# Solution for 5D Mark III Changing Default Write-to Card



## swampler (Jun 9, 2012)

Tired of the 5D3 changing from SD to CF or CF to SD every time you take the card out to copies images to your computer? Simply leave the card door open on your camera until you download your pics and reinsert your card. The camera doesn't read what card(s) are inserted until the door is closed, so leaving it open keeps it from knowing you took one out.


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## bkorcel (Jun 10, 2012)

Cool but more chance for dust and dirt to enter the camera. It's a good short term solution until it gets properly fixed.


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 10, 2012)

bkorcel said:


> Cool but more chance for dust and dirt to enter the camera. It's a good short term solution until it gets properly fixed.



What makes you think it's 'broken'? AFAIK, it's been that way on all the 1-series bodies which have dual slots - I rather think it's that way by intentional design, not error.


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## cayenne (Jun 10, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> bkorcel said:
> 
> 
> > Cool but more chance for dust and dirt to enter the camera. It's a good short term solution until it gets properly fixed.
> ...



True, but with the 1-series, aren't BOTH cards the same type...CF?

I was hoping for an option...to be able to direct video to one card, still to the other..but I've not found how to do that... :-\

C


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## briansquibb (Jun 10, 2012)

cayenne said:


> neuroanatomist said:
> 
> 
> > bkorcel said:
> ...



1D4/1DS3 have one CF card and 1 SD card - same as 5D3


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## markd61 (Jun 11, 2012)

cayenne said:


> True, but with the 1-series, aren't BOTH cards the same type...CF?
> 
> I was hoping for an option...to be able to direct video to one card, still to the other..but I've not found how to do that... :-\
> 
> C



The 1 series is CF and SD except the 1Dx which has two CF slots as they should have all along.


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## Mt Spokane Photography (Jun 11, 2012)

Or, remove the SD card , close the door briefly, and it will switch back.


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## bkorcel (Jun 11, 2012)

Probobly "broken" for a long time in my opinion. I would be interested in knowing what reasonable purpose there is to have the camera switch active cards when the power is off. I can understand if you do it when the power is switched on but OFF should be OFF!



neuroanatomist said:


> bkorcel said:
> 
> 
> > Cool but more chance for dust and dirt to enter the camera. It's a good short term solution until it gets properly fixed.
> ...


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## briansquibb (Jun 11, 2012)

bkorcel said:


> Probobly "broken" for a long time in my opinion. I would be interested in knowing what reasonable purpose there is to have the camera switch active cards when the power is off. I can understand if you do it when the power is switched on but OFF should be OFF!



IMO it is good design - means that you can always shoot when there is a card in the camera.


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 11, 2012)

bkorcel said:


> Probobly "broken" for a long time in my opinion. I would be interested in knowing what reasonable purpose there is to have the camera switch active cards when the power is off. I can understand if you do it when the power is switched on but OFF should be OFF!



So, if you removed the CF card and didn't replace it, you'd rather turn the camera on and have it try to write your pictures to an empth card slot? I assume that's the logic.

*Question* for 1-series/5DIII users - what happens if you open the door, remove the CF card, immediately insert a new CF card, then close the door? Does it continue writing to the CF card?


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## briansquibb (Jun 11, 2012)

neuroanatomist said:


> bkorcel said:
> 
> 
> > Probobly "broken" for a long time in my opinion. I would be interested in knowing what reasonable purpose there is to have the camera switch active cards when the power is off. I can understand if you do it when the power is switched on but OFF should be OFF!
> ...



If you take out a card and replace it without shutting the door then it does not switch

If you take out a card, shut the door and then open the door then the card has switched.


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## neuroanatomist (Jun 11, 2012)

briansquibb said:


> neuroanatomist said:
> 
> 
> > *Question* for 1-series/5DIII users - what happens if you open the door, remove the CF card, immediately insert a new CF card, then close the door? Does it continue writing to the CF card?
> ...



Thanks, Brian! 

My plan for the 1D X (which sounds like it will work) is writing to both cards, with the card in slot 'B' as a backup, then after a session swap the card in slot 'A' for a new card, only swapping out the backup card when near full (and images from primary cards are fully backed up to multiple locations). Thus, three Sandisk Extreme Pro 32 GB 90 Mb/s cards should do the trick...


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## bkorcel (Jun 11, 2012)

I dont see the point. how long does it take for the camera to decide which slot has a card in it? In a fraction of a second the camera could set that during power ON. The camera should honor the settings in the configuration menu or at least make that setting configurable. 

BTW, I've already discussed this with Canon a couple of times and they are reviewing the issue. The support tech agreed that the camera should honor the settings configured but could not say if it could be fixed or not as there may be other hardware reasons for doing such.



briansquibb said:


> bkorcel said:
> 
> 
> > Probobly "broken" for a long time in my opinion. I would be interested in knowing what reasonable purpose there is to have the camera switch active cards when the power is off. I can understand if you do it when the power is switched on but OFF should be OFF!
> ...


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## bkorcel (Jun 11, 2012)

Not exactly the logic I was eluding to. The check could be completed when the power is turned on, then select the active slot even if it's configured to use the empty one.

The issue I have reported is that this check is done when the camera power is OFF...which may lead to some interesting power drain issues if the camera is left off for an extended period of time (the camera has to check for some condition when the power is off to detect the door opening). However Canon could not confirm that this impacts the charge on the battery.

Likely they wont do anything about it as it's a minor issue but a big pain in the neck for some of us.



neuroanatomist said:


> bkorcel said:
> 
> 
> > Probobly "broken" for a long time in my opinion. I would be interested in knowing what reasonable purpose there is to have the camera switch active cards when the power is off. I can understand if you do it when the power is switched on but OFF should be OFF!
> ...


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## briansquibb (Jun 11, 2012)

bkorcel said:


> The issue I have reported is that this check is done when the camera power is OFF...which may lead to some interesting power drain issues if the camera is left off for an extended period of time (the camera has to check for some condition when the power is off to detect the door opening). However Canon could not confirm that this impacts the charge on the battery.



1 Series already does this and that has no battery problem

I think this is a non issue from a battery drainage point of view


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## John Thomas (Jun 11, 2012)

briansquibb said:


> bkorcel said:
> 
> 
> > The issue I have reported is that this check is done when the camera power is OFF...which may lead to some interesting power drain issues if the camera is left off for an extended period of time (the camera has to check for some condition when the power is off to detect the door opening). However Canon could not confirm that this impacts the charge on the battery.
> ...



EOS 1Ds Mk II has it.


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## bkorcel (Jun 11, 2012)

That aspect was more of a concern than a reported problem. Since getting the 5DMIII it's not been down long enough for me to determine if there is a drain issue....but very happy to hear it is not on the other models. So now just need to get them to be consistent with the firmware configuration settings and not make arbitrary changes to the configured defaults. 



briansquibb said:


> bkorcel said:
> 
> 
> > The issue I have reported is that this check is done when the camera power is OFF...which may lead to some interesting power drain issues if the camera is left off for an extended period of time (the camera has to check for some condition when the power is off to detect the door opening). However Canon could not confirm that this impacts the charge on the battery.
> ...


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