jim. Looks like I have some homework to do tomorrow. I'll look closely at my cards and try them out to see how long they last.

CF Card for Video Use in 5DMKii

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