Once Canon introduced UDMA support with the 1Ds Mark lll the issues with the buffer went down 90%. According to my pals at Canon the call ins and complaints about buffer issues dropped off to a neglige amount. The choice of Sandisk and Lexar as well as Hoodman are going to give you the least amount of problems (according to my pals in tech support).
Rob Galbraith no longer operates his website "Digital Photography Insights" since becoming a Photojournalism teacher at Southern Alberta Institute of Technology. A good point of reference for write speeds for various media can still be found here but don't expect further updates. I traded a lot of emails with Rob about buffer problems dating back to the original 1D. The worst issues with buffer were with the 1D Mark lll… much worse than the original legacy 1D.
http://tinyurl.com/c2rnyxm
It must be noted and this is very important, the camera body writes to the media faster with RAW than with JPG with smaller size compression levels. There is a bottle neck created not from the buffer filing up but rather the problem with the camera working too hard to be able to write the file to the directory on the media. After constant shooting the camera needs a break no matter what you do. That red light on the back stays on as long as it is "working" to catch up and finally your shit out of lock. For the work I was doing my assignment required that my files be written at "Small Fine" with file size no bigger than one meg at 1024 x 1536
As most of you sports photog pros know pre-Mark lV you'd snag up and miss some shots due to buffer. If you are shooting almost continually and I'm not talking about holding down the shutter on high but shooting 2, 3, 4 frames a second for an hour plus you are going to bog down. If you go to your back up it will eventually happen to the back up same exact thing. Back and forth and eventually both bodies are down. This problem is very rare because so few are shooting like this with zero breaks. For me personally it happened shooting finishers at New York City Marathon from the photo bridge and other finish lines of major running events but nothing near as bad as NYC Marathon.
Canon asked for my CF cards to examine the data and it was very helpful. This has been a long time ago already but they told me some interesting facts.
1. each photo written to the card means the entire directory is rewritten on the media.
2. best to reformat all media on a PC rather than in the camera and especially not on a Mac
since the directory is DOS. The best odds for delaying buffer issues were use the PC.
3. Nikon fixed this problem long before Canon.
4. Nikon had the option to buy the body with a bigger buffer back when I had my problems
but it would have only delayed what was happening to me if I had a bigger buffer in the Mark lll.
5. The 5D Mark ll is when Canon had this issue mostly resolved with write speeds and problems
with UDMA support and the file compression problems fixed.
6. The least amount of failure rates were achieved using Hoodman media. Not with buffer but
general failure, hence the higher prices. (I've never used them so can't comment on that)
There is no reason you should be having buffer problems using the high end San Disk or Lexar cards.
The newer faster CF cards will read faster to your computer which now is my only concern.
I own a couple Mark lV's and a 1DX. No more problems
Rick
in Austin
