Canon EOS 5Ds SD & CF Card Speed Comparison

[Canon Rumors Guy]

Camera Memory Speed has completed their comparison of which memory cards have the fastest write speed with the EOS 5DS. Needless to say, 50mp RAW files are enormous in size and having the fastest card you can inside the camera is important. Also not surprising, is SD cards (*note: Canon doesn’t support UHS-II. <em>thanks m8547</em>) cannot come close to the write speed of a CompactFlash card, as the fastest card was the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/atclk/Ntt/Lexar+Professional+2000x+UHS-II+32GB/N/0/InitialSearch/yes/sts/ma/Top+Nav-Search/BI/2466/KBID/3296/DFF/d10-v1-t14" target="_blank">Lexar Professional 2000x UHS-II 32GB</a> at only 71.8 MB/s.</p>
<p>How they test:</p>
<blockquote><p>The 5Ds is mounted on a tripod and a remote timer is used for 30 second shooting intervals. A manual lens is used and focused using live view at maximum magnification. The subject is a static test scene under controlled lighting.</p>
<p>A comparison of different test subjects was conducted with the the Canon 5Ds. Using the Lexar Professional 1066x 128GB CF card, the most detailed scene resulted in 101.4 MB/s average write speed (75.6 MB average RAW file size), while a scene with moderate amount of detailed averaged 84.0 MB/s (55.7 MB file size), and with lens cap on 84.0MB/s (45.8 MB file size). The most detailed scene is used for this card comparison test. <a href="http://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/canon-5ds/sd-cf-card-comparison/" target="_blank">Read the rest of the article</a></p></blockquote>
<p>Below are the 10 fastest cards from their tests.</p>
<ol>
<li><strong><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/atclk/Ntt/Lexar+Professional+1066x+32GB/N/0/InitialSearch/yes/sts/ma/Top+Nav-Search/BI/2466/KBID/3296/DFF/d10-v1-t14" target="_blank">Lexar Professional 1066x 32GB CF</a> 101.6 MB/s</strong></li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1hIA7Su" target="_blank">Komputerbay 1066x 128GB CF</a> 101.6 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/atclk/Ntt/Lexar+Professional+1066x+64GB/N/0/InitialSearch/yes/sts/ma/Top+Nav-Search/BI/2466/KBID/3296/DFF/d10-v1-t14" target="_blank">Lexar Professional 1066x 64GB CF</a> 101.5 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/atclk/Ntt/Lexar+Professional+1066x+128GB/N/0/InitialSearch/yes/sts/ma/Top+Nav-Search/BI/2466/KBID/3296/DFF/d10-v1-t14" target="_blank">Lexar Professional 1066x 128GB CF</a> 101.4 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1flszDt" target="_blank">PixelFlash SuperSport 1000X-PRO 128GB CF</a> 101.3 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1000363-REG/sandisk_sdcfxps_064g_a46_64gb_extreme_pro_compact.html/BI/2466/KBID/3296/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x460883" target="_blank">SanDisk Extreme Pro 160MB/s 64GB CF</a> 99.9 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1000362-REG/sandisk_sdcfxps_032g_a46_32gb_extreme_pro_compact.html/BI/2466/KBID/3296/DFF/d10-v21-t1-x460986" target="_blank">SanDisk Extreme Pro 160MB/s 32GB CF</a> 99.8 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1flt14v" target="_blank">Toshiba Exceria Pro 1066x 32GB C</a>F 99.6 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1hIAwUV" target="_blank">Transcend 1000x 128GB CF</a> 99.5 MB/s</li>
<li><a href="http://amzn.to/1flt2Wd" target="_blank">Toshiba Exceria Pro 1066x 64GB CF</a> 99.5MB/s</li>
</ol>
<p>I found it interesting that a SanDisk card didn’t make the top 5. However, we can’t comment on how reliable the cards in this test are going to be. Although, we’ve only ever had a handful of memory cards fail and found Lexar and SanDisk to perform the same in that regard.</p>

 

[IglooEater]

I find it interesting how close the top 10 are -within 2%!

 

[Otara]

Suggests some kind of limit is probably being hit to me, and the variation is simply error/random variation.

 

[LukasS]

the Lexar Professional 1066x 64GB CF just died yesterday after one week of use with 7dII. Will see how Sandisk counterpart will hold (the 160MB/s in the list).

It seems really interesting that sandisk with higher declared output is slower.

 

[rfdesigner]

With the camera topping out at about 100MB/s, it looks like the residual variation could be nothing more than batch variation of the cards.

They're all sufficient that you can't tell the difference.

 

[m8547]

Also not surprising, is SD cards cannot come close to the write speed of a CompactFlash card, as the fastest card was the Lexar Professional 2000x UHS-II 32GB at only 71.8 MB/s.

It looks like no Canon camera supports UHS-II, so the limitation is the camera not the format. UHS-II cards are plenty fast. There are extra contacts on the card that need to be used for UHS-II speed.

The fastest UHS-I bus speed is 104 MB/s, and even with 10% overhead that's over 90MB/s. It sounds like if they saw over 71MB/s then the camera finally supports the highest UHS-I bus speed. Most other Canon cameras I know of are limited to the 50MB/s bus speed (45MB/s after overhead) no matter how fast the card is.

The card mentioned is capable of much faster write speeds.
http://www.storagereview.com/lexar_professional_2000x_sdhc_sdxc_memory_card_review

 

[LSXPhotog]

The Lexar Professional 1066x 32GB CF cards seem to hit a sweet spot for Canon as it's an incredible performer in the 7D2 and now the 5DS.

Just for the sake of comparison, the Sony A7RII is hitting a 24-25 image buffer in RAW compared to the Canon at around 10-11...or 13-15ish. It's also using smaller, lossy RAW files compared to the Canon's full 14-bit.

 

[Zeidora]

Agree that the amount of variance is astoundingly narrow. The write speed variation is much greater depending on scene/detail!

Re 32 GB sweet spot, write-speed is one thing, capacity another. <500 frames is a bit tight, IMHO. Never had issues with 32 GB on my 5D2, but files are less than half the size of the 5DsR. But I have found myself swapping cards back and forth on my 5DsR. I think I will get a 128 GB card to keep my in good shape for a whole day of shooting.

 

[privatebydesign]

Suggests some kind of limit is probably being hit to me, and the variation is simply error/random variation.

The limit being hit is that of the maximum speed of CF.

To go faster Canon needs to move to CFast.

Not even close, UDMA7 is rated to 167 MB/s, the Lexar card that came fastest and is UDMA7 spec is rated to 155 MB/s max write speed.

The tests were done in a variety of situations but were all carried out with empty cards that had been formatted in camera so it isn't the CF speed potential that is slowing it down and there is certainly no need for CFast and the crazy expense of those cards unless you are shooting 4k with a decent codec internally, and nobody is with a 5D Mk anything yet.......

 

[Maiaibing]

Also not surprising, is SD cards (*note: Canon doesn’t support UHS-II. <em>thanks m8547</em>) cannot come close to the write speed of a CompactFlash card, as the fastest card was the <a href="http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search/atclk/Ntt/Lexar+Professional+2000x+UHS-II+32GB/N/0/InitialSearch/yes/sts/ma/Top+Nav-Search/BI/2466/KBID/3296/DFF/d10-v1-t14" target="_blank">Lexar Professional 2000x UHS-II 32GB</a> at only 71.8 MB/s.</p>

Well, I'm surprised. My mistake for thinking users could use the new fast SD cards. Cannot imagine why Canon did not do UHS-II for this camera that needs it more than any other? I have the #2 CF card on the list for sale. Convinced the time had come to go all SD. Maybe I should just keep it in the drawer for now just-in-case...

 

[rawshooter]

Well that sucks, I was expecting the new cameras to write faster. The "old" 5DIII almost reaches 100mbit in writing.

For raw video recording in more than HD or with more than 30 frames more speed it needed. But maybe Canon limits this on purpose.

 

[JorritJ]

In case anyone is interested, I did some speed tests of my own a few weeks ago:

"Write speeds: 5DSR / 5D3 / 7D2, SD / CF / 2x, Lexar 1000x"
http://www.dpreview.com/forums/post/56185044

A special point of note in my tests is that the Lexar 1066x CF cards, offer no practical speed improvement on any of these cameras compared to a Lexar 800x CF card, which is only about 60% of the price.

 

[Otara]

Given its such a conveniently round number, maybe to prevent Magic Lantern achieving too much? Or just market segment I guess.

Otara

 

[msatter]

If the SD card is internally connected to the USB port like in the 5DMKIII then speed around 70MB/s is the maximum.

 

[DomTomLondon]

Thanks for the comparison. Very useful.

I have a Lexar 1066x 128GB CF card that I'm testing for video on the 5DIII at the moment.
Specifically Full HD RAW video capture. As the file size/speed reaches over 80MB/s and needs to be consistent in order not to drop frames.

I've used SanDisk and Lexar cards for 8 years now, and only had one Lexar go bad on me after a month, Lexar replaced it right away. So not too bad I'd say.

 

[mackguyver]

I haven't tested CF cards in the 5Ds yet, but I have found differences between the write speeds in the 1D X vs. the 5D III with the Lexar 1066x and Sandisk 1067x cards with the Sandisk cards coming out slightly ahead in the 1D X and the way ahead in the 5DIII. I say this only to warn people not to extrapolate the results to all Canon cameras as each one has different internal hardware & firmware that affects write speed.

 

[The Flasher]

To those that say they've never had a card fail, this should be your take away from this article.

Anyways, these numbers are so close, it's down to what's on sale at bh, really.

 

[privatebydesign]

...
and there is certainly no need for CFast and the crazy expense of those cards unless you are shooting 4k with a decent codec internally, and nobody is with a 5D Mk anything yet.......

Over time, the prices will drop. Even now, CF is more expensive than SD. 10 years ago, CF was even more expensive than it is now.

And as always miss the point entirely, which was:-

Not even close, UDMA7 is rated to 167 MB/s, the Lexar card that came fastest and is UDMA7 spec is rated to 155 MB/s max write speed.

The tests were done in a variety of situations but were all carried out with empty cards that had been formatted in camera so it isn't the CF speed potential that is slowing it down.......

There is absolutely no need for CFast cards to get much faster stills performance out of Canon cameras, at this point the camera is not utelising more than 60% of the UDMA7 standard. Only 4K and high frame rate HD with high quality codecs will force the use of CFast cards in our stills based cameras.

 

[rawshooter]

There is absolutely no need for CFast cards to get much faster stills performance out of Canon cameras, at this point the camera is not utelising more than 60% of the UDMA7 standard. Only 4K and high frame rate HD with high quality codecs will force the use of CFast cards in our stills based cameras.

Or normal frame rate HD raw video.

 

[m8547]

If the SD card is internally connected to the USB port like in the 5DMKIII then speed around 70MB/s is the maximum.

This doesn't sound right. For one, USB 2.0 is limited to about 35MB/sec because of overhead, and USB 3.0 is much faster than 70MB/sec. And why would they add the extra complexity of a USB layer when they could just write to the card directly?

Someone asked why Canon didn't add UHS-II? Probably because it's still extremely new, and Canon is a conservative and slow moving company. There could also be internal limitations on how fast they can move processed images around. (readout from the CCD is of course very fast by design).