# Canon 5D Mark iii and 64Gigabyte SD card



## revup67 (Apr 23, 2012)

Has anyone tested any SDXC 64 gigabyte cards on the Canon 5D Mark iii? I called Canon they have only tested up to 32 gigabyte SD cards. My concern is being able to have the 5D Mark iii properly format and utilize beyond 32 gig on the 64 gig card with the FAT32 file system.

Looking only for replies from anyone that can confirm full use (or beyond 32gig) of the of the allotted 64 gig of space. I'm not concerned about speed on this thread or why one should use a CF card vs. an SD or the Windows FAT32 file system structure

Many thanks for your assistance


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## PhilDrinkwater (Apr 23, 2012)

I've been wondering the same. I want to use a 64Gb SD and a 64Gb CF (both Sandisk Extreme / Extreme pro).

Thanks for asking. Will be watching this..


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## jlev23 (Apr 23, 2012)

my sandisk 64gb extreme pro version works fine.


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## Rokkor 58mm 1.2 (Apr 24, 2012)

I'm using a Transcend SDXC 64 GB in my Canon 60D without any problems. The card shows a capacity of 59.5 GB after formatting. If it works for a 60D, I would guess it would work for a 5D mkIII.


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## revup67 (Apr 24, 2012)

Jlev and Rokkor - this is most useful - thanks for that info. Have either of you shot video on either of these 64 gig cards? Canon doesn't support UHS-1 as you know so was curious especially on the Canon 5D Mkiii if the video held up well with respect to the buffering or dropped frames. Without UHS-1 support I am informed the UHS-1 card will drop to 30MB per second from 60 (or higher) by Canon suppport. I have the EOS 7D with a San Disk CF Card @ 30MBs and have not experienced any dropped frames. Since the EOS 7D does not have an SD card holder I've no way to test this feature. Any help would be appreciated. Many thanks.


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## RedEye (Apr 24, 2012)

I use the 64gb sdxc, works great!


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## Alledges (Apr 24, 2012)

Rob Gailbraith CF/SD performance database 5D MKIII results
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/camera_wb_multi_page.asp?cid=6007-12452

SD Cards
Fastest SD cards were dead slow compared to their rated speed. Write speed in 5D MKIII terrible, but fast cards should still work well in fast card reader during offload. Sandisk Extreme Pro 95MB/Sec cards use SD 3.01 (UHS-1) standard which Canon stated is not supported by 5D MKIII.

Write speed in JPG and Raw, and number of RAW+JPG frames until buffer full.
SD Card JPG RAW Burst
PhotoFast Class 6 SLC - 4GB 18.5MB/s 19.9MB/s 22
Sandisk Extreme Proj 95/MB/Sec - 8GB 18MB/s 19.4MB/s 22
Sandisk Extreme Proj 95/MB/Sec - 16GB 17.9MB/s 19.3MB/s 22
Sandisk Extreme Proj 95/MB/Sec - 64GB 17.9MB/s 19.3MB/s 22


CompactFlash Cards
Lexar UDMA-7 CF cards were blazing fast with Sandisk UDMA-6 cards in second place. Write speed in 5D MKIII very good, with card reader performance even better.

Write speed in JPG and Raw, and number of RAW+JPG frames until buffer full.
CompactFlash Card JPG RAW Burst
Lexar Professional 1000X 32GB 46.8MB/s 80.2MB/s 75 
Lexar Professional 1000X 128GB 46.5MB/s 78.7MB/s 74 
Lexar Professional 1000X 64GB 46.3MB/s 76.9MB/s 73 
Lexar Professional 1000X 16GB 46MB/s 70.1MB/s 67 
SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB 45.7MB/s 68.9MB/s 64 
SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB 45MB/s 60.6MB/s 57 
SanDisk Extreme Pro 16GB 44.9MB/s 58.6MB/s 56 
SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB 44.8MB/s 58.6MB/s 55

SD Card to Computer via Card Reader - All Devices
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/reader_report_all.asp?cid=6007-9438&card_type=SD

CompactFlash Card to Computer via Card Reader - All Devices
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/reader_report_all.asp?cid=6007-9392&card_type=CompactFlash

5D MKIII CompactFlash write speed is very good. SD write speed seems best suited for JPG only or overflow. Hope SD write speeds can be improved via firmware.


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## Rokkor 58mm 1.2 (Apr 24, 2012)

I shoot mostly stills, 98+ % of the time, however for a test I just recorded 4 min of video at 1920x1080 30 fps and saw no problems. No frames were dropped. My 64 GB SDXC is Class 10 but not UHS-1, which would not do me any good with the 60D anyway.


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## jaayres20 (Apr 24, 2012)

I just shot a wedding with a 64GB CF and a 64GB SD in the camera. Both were Extreem Pro 95MB and they worked great. I have also used the Lexar Professional 600X 64GB SD card and it has worked great so far. I love being able to shoot an entire wedding without taking cards out of my camera. I feel like the chances of both of them failing in the camera is not very likely. I don't like messing with a bunch of smaller cards and possibly drop one or break it somehow during the wedding.


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## revup67 (Apr 24, 2012)

Rokkor - thanks for this test and great info while things are still in their infancy especially with SD cards and the Canon camera line. I called Canon support this evening and had them test an SD card by Dan Electric (brand) with a max of 30MB. The rep stated there were no dropped frames in one minute of video footage test and no delay in RAW High Speed continuous @ 6 FPS.

He indicated to get anything more past 30 MB might be a waste of money as the camera will write data only at one speed for all cards. If there's no frame rate drop in 1920x1280 video nor loss of FPS on High Continuous then why spend the extra money as there's no perceived benefit from the camera's standpoint. Only benefit would be transferring data from the card itself to the PC/MAC.

I'm not sure I agree with this 100% as in High Continuous mode with a San Disk CF Extreme 32gig 60 mb card you'd average 1.6 shots per second vs. a San Disk Ultra SD card @ 30MB you'd get 1 shot every two seconds according to Rob Galbraith web site.


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## NaturaLight (May 5, 2012)

So a SanDisk CF Extreme III 30MB/s Edition 8GB can keep up with the 6fps rate, with a burst capacity of 29 frames. So the only advantage to a faster-than-30mb/s is burst capacity.

But the fastest SD cards can only handle bursts of 22 frames, suggesting that they may not be able to handle 6fps. Is there a way to calculate the real frame rate for an SD card, or infer it from Rob's data (which is awesome)?


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## Bosman (May 6, 2012)

Rob's Tests reveal all and the other dudes statement is bunk. I have extreme III's and newer Ultra II's both 30 mb/s. The buffer from shooting raws gets jammed up and the progress light is glowing for a bit after the shooting stops. Shooting with my new Sandisk Extreme Pro 32 gig 95mbs, that sucker is done writing after i stop. The main thing i hated when testing my 5dm3 for a solid month after getting it was using the 30mb/s card i couldn't immediately review the newest image taken and i'd always be displaying an older photo. Now when i want to quick view the image date, its just there already and i don't have to skip ahead to the last image because when i hit the review button the last image shot is what i see.


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## Bosman (May 6, 2012)

NaturaLight said:


> So a SanDisk CF Extreme III 30MB/s Edition 8GB can keep up with the 6fps rate, with a burst capacity of 29 frames. So the only advantage to a faster-than-30mb/s is burst capacity.
> 
> But the fastest SD cards can only handle bursts of 22 frames, suggesting that they may not be able to handle 6fps. Is there a way to calculate the real frame rate for an SD card, or infer it from Rob's data (which is awesome)?


The stated guaranteed speeds are based on 1/500 sec or faster shooting. Burst and write are more and faster so if you had to quick change a card it is likely you wouldn't have to wait for the card to finish up before finishing.


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## Capnbooboo (Jan 14, 2013)

Bosman said:


> Rob's Tests reveal all and the other dudes statement is bunk. I have extreme III's and newer Ultra II's both 30 mb/s. The buffer from shooting raws gets jammed up and the progress light is glowing for a bit after the shooting stops. Shooting with my new Sandisk Extreme Pro 32 gig 95mbs, that sucker is done writing after i stop. The main thing i hated when testing my 5dm3 for a solid month after getting it was using the 30mb/s card i couldn't immediately review the newest image taken and i'd always be displaying an older photo. Now when i want to quick view the image date, its just there already and i don't have to skip ahead to the last image because when i hit the review button the last image shot is what i see.


if you still have a chance to read this post can you confirm if a 64GB Sandisk SD card at 95mb can fly or are you referring to a CF card?


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## Capnbooboo (Jan 15, 2013)

good to hear someone responds here and the site is alive and kicking,

i have a friend who has high expectations from CF cards, he wants to know if they are able to snap photos while shooting a video with out any notice, on a 5dm3too, i yet to see that on any DSLR but i also never tried it with the newer cards, i do see a freeze in video for a whole sec and usually you shoot about 27-30 frames a sec so i will have to try it myself since i will have a lexar 32GB 1000x cf card in my hands within a week, also a 64GB /95mb SD card so ill try those.

If anyone here has tried to take photos while shooting video with a fast CF card do share the info, as far as i know with the SD card i have which is a sandisk 64GB/45mb atm it freezes the video for a sec.


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