What CF cards would i need to harness the full potential of a 7D

Skyline On Fire

Skyline On Fire

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Luke
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By that i mean get the whole 8fps, use all the movie modes etc.... Im assuming that 8fps is only going to happen with certain cards? Anyone able to let me know which? That would be great, thanks guys.
 
I use Extreme 1Vs mainly which suppport UDMA. You may as well get UDMA compatible as that's the in thing at the moment and these cards are only going to get faster in the very near future.

I get about 140 full size raw images on a 4 gig Extreme 1V using the 7D.

8 frames per second will happen I'm sure, even with a slower card, but only until the buffer fills up, which is when the faster cards will allow you to shoot for longer before the buffer fills, or resume shooting sooner after the buffer empties, as the camera will write to the card faster.

EDIT..

Where you'll see a real benefit with faster cards is a significantly faster time uploading images to your PC.
 
I see. Thank you. Im looking at the extreme range right now, a couple of 8gb cards should do me for now. write speed of 60mb per second. Good enough? Sorry im used to SD cards on my 1000d and 400d, never had these issues before!
 
Skyline On Fire said:
I see. Thank you. Im looking at the extreme range right now, a couple of 8gb cards should do me for now. write speed of 60mb per second. Good enough? Sorry im used to SD cards on my 1000d and 400d, never had these issues before!
Click to expand...

60mb sec is pretty rapid. :thumbs:
 
Skyline On Fire said:
I see. Thank you. Im looking at the extreme range right now, a couple of 8gb cards should do me for now. write speed of 60mb per second. Good enough? Sorry im used to SD cards on my 1000d and 400d, never had these issues before!
Click to expand...


Tis what I use on my 7D, the only limit is now the cameras buffer :) not the card :)
 
Be aware that Sandisk has recently rebranded everything and the thing to look for is the MB/s

The old Sandisk Extreme IIIs were 30MB/s (after the upgrade) and the Extreme IVs were 45MB/s.

The new Sandisk Ultras are 30MB/s and the new Extremes are 60MB/s.

Also be aware that in general the new cards are cheaper than the old ones :thumbs: I found Amazon was one of the cheapest prices out there.
 
60Mb/s = 400x speed card, that's a top-end card. The fastest are about 667x, 100Mb/s, but you'll pay an arm and a leg.

Take a look at the 300x (and faster) transcend, lexar cards too - sandisk cards attract a premium, and, depending where you buy them from, there are a lot convincing looking fake cards around.

Ebay do a guide to identify dodgy cards.

I'd also consider looking at a dedicated CF reader for your PC - most don't support the UDMA speeds and you'll be taking forever to copy the files.

http://www.synchrotech.com/support/reader-compactflash-performance-benchmarks.html - a firewire reader is definitely worthwhile, USB2 is a cheaper, slower alternative.

Andy
 
Even with a 15Mb card I get 20 shots at 8fps, I can't envisage when I would need more than 20 consecutive shots, much more than that you're shooting a movie :lol:
 
Lexar have a video that really shows the benefits of faster cards.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hpNw5yVPhLg


Now UDMA 6 cards are not cheap but PhotoFast 8GB 533X-Plus G-Monster MLC Compact Flash. 80MB/s Just under £70 on Amazon. Not that well known over here, but getting a very good set of reviews and building a nice reputation.
 
artyman said:
Even with a 15Mb card I get 20 shots at 8fps, I can't envisage when I would need more than 20 consecutive shots, much more than that you're shooting a movie :lol:
Click to expand...

Writing to the card ties up the processor of the camera. The effect is not profound, but it can (theoretically) slow down things like AF Servo response. Probably less of an issue on the 7D, having a dual-core processor.
 
Yup found what im after, cheapest on amazon by quite a bit, 43 per 8gb card, 60mbps write speed, sandisk extreme. Thanks for the advice guys.
 
I ordered a Transcend 32GB 400x CF for my 7D earlier today, £86 including special delivery, that sounds like a bargain, will post here on Monday whether it works well or not...
 
I have to 16gb 60mb/s sandisk extremes. They work a treat.

It's a must have for 400x if you are shooting any video as I do.
 
ding76uk said:
Any news on this card at all?
Click to expand...

Yep, the Transcend works fine in my 7D and with video as well, that said the performance in the camera is not as good as my 8GB Extreme IV although on paper it should be a bit faster.

I tried to see how many shots I could rattle off in 15 secs (all RAW), with the 32GB 400x Transcend that's at most 31, and it took around another 15 secs for the red LED to stop flashing.

With the 8GB Extreme IV I could get 35 shots, and the light would stop flashing after around 10 secs.

Of course one can't really compare CF cards with different capacities like this and assume that it shows what the same-capacity performance would have been, but at least for me for now the Transcend is "good enough" and at that price a pretty good bargain.
 
I always used the 8gig 60mb/s extreme card on the 7d and it was great. A 30mb/s card would more than suffice as well if you could get one a bit cheaper.

The video does not tax the card, it is the 8fps @ 18 megapixels that hits the buffer and the card.
 
Hi

I was quite impressed with the write speed of Lexar Professional 600x UDMA Compact Flash Cards I want one their, great for sports and wild life shooting, 16gb £194.99, 8gb £129.99 from warehouse express so you'll probably be able to pick them up a little cheaper elsewhere

[YOUTUBE]<object width="480" height="385"><param name="movie" value="http://www.youtube.com/v/iOALy-tYdUk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&"></param><param name="allowFullScreen" value="true"></param><param name="allowscriptaccess" value="always"></param><embed src="http://www.youtube.com/v/iOALy-tYdUk&hl=en_GB&fs=1&" type="application/x-shockwave-flash" allowscriptaccess="always" allowfullscreen="true" width="480" height="385"></embed></object>[/YOUTUBE]

Dave
 
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