What size CF card for video.

Big Andy

Big Andy

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I'll shortly be getting my new body '5D3' and wondered what size card I would need/want for video work. I've never done any video and would like to know roughly how long a 16gig card would last with max quality. I'm sure I could research this info but it's just quicker and easier to ask, and more chance of getting the right answer.
 
Since this isn't Talk Basics, I think I may be allowed to suggest that the manual (probably available online) may contain the information you're after. TBH, I think I would be tempted to get as large a card as needed to hold the maximum video length that the camera allows (IIRC, this is limited for taxation purposes). At a guess, you'll never want to shoot a single shot for that length of time, so a single card's capacity might not need to be massive.
 
Nod said:
Since this isn't Talk Basics, I think I may be allowed to suggest that the manual (probably available online) may contain the information you're after. TBH, I think I would be tempted to get as large a card as needed to hold the maximum video length that the camera allows (IIRC, this is limited for taxation purposes).
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There are two limitations on the size of a video file. First there's the 29'59" limit imposed, as you say, for tax purposes. However, unless you shoot at 640x480, you're more likely to hit the 4GB limit. That is the largest size of an individual file using FAT32. Shooting HD video will hit the 4GB limit after around 12 min. So a 16GB card will allow you to shoot roughly 48 min of HD video - in 4 or more chunks.
 
Big Andy said:
Thank you both for the input. Just wanted to know if it was worth getting bigger cards, but my usual 16gb ones will be fine then with a 90mb speed.
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90MB/s is way overkill for video. 4GB over 12 minutes is less than 6 MB/s.
 
Best bet would be to experiment! Especially since you say you haven't yet played with the video capabilities of your camera. Might be an idea to familiarise yourself with the button presses etc required.
 
Nod said:
Best bet would be to experiment! Especially since you say you haven't yet played with the video capabilities of your camera. Might be an idea to familiarise yourself with the button presses etc required.
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That would be good but I won't have the camera until next month and will be ordering new cards at the same time due to a special offer price at the time of buying it and wondered what size to get. If it's a 4gb limit then my normal 16gb cards will be fine thanks.
 
You can buy 32GB SD cheaper than some 16GB CF. I found they are plenty good for normal HD 5D3 footage. Now if you were to do a RAW hack you'd need some fast and huge 1000x cards (££££) - but have a play with vanilla 5D first.
 
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