5D Mark III Dual Memory Card

[josephz1994]

Just got the 5D Mark III
Got an engagement tomorrow, and was wondering in regards of the dual memory card
I’ll be doing record to “separately”
SD = JPG
CF=RAW

Now writing RAW on CF can only hold so much and writing JPG on the SD can hold twice as much.
My question is, once the CF runs out of space, what happens ?
Does it stop writing to CF or does it overwrite the CF card?

Also the number of shots available on the bottom right of the screen, is that referring to CF or the SD ?

(both CF Card and SD Card is 32GB)

Thanks

 

[kaihp]

Just got the 5D Mark III
Got an engagement tomorrow, and was wondering in regards of the dual memory card
I’ll be doing record to “separately”
SD = JPG
CF=RAW

Now writing RAW on CF can only hold so much and writing JPG on the SD can hold twice as much.
My question is, once the CF runs out of space, what happens ?
Does it stop writing to CF or does it overwrite the CF card?

Also the number of shots available on the bottom right of the screen, is that referring to CF or the SD ?

(both CF Card and SD Card is 32GB)

32GB of RAW is easily north of 1000 shots on the 5D3, so you may not run into this problem.
I did a quick count - I have ~2500 RAWs in folder which is just under 60GB (all shot on the same day).

I never use the SD slot, so I can't recall how the camera behaves, but it's documented in the manual.

You are more likely to run into having to wait for the slow SD write speed.

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

I'd get a CF Card large enough to last for a whole shoot. I've found 32GB come up short, but 64GB works. I've never had either my 64GB CF or my 64GB SD full, so I don't know what happens. I expect you will get a card full message.

I never see a issue with a slow down due to SD card. That happens only after the camera buffer is full, it will take longer to finish writing to the cards. As long as you are not on high FPS and filling the buffer, its not a issue.

For video, it may cause a slow down, but I seldom use video and haven't seen a issue.

 

[East Wind Photography]

Just got the 5D Mark III
Got an engagement tomorrow, and was wondering in regards of the dual memory card
I’ll be doing record to “separately”
SD = JPG
CF=RAW

Now writing RAW on CF can only hold so much and writing JPG on the SD can hold twice as much.
My question is, once the CF runs out of space, what happens ?
Does it stop writing to CF or does it overwrite the CF card?

Also the number of shots available on the bottom right of the screen, is that referring to CF or the SD ?

(both CF Card and SD Card is 32GB)

Thanks

Once one card fills up the camera will stop. It will not overwrite anything by design. If/when the cf card fills up you can the reset the camera to use just the SD card writing both to the same card.

Using both at the same time will affect your buffer capacity. However for your purpose that will not be a problem. You go from say a buffer of 22 shots with just a CF card to something like 8 using both at the same time. Depending on the cards those numbers will differ slightly but you get the idea.

I use a eyefi card in the SD slot to stream the jpgs down to an iPad so the client can review the pics in real time. For sports I have to just use the CF due to the buffer concerns.

# of shots shown will be the lesser of either card. In this case it will always be the CF card.

 

[[email protected]]

The menu for using the 2 cards is pretty flexible. If I am not mistaken, though (I'm writing from memory) I don't recall being able to write raw to one card and jpg to the other. You can, though, make it write simultaneously to both; or make it write sequentially to one when the other is full. The counter will always show the lowest number of shots left. I do street, spot news, sports, and crisis stuff, and even so, I hardly ever am waiting for a buffer; and I always record both raw and jpg. Side benefit of the 2-card system, though -- if I get jacked up for a photo someone doesn;t want me to take, I just look wimpy and give them the CF card. They don;t see the SD card because it's so small. It always works.

 

[Bennymiata]

When the CF gets full, you'll get a warning on the display and then it will record both RAW and jpegs to the card with space.

 

[pwp]

I use a eyefi card in the SD slot to stream the jpgs down to an iPad so the client can review the pics in real time....

A few years ago I got an EyeFi SD card hoping for useable performance and stability for the same reasons you've detailed. I saved the smallest jpeg option to the EyeFi for speediest performance. My speed expectations were modest. Distance from 5D3 to iPad was less than three metres. Utterly useless in a commercial context where anything less than 100% stability gets left at home.

To say it was a disappointment is an understatement. Has EyeFi lifted their game recently to make the system run as advertised? I'd revisit EyeFi again in a heartbeat if the evidence was in that it was a smooth performer

-pw

 

[privatebydesign]

I use a eyefi card in the SD slot to stream the jpgs down to an iPad so the client can review the pics in real time....

A few years ago I got an EyeFi SD card hoping for useable performance and stability for the same reasons you've detailed. I saved the smallest jpeg option to the EyeFi for speediest performance. My speed expectations were modest. Distance from 5D3 to iPad was less than three metres. Utterly useless in a commercial context where anything less than 100% stability gets left at home.

To say it was a disappointment is an understatement. Has EyeFi lifted their game recently to make the system run as advertised? I'd revisit EyeFi again in a heartbeat if the evidence was in that it was a smooth performer

-pw

No. But get a CamRanger, they are fantastic, well worth the money and much better than the Canon WFT 'solutions' I have also owned and used. One of the many cool features is they do two viewing programs, one, called 'Share', is just for 'clients', they only see the images you want them to (or everything) and they have no control over any settings. The other one is the big daddy of remote camera control and image viewing. Want to do 15 shot bracket with the flash firing? CamRanger does that, want to do a hands free 100 shot focus stack? CamRanger does that, yes it will even do micro adjustments to focus.

Amazing tool that just works.

 

[YuengLinger]

Raw + Raw. Just as fast or faster then raw + jpg. Why deal with JPG at all?

 

[Mt Spokane Photography]

The menu for using the 2 cards is pretty flexible. If I am not mistaken, though (I'm writing from memory) I don't recall being able to write raw to one card and jpg to the other.

It definitely allows raw to one and jpeg to the other. Many users do it that way, because the jpeg can be viewed on a tablet or almost anything, but raw can't.

 

[nvsravank]

I do always Raw in the CF and JPG in the SD cad slot. This ensures that the write speed differences dont matter as much.

When i do that and hte CF card is full it ells me that and stops taking photos.
There is no automatic overwrite.

I had only once got the SD card full and it also behaved the same way.

Thanks

 

[privatebydesign]

Raw + Raw. Just as fast or faster then raw + jpg. Why deal with JPG at all?

Writing RAW to the SD cards slows the camera down. Why deal with jpeg? Several reasons, mostly they are fast to send out and view.

 

[lion rock]

My setup is RAW to 32gB CF card and JPG to 16gB SD card. I have shot over 1000 max resolution shots (of both formats) onto both cards. When the CF card is full, it stops shooting. (Lost moments to replacing the pair of cards, but that was towards the end of the evening, not too much lost). Though, there was still plenty of space on the SD card.
I use an adaptor to save JPG files onto an iPAD to show the shoots in the evening when things slow down or as a slide show roast. Works quite well, everyone gets to see the progression of the day, good shots or bad shots, too.

Unfortunately, there is no adaptor for the CF card to hook up to an iPAD, shame.

And although I can see and download CR2 thumbnails, I don't see where the RAW files are stored on the iPAD. So it is no use, shame.

As for CamRanger, it is a great product, and performs exceedingly well. I like it. Only thing I have not figured out is it downloads BOTH JPGs and CR2 files, making it slow to display on screen. I did, at one point, just shoot with JPG format and then send the shot to the iPAD and the delay was not long. One thing, though, wish there was a way to mount the CamRanger on the camera, and not a tether of the USB cable --- kind of awkward to have the wire wrapped all over you or got the wire disconnected, and not use the camera's hot shoe, where the flash goes.

Final note, always have extra set, or two or three, of memory cards. They may save you from disappointment.
-r

 

[Hjalmarg1]

I'd get a CF Card large enough to last for a whole shoot. I've found 32GB come up short, but 64GB works. I've never had either my 64GB CF or my 64GB SD full, so I don't know what happens. I expect you will get a card full message.

I never see a issue with a slow down due to SD card. That happens only after the camera buffer is full, it will take longer to finish writing to the cards. As long as you are not on high FPS and filling the buffer, its not a issue.

When I do something important I used the same setup (CF=RAW & SD= JPEG). Yes, when one of the cards is full you get a "Memory card full" message. A good duggestion is to increase the CF to 64GB so you don't have to worry except if you plan to take videos.

 

[JPAZ]

I keep a 64 SD card set to jpeg and use RAW on the CF. Basically, I can use many CF cards (take out the old and put in a new when they get full) and never touch the SD. I've shot thousands of images on a trip all to CF cards as RAW and never filled the SD. It is just there for quick reviews on a laptop or ipad and as a backup in case of a problem in a shoot. When my project is over and all the RAW images are on my computer and backed up, then I'll reformat the SD card.

 

[East Wind Photography]

I use a eyefi card in the SD slot to stream the jpgs down to an iPad so the client can review the pics in real time....

A few years ago I got an EyeFi SD card hoping for useable performance and stability for the same reasons you've detailed. I saved the smallest jpeg option to the EyeFi for speediest performance. My speed expectations were modest. Distance from 5D3 to iPad was less than three metres. Utterly useless in a commercial context where anything less than 100% stability gets left at home.

To say it was a disappointment is an understatement. Has EyeFi lifted their game recently to make the system run as advertised? I'd revisit EyeFi again in a heartbeat if the evidence was in that it was a smooth performer

-pw

I use it all the time and have not found any stability issues. I'm pretty certain it's been working for me farther than 3 meters...though it may just get out of range and resync when I get closer to the device. Either way it has not posed an issue for me or my clients. I typically save the lowest res jpg images to the card and shoot raw on the CF. that seemed to maximize performance.

Another way I have used the eyefi card is to associate with the local wifi such as at a hotel or reception center. Then Use the app on the iPad for the client to carry and review. The association with a wifi router almost eliminates the peer to peer range issues. I've been tempted on occasion to set up my own wifi on location and use a network storage device to upload photos to. Sometimes the hotel wifi systems are slow or unreliable. I've seen some new wifi routers out that have a USB port to plug in storage media. I haven't looked into them yet to see what's needed to upload files. For the eyefi card all you need is ftp. Using a full wifi router you should be able to roam quite freely without loss of coverage.

 

[YuengLinger]

Raw + Raw. Just as fast or faster then raw + jpg. Why deal with JPG at all?

Writing RAW to the SD cards slows the camera down. Why deal with jpeg? Several reasons, mostly they are fast to send out and view.

Not on my 5DIII. RAW + RAW just as fast. I assumed it had to do with compressing the jpg while processing the RAW simultaneously. I tried various combinations and found no practical difference.

 

[msatter]

Raw + Raw. Just as fast or faster then raw + jpg. Why deal with JPG at all?

Writing RAW to the SD cards slows the camera down. Why deal with jpeg? Several reasons, mostly they are fast to send out and view.

Not on my 5DIII. RAW + RAW just as fast. I assumed it had to do with compressing the jpg while processing the RAW simultaneously. I tried various combinations and found no practical difference.

Probably you have a slow CF card. The camera writes directly to the CF and a internal USB port to write to the SD which is much much slower.

 

[East Wind Photography]

Raw + Raw. Just as fast or faster then raw + jpg. Why deal with JPG at all?

Writing RAW to the SD cards slows the camera down. Why deal with jpeg? Several reasons, mostly they are fast to send out and view.

Not on my 5DIII. RAW + RAW just as fast. I assumed it had to do with compressing the jpg while processing the RAW simultaneously. I tried various combinations and found no practical difference.

Maybe to clarify.. The SD card doesn't slow anything down as far as operation is concerned. It does affect the buffer in drive mode but not the fps rate.

There are settings inside the camera that affect the performance more such as auto lighting optimizer and distortion correction to name a couple....still they only effect the number of frames that can be taken in drive mode but for an entirely different reason.

 

[LDS]

A few years ago I got an EyeFi SD card hoping for useable performance and stability for the same reasons you've detailed.

WiFi in an electromagnetically "busy" environment may be tricky. For maximum reliability, you should find a channel with little interference, especially if using a device not designed to be an access point like an iPad. Some WiFi diagnostic apps may help to check how many devices are transmitting, and on what channels. Remember that 802.11b/g/n 2.4GHz channel overlaps, you may need to leave 3-4 channels "clear" to avoid interferences, say channel 11 is in use, you should not select 10 or 9, even if free, better to use 7 or 6 (if free, and not overlapping with other channels). Other many factors may of course be implied.
Setting up a true access point - it needs to be just an access point to create a wifi network, it doesn't need to be a router/switch/ap device - usually yields far better results than an ad-hoc connection, because of better antennas, transmission power, and dedicated hardware.

Also, be aware some hotels and congress centers have been found guilty (i.e. https://www.fcc.gov/document/marriott-pay-600k-resolve-wifi-blocking-investigation) of using techniques to force devices to drop the connection to any non-company WiFi, to make people to use the local, usually expensive wifi network.