1DX - Ethernet, USB 3.0 or 2.0 for transfer?

[JaxPhotoBuff]

My 1DX has shipped and I'll have it by mid-week, along with a Lexar 1000X 32GB UDMA 7 CF card. I have not yet ordered the Lexar USB 3.0 card reader because: a) I'm expecting to be able to use the Ethernet port to move photos to my Windows 7 Home Premium equipped PC; b) using a USB 3.0 reader would require me to add a USB 3.0 card to my computer (yes, it's a few years old, and not a big deal but an extra step); and c) I still have a perfectly good USB 2.0 Firewire equipped card reader that I've been using with my SanDisk 32 GB (90 MB/sec) card.

So, for those lucky few (specifically thinking of Neuro, et. al.) who have received their cameras and been playing with them for the last week or so, can you weigh in on whether you have been able to make use of the Ethernet transfer capabilities and any hiccups associated therewith?  Seems to require the use of the Canon Eos Utility software, rather than direct import into Lightroom, as I've done in the past. Haven't used the Eos Utility, so I'm wondering how that affects the workflow.

Looking forward to hearing about your experiences and recommendations!

[neuroanatomist]

So, for those lucky few (specifically thinking of Neuro, et. al.) who have received their cameras and been playing with them for the last week or so, can you weigh in on whether you have been able to make use of the Ethernet transfer capabilities and any hiccups associated therewith? 

Sorry, haven't tried.  I use a SanDisk FW800 reader, and transferring 200 images from my 1D X (which I literally just did) took 2 minutes - plenty fast enough for me.

[coltsfreak18]

So, for those lucky few (specifically thinking of Neuro, et. al.) who have received their cameras and been playing with them for the last week or so, can you weigh in on whether you have been able to make use of the Ethernet transfer capabilities and any hiccups associated therewith? 

Sorry, haven't tried.  I use a SanDisk FW800 reader, and transferring 200 images from my 1D X (which I literally just did) took 2 minutes - plenty fast enough for me.

As with me--I use a lexar FW800 CF reader or an internal USB 2.0 reader on my computer--I have USB 3.0; I just haven't cared enough to use it.

[JaxPhotoBuff]

So, for those lucky few (specifically thinking of Neuro, et. al.) who have received their cameras and been playing with them for the last week or so, can you weigh in on whether you have been able to make use of the Ethernet transfer capabilities and any hiccups associated therewith? 

Sorry, haven't tried.  I use a SanDisk FW800 reader, and transferring 200 images from my 1D X (which I literally just did) took 2 minutes - plenty fast enough for me.

Thanks, Neuro and ColtsFreak, I have the same reader as Neuro right now.  Guess I won't worry about it too much, but if anyone else does find that the Ethernet options are good or problematic, I'd love to hear from you.

[Mt Spokane Photography]

With the reasonable sized images from the 1D X, card reader speed is not a big issue unless you are actually transferring 64GB of images at a time.  Even my D800 was ok to transfer a 16GB card full of images in a few minutes using a USB 2 reader.  I sold my Sandisk and Lexar firewire readers this spring when I discovered the high prices that were more than I paid 3 years ago.  I had stopped using them.
I will likely get a new computer (Or build One) this fall when Windows 8 comes out.  then I will have a USB 3 reader as well as SATA 3 for my SAMSUNG 256GB SSD.  Its fast, but throttled by my old pc.

[Drizzt321]

I was using USB2.0 direct from the camera, and it was painfully slow on my 5d2. Don't know if a dedicated card reader would help, but I have USB3 on my laptop, so got the Lexar USB3 card reader, and it's fantastic.

In terms of raw bandwidth, USB3 > 1Gbps ethernet > FW800 > USB2. In terms of actual usable bandwidth, it's probably a tossup between 1Gbps ethernet & FW800 since the MAC + IP + TCP takes up some overhead, and if you have a cheapo switch it may not support full wireline speed well and might fall short a bit.

The Lexar 1000x card can theoretically do 150 MByte/sec, let's say it gets even close, then that's ~1200 Mbit/sec which exceeds 1Gbps ethernet & FW800 by a decent bit, especially when we throw in protocol overhead. USB3 can do a theoretical ~4.8Gbps, and even with protocol overhead you're easily going to have enough to read from the Lexar card. However, we now have to deal with how fast your local disk can write the data out. I'd guess that unless you have a RAID0/5/0+1/1+0 array or a fast SSD you won't be able to write it out fast enough.

That's not to say I wouldn't buy the Lexar reader if you have USB3, but since you don't that'd add some more cost and pain. If you can live with a somewhat slower transfer, stick with your current USB2 reader, otherwise go for the 1Gbps ethernet or get the USB3 card & reader.

[lethalfalcon]

I'm actually very interested in this as well. My idea is this: get a small (13-14") laptop with an SSD, hook it up directly over gigabit, and then set up an FTP server to dump the images to. If it ACTUALLY works at gigabit speeds, that's ~110MB/sec. That acts as a tertiary backup for the dual cards, as well as allows you to near-instantly get a bigger view of the pictures even if you're firing away at high speeds (just set up Lightroom to monitor the folder). My 7D over USB2 is dog slow with tethering.

One of the big reasons I sprung for the 1D X instead of the 5D3 is because of this. The 5D3 is crippled by having to use a USB2 interface to link to the WFT, which caps out at 35MB/sec (and is even slower sustained). I'm hoping that since it's built-in, it's running at wire speeds, and isn't attached to the USB bus. If it really isn't, then I may consider getting a 5D3 instead, as the other perks of the 1D-X are mostly able to be worked around (grip can be purchased, wft can be purchased) and it's still cheaper than a 1D X.

Would someone be able to run a test for this? Even using the EOS software, you should be able to monitor the network connection with task manager to see how much it's really transferring. You'll probably need some fast disks, though. SSD would work the best.

[Warrenl]

I second seeing how fast it is. I would be able to tether at events.

[JaxPhotoBuff]

I'm actually very interested in this as well. My idea is this: get a small (13-14") laptop with an SSD, hook it up directly over gigabit, and then set up an FTP server to dump the images to. If it ACTUALLY works at gigabit speeds, that's ~110MB/sec. That acts as a tertiary backup for the dual cards, as well as allows you to near-instantly get a bigger view of the pictures even if you're firing away at high speeds (just set up Lightroom to monitor the folder). My 7D over USB2 is dog slow with tethering.

One of the big reasons I sprung for the 1D X instead of the 5D3 is because of this. The 5D3 is crippled by having to use a USB2 interface to link to the WFT, which caps out at 35MB/sec (and is even slower sustained). I'm hoping that since it's built-in, it's running at wire speeds, and isn't attached to the USB bus. If it really isn't, then I may consider getting a 5D3 instead, as the other perks of the 1D-X are mostly able to be worked around (grip can be purchased, wft can be purchased) and it's still cheaper than a 1D X.

Would someone be able to run a test for this? Even using the EOS software, you should be able to monitor the network connection with task manager to see how much it's really transferring. You'll probably need some fast disks, though. SSD would work the best.

When I read the Canon 1DX Wired Lan Setup Instructions, one of the things it said is that, if you have a Windows 7 machine, only those running Windows 7 Ultimate (not Home Premium or other) can be setup as FTP servers. So, one of their other options, like the EOS utility is going to be MY best bet because I don't have Ultimate. I'm mainly interested in just how fast that it, and whether its worth messing with.  If it adds a bunch of steps to the workflow, it may be better to wait on the Sandisk FW 800 reader than to download with one piece of software and then separately import into Lightroom. I'll probably at least give it a try.

[lethalfalcon]

You can always install another FTP server on Windows Home Premium, like the FileZilla Server, which is free. Might have to open a couple ports on the firewall if you have it enabled, but that's trivial.

[Drizzt321]

You can always install another FTP server on Windows Home Premium, like the FileZilla Server, which is free. Might have to open a couple ports on the firewall if you have it enabled, but that's trivial.

Or if you already have a home server/NAS with FTP capabilities you can set it up on there.

[robin]

We have always a lot of data to be written to HD after every shoot ( at least something around 64 GB for catalogue work, each shoot). So speed is important. We only work with Mac (Macbook Pro 17 with two fast SSD when on the road). I have tried every kind USB, FW800 and found that USB is unusable FW800 is slow. I found the Lexar Expresscard reader with SanDisk Extreme IV 32 GB the fastest and most reliable combination ( 32 GB roughly 6000 jpg  transfer in 2 to 3 min). We have got the Lexar pro (1000X) 128 GB, but didn't use it by now and I am waiting for 3  1DX to arrive this week, than we will figure out if there is something more usefull.

[lethalfalcon]

So, it appears that the so-called gigabit connection on the 1D X is barely faster than a Fast Ethernet connection. Sustained transfers using both EOS Utility and FTP Server seem to be capped at ~16MB/sec. This is pathetic. $6800 for a camera that can't even transfer information above 1/6 the card's speed.

For the record, transferring data to my FTP server from another computer reveals a 50MB/sec capability over the wire, so it's not the computer bottlenecking. The card in the camera is a 600x card that can easily do 70MB/sec in a Lexar USB3 card reader, too, so it's not that, either. The cables are all CAT6, and the switch is reporting gigabit negotiation on both ends. It looks they just popped a gigabit port off the USB bus in the camera, instead of using a dedicated chip. And even then it's slow, given that USB2 should be able to do around 30MB/sec sustained. (theoretical maximum of USB2 is around 60MB/sec, but you'll never see anything close).

It's a good thing we have USB2 and Fast Ethernet on a flagship camera from 2011. Don't know why they even wasted the space putting the port in.

[ihans]

Just got my 1Dx with a MacbookPro retina and just wanted to say that the FTP transfer is very fast.

[M.ST]

I don´t use the USB-port or the LAN-port from then 1D X because my card reader is faster.