7D & CF Cards

TheNissanMan

TheNissanMan

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Quick question for those in the know!

I'm pretty much convinced that if I get the salary I think I'm getting in a week or two cleared I'll be upgrading to a 7D so looking at the extra costs.

I'm now confuddled as to which CF Cards to get so have a couple of questions.

1) What size is an avg RAW file taken on a 7D

2) What size is the 7D's Internal Buffer?

3) What speed can the 7D write to the CF card (if speed wasn't an issue).


The reason for my questions is as I will need to buy new CF cards I want to buy the right ones for the job without adding extra expense for getting stupidly quick ones where they aren't necessary while getting the best the camera can handle.

Any advice welcome.
 
You might find this useful: http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-10043-10255

I think the 7D is equivalent to the 5Dmk2 in terms of writing speed. The 5Dmk2 is 21Mpix and has ~20-30Mbyte RAWs. The 7D is similar (possibly higher according to the-digital-picture) and has a raw buffer of 15 pics. At 8fps and ~25+Mbyte raws, you'll need all the speed you can get if you intend doing anything more than the occasional burst.
 
The Sandisk 60 mb/s write speeds have never been a problem with my 7D, and I do burst on raw. I think the 90 mb/s are way to fast and pointless now :D
 
I'm surprised at the 5D2 being only 20-30Mb as looking at my 500D RAW files I'm getting 18-22Mb and would ahve thought the 7D to have been considerably larger!

From reading that link the 60Mb maybe restrictive then ?
 
Dave450 said:
The Sandisk 60 mb/s write speeds have never been a problem with my 7D, and I do burst on raw. I think the 90 mb/s are way to fast and pointless now :D
Click to expand...

Thank you, so 60Mb is adequate for a burst as thinking about in more detail I shouldn't really need to be doing long bursts if I'm thinking about the shots I want to be taking :D
 
Hi Ryan

Average size of my raw files is about 27MB with a range of 24MB to 30MB

Canon dont give the exact transfer rates on their site. But they do note that their image buffering specs are based upon UDMA, so that's the minimum card I'd use in the camera. (Non UDMA cards will work, but you should expect the camera to shoot bursts more slowly and the buffer to fill up more frequently when shooting bursts.)

I get about a 15 shot burst at 8fps on my cards which are Sandisk Extreme 8Gb UDMA 60MB/s

I understand the equivalent Lexar 300x will avchieve the same

These are the ones Ive got http://www.amazon.co.uk/SanDisk-Extreme-Compact-Flash-Cards/dp/B002NO7Q26/ref=pd_bxgy_computers_img_c
 
TheNissanMan said:
Thank you, so 60Mb is adequate for a burst as thinking about in more detail I shouldn't really need to be doing long bursts if I'm thinking about the shots I want to be taking :D
Click to expand...

Yeah I use bursts mainly on motorsport or wildlife shots, where my judgement is still not 100% :)

If your taking time composing shots, you'll have no problems with any of the Sandisk range.


Oh BTW when you play with the 8 fps, you'll love it !!! :D
 
Thanks Nigel, roll on payday and I'll get a few ordered up, just realised I'll need a new card reader as well lol, monies being spent before it hits my account, so much for saving money this year, photography bug has hit hard!
 
Dave450 said:
Yeah I use bursts mainly on motorsport or wildlife shots, where my judgement is still not 100% :)

If your taking time composing shots, you'll have no problems with any of the Sandisk range.


Oh BTW when you play with the 8 fps, you'll love it !!! :D
Click to expand...

I know, I've metup with Cosmix a couple of times and it sounds like a machine gun going off, not sure I'll ever get bored of that sound, the 500D sounds boring in comparison!
 
I ignored all the speed stuff and simply went for a size that I didn't need to keep swapping or emptying, I thus got a 16gig CF card.

Trouble is now I have around 14 unused 1gig and 2gig cards.

I did go for a decent make though, wasn't expensive either at about £70 if my memory (no pun intended) serves me right.
 
craigg said:
I ignored all the speed stuff and simply went for a size that I didn't need to keep swapping or emptying, I thus got a 16gig CF card.
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Click to expand...

A good theory until the card corrupts or breaks? Split any photo event over smaller cards to minimise loss. 8gb is my limit.
 
With the 500D I've stuck with Sandisk and 8gb so not to much info that I would worry about losing a card (not happened yet) but a manageable size. I wouldn't want to go any bigger or any other brand.
 
TheNissanMan said:
With the 500D I've stuck with Sandisk and 8gb so not to much info that I would worry about losing a card (not happened yet) but a manageable size. I wouldn't want to go any bigger or any other brand.
Click to expand...

8Gb card on my 7D, full raw files will give you 297 shots :D
 
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