# How to use cf and sd cards Mark5d3



## Jack56 (Feb 9, 2014)

Hi all,
I like to know how you use your cards. I've got the mark5d3 and there is the possibility to use both cards. Do you use both cards at the same time or only the cf card?


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## LDS (Feb 9, 2014)

Depends on where I'm shooting and why.
Usually I just use the CF card and leave the SD as a "overflow card" in the case I'm shooting, I filled the CF, and can't stop shooting to insert a new card.
When I'm shooting in a situation where some people may want a jpeg copy of photos immediately, and I do not need fast shooting, I select to write jpegs to the SD and RAWs to the CF.
If I'm shooting something important I can't shoot again easily, I may write to both cards at once to avoid a single card failure will mean total data loss.
Settings are versatile enough you can choose what the best way for what you're doing.


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## joshmurrah (Feb 9, 2014)

I use the CF slot for RAW, and is my primary card.

I use the SD slot for JPG, and I keep a Eye-fi in it... the idea is that JPG is there for safety, and when I want to, I can enable the Eye-fi, for iPad previewing during a shoot. I also have the back-screen review set for this card, and have my sharpness/saturation/etc. set on my picture style to match what I typically do in ACR, so I get a better idea of what my photos will look like later.

When I empty the CF card for the day, I format both cards in-camera before storing the camera.


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## Jack56 (Feb 9, 2014)

Thanks for your replies!


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## wickidwombat (Feb 14, 2014)

i usually have both record raw

but i sometimes will set the SD to record JPG if i am not going to be doing processing and hand it off straight away


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## iron-t (Feb 14, 2014)

It's important to realize the potential write speed to SD in the 5D3 is nowhere near the potential write speed to CF. The result is that when using the SD slot the buffer capacity fills up more quickly, and empties more slowly, than when only the CF card is being used. To put this in concrete terms, if you shoot RAW to CF only you may get 10 continuous shots at 6 fps before the shooting speed slows down to 2 fps; whereas if you use the SD you may get more like 7 continuous shots at 6 fps before the shooting speed slows down to 1 fps. The real-world difference can be significant. This is why many 5D3 shooters, myself included, shoot RAW exclusively to CF, keeping a card in the SD slow only for overflow or backup purposes.


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## Jamesy (Feb 14, 2014)

wickidwombat said:


> i usually have both record raw
> 
> but i sometimes will set the SD to record JPG if i am not going to be doing processing and hand it off straight away



This is my approach too. I have the fastest Extreme Sandisk cards in both slots even though the SD is appreciably slower. I have tested the CF buffer and if I recall I can get 21-22 frames before the camera starts to choke but that is when only the CF slot is active. I rarely shoot and fill the buffer so I keep two 32GB cards in the card at all times set to mirror to both cards and that provides a level of data redundancy while operating in the field.


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## jdramirez (Feb 14, 2014)

What I do is I keep a fast CF card in my body (only 8gb, 800x) and I shoot shoot shoot. Then when there is a break in the action, I'll put in a 32gb sd card and copy everything over. Remove the sd card, delete the shots on the CF card. Rinse and repeat.

I'm sure others would be concerned about the deleting what is on the CF card just in case a file is corrupted... but that hasn't happened yet...


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## Roo (Feb 14, 2014)

At the moment I'm just using a 32gb extreme CF as I prefer to have the full speed capability and I've yet to fill the card in a day's shooting in raw.


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## LarryC (Feb 14, 2014)

i use the SD as a jpg backup and the CD for RAW but I've never, ever, had a card fail nor have the few pros i know. is this a real issue with cards made in the past few years? has anyone here actually experienced a card failure?


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## cayenne (Feb 14, 2014)

Jack56 said:


> Hi all,
> I like to know how you use your cards. I've got the mark5d3 and there is the possibility to use both cards. Do you use both cards at the same time or only the cf card?



I shoot only RAW for stills, and I do a lot of video too.

I shoot mainly to the CF card, and use the SD card as overflow to keep shooting till I have a break to change the CF card.

HTH,

cayenne


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## cayenne (Feb 14, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> What I do is I keep a fast CF card in my body (only 8gb, 800x) and I shoot shoot shoot. Then when there is a break in the action, I'll put in a 32gb sd card and copy everything over. Remove the sd card, delete the shots on the CF card. Rinse and repeat.
> 
> I'm sure others would be concerned about the deleting what is on the CF card just in case a file is corrupted... but that hasn't happened yet...



Wouldn't it just be easier to have a couple extra CF cards to swap out when they get full?


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## jdramirez (Feb 14, 2014)

LarryC said:


> i use the SD as a jpg backup and the CD for RAW but I've never, ever, had a card fail nor have the few pros i know. is this a real issue with cards made in the past few years? has anyone here actually experienced a card failure?



My wife washed and dried a card a few times and it died. So there was that experience...


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## jdramirez (Feb 14, 2014)

cayenne said:


> jdramirez said:
> 
> 
> > What I do is I keep a fast CF card in my body (only 8gb, 800x) and I shoot shoot shoot. Then when there is a break in the action, I'll put in a 32gb sd card and copy everything over. Remove the sd card, delete the shots on the CF card. Rinse and repeat.
> ...


Yep... but I'm too cheap to pay for cards that lose value very quickly over time. 

Heck... even brand new, a $30 card will lose half of its value when selling on the secondary market...


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## JonAustin (Feb 14, 2014)

LDS said:


> Depends on where I'm shooting and why.
> Usually I just use the CF card and leave the SD as a "overflow card" in the case I'm shooting, I filled the CF, and can't stop shooting to insert a new card.
> When I'm shooting in a situation where some people may want a jpeg copy of photos immediately, and I do not need fast shooting, I select to write jpegs to the SD and RAWs to the CF.
> If I'm shooting something important I can't shoot again easily, I may write to both cards at once to avoid a single card failure will mean total data loss.
> Settings are versatile enough you can choose what the best way for what you're doing.



+1

I've yet to encounter the situation where I need to hand off JPEGs on an SD card, but the above is the approach I would take. (I've imagined the scenario where I'm vacationing and a tourist couple asks me to take their photo, but with my camera instead of theirs, and then gives me their SD card to record the JPEG on ... but I've yet to have that happen.)

Similar to what someone else has mentioned, if I fill my CF card (rare even at 16GB, because I usually shoot mRAW) and time permits (i.e., when I'm hiking and have some idle time between shooting sessions, I'll copy the images over to my (32GB) SD card in-camera, reformat the CF card and resume shooting. Otherwise, I'll simply pop out the CF and replace it with a backup card.


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## cayenne (Feb 14, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> cayenne said:
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Hmm...ok.

I guess I never buy anything with the thought of selling it again.


Remember, he who dies with the most stuff....._*wins*_!!


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## tron (Feb 14, 2014)

cayenne said:


> jdramirez said:
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Not the one with newer stuff? ;D


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## cayenne (Feb 14, 2014)

tron said:


> cayenne said:
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That's the *TIE breaker*!!


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## Rienzphotoz (Feb 14, 2014)

cayenne said:


> Remember, he who dies with the most stuff....._*wins*_!!


Sounds like a good line for a tomb stone ;D


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## JonAustin (Feb 14, 2014)

Rienzphotoz said:


> cayenne said:
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> 
> > Remember, he who dies with the most stuff....._*wins*_!!
> ...



What's the old saying? Something like "You never see a hearse towing a U-Haul trailer."


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 14, 2014)

I have four 4GB, and two 8 GB CF cards. The 4 GB cards I use for regular shooting and have been 100% reliable but are getting a little old. 

I'm going on a holiday to Japan soon (once in a lifetime opportunity?) and now I'm thinking of using my CF cards in one slot and getting a 32 GB SD Ultra as a backup in the SD slot, for RAW files. Please advise if this is a good idea, and any experience you may have with this kind of set-up. I don't want to loose a single shot - it's going to be cherry blossom season in Japan!


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## jdramirez (Feb 14, 2014)

mrsfotografie said:


> I have four 4GB, and two 8 GB CF cards. The 4 GB cards I use for regular shooting and have been 100% reliable but are getting a little old.
> 
> I'm going on a holiday to Japan soon (once in a lifetime opportunity?) and now I'm thinking of using my CF cards in one slot and getting a 32 GB SD Ultra as a backup in the SD slot, for RAW files. Please advise if this is a good idea, and any experience you may have with this kind of set-up. I don't want to loose a single shot - it's going to be cherry blossom season in Japan!



At the end of the day are you going to be loading them onto a hard drive and uploading to the web? It also doesn't sound like your are filling the buffer up, so... yeah... sounds like a plan.


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 14, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> mrsfotografie said:
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> > I have four 4GB, and two 8 GB CF cards. The 4 GB cards I use for regular shooting and have been 100% reliable but are getting a little old.
> ...



You're right, I'm not exactly going to do any burst mode shooting here - maximum data security is my goal but I don't really want to invest in new CF cards. A 32 Gb SD will therefore be on my shopping list - but please let me know if anybody has encountered any troubles shooting raw to CF + raw to SD!!!


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## gshocked (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi all,

I'm just wondering what's the fastest SD card people have used and still get the speed benefit?
I remember reading there was a limitation/issue with the SD card slot of the 5D3 - does anyone remember what that was?

Thanks


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 14, 2014)

gshocked said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm just wondering what's the fastest SD card people have used and still get the speed benefit?
> I remember reading there was a limitation/issue with the SD card slot of the 5D3 - does anyone remember what that was?
> ...



Yeah, even for CF's it's stuck in my mind that 'ultra' (30mb/s) is fast enough, at least for the 5D Mk II...


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## LookingThroughMyLens81 (Feb 14, 2014)

mrsfotografie said:


> jdramirez said:
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Shooting RAW to both CF and SD will slow down your shooting significantly from what I've read of others attempting the same thing. The SD slot only works at around 10-15MB per second and the CF slot will slow down to accommodate that speed for simultaneous writes to both cards. Hopefully, they will ditch CF for the new ultra-fast SD in the next 5D.


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## tron (Feb 14, 2014)

Or hopefully they will ditch SD for 2 really fast CFs


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## Old Shooter (Feb 14, 2014)

gshocked said:


> Hi all,
> 
> I'm just wondering what's the fastest SD card people have used and still get the speed benefit?
> I remember reading there was a limitation/issue with the SD card slot of the 5D3 - does anyone remember what that was?
> ...



Not updated since March 2013 but still informative...

http://www.robgalbraith.com/camera_wb_multi_page7de5.html?cid=6007-12452

You can see that there are fast CF cards and some that are slower than SD... You can also see that spending the money on a fast CF, and only writing RAW to that slot, will give you the maximum results... You can also see that, incrementally, the faster SD cards will still do a little better...

Me, I have (2) SanDisk Extreme Pro 32GB CF cards and (1) SanDisk Extreme Pro 64GB SD card... I write RAW + Large JPG to each card - I have never hit the buffer... Then again, I am not a spray-and-pray photographer - I bought the 5DIII because that second slot buys you peace of mind... Every shot is recorded in both formats to both cards - have never lost an image with SanDisk - cannot say that about Lexar cards that I have owned... YMMV...


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## jdramirez (Feb 14, 2014)

tron said:


> Or hopefully they will ditch SD for 2 really fast CFs


An sd card is convenient for me because I have a shot in my computer for sd cards, but not cf.


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## LookingThroughMyLens81 (Feb 14, 2014)

tron said:


> Or hopefully they will ditch SD for 2 really fast CFs



SD is where it's at for photo use. The latest SDXC cards are on par with high-end CF performance and they work in laptops. CF really has nothing going for it at this point apart from high-capacity designs for shooting video at high-bitrates.


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## Valvebounce (Feb 14, 2014)

Hi JD.
You may have a slot on your computer, but I have a card reader that does multi format, that and the lead are smaller than a pack of 20 ciggies by quite a margin, and it is fast with CF cards. ;D

Cheers Graham.



jdramirez said:


> tron said:
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> > Or hopefully they will ditch SD for 2 really fast CFs
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## East Wind Photography (Feb 14, 2014)

tron said:


> Or hopefully they will ditch SD for 2 really fast CFs



They already have. Its called a 1dx. The SD card was added to the 5diii as a low cost way to back up shots when shooting important events like weddings. Canon had to keep the price point down and this was just one feature that was scaled down to meet their price point.

The 5diii was designed with wedding, portrait, and event photography in mind. Not high speed shooting such as with the 1dx..which was designed around sports photography.

By using CF and SD at the same time you have a built in backup copy of your images.


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## jdramirez (Feb 15, 2014)

East Wind Photography said:


> tron said:
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But the mkiii has a really nice af system only second to the 1dx... so sure one is ideal... but the other is no slouch.


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## East Wind Photography (Feb 15, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> East Wind Photography said:
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Oh i agree. I tried the 1dx and while it was a fine camera, the 5diii was better for my needs. I shoot mostly wildlife. The point was that in order to make the price right they could not include all of the 1dx tech. For the design purpose of the 5diii, CF and SD slot is good enough.


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 15, 2014)

LookingThroughMyLens81 said:


> tron said:
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> > Or hopefully they will ditch SD for 2 really fast CFs
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I disagree - I prefer CF for its size, robustness and handling. The cards are big enough that I can change them out with one hand, toss one in my camera bag and be able to easily find it again. SD cards are a little more fiddly in that sense and easier to loose too.


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## jdramirez (Feb 15, 2014)

mrsfotografie said:


> LookingThroughMyLens81 said:
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Here's a borderline dumb question. Could manufacturers design a camera that uses solid state drives? Would that be faster than current transfer rates?


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## jdramirez (Feb 15, 2014)

Product dimensions:
2 inches x 0.1 inches x 1.2 inches; 0.6 ounces

Http://www.amazon.com/gp/aw/d/B00B3X73EE/ref=mw_dp_mpd?pd=1

This for instance...


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 15, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> mrsfotografie said:
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Solid state drives use flash memory just like memory cards. In fact a SSD is little more than a big memory card with advanced disk management to prevent the memory from breaking because of the same sectors being written to all the time. So technically speaking we already have SSD's in our camera's and the best thing about that is that they're easily exchanged when more capacity is needed


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## pwp (Feb 15, 2014)

jdramirez said:


> Could manufacturers design a camera that uses solid state drives? Would that be faster than current transfer rates?


SSD's and CF cards & SD cards are basically the same thing...same tech, different shapes. So you've got what you wanted already! If you have a daily need for speed, just buy the fastest cards you can afford. They genuinely make a very tangible difference.

A bit of best forgotten history...Around the turn of the millennium when a 128Mb card was quite big, a lot of photographers burned their money and lost lots of data on a CF card shaped device called MicroDrive. I had one which was a then massive 512Mb...and it was a tiny spinning HDD. It seems unbelievable now. They were scarey devices with an alarmingly high failure rate....._shudder_.....

Check out the wiki page and thank your lucky stars for solid state memory: 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microdrive

-pw


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## jdramirez (Feb 15, 2014)

pwp said:


> jdramirez said:
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When I bought my first card, it was an MMC... and I bought it off ebay... and I remember getting the big card... but I'm trying to remember how "big" the "big" card was. I want to say 32MB... but it very well could have been 16.


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 15, 2014)

pwp said:


> jdramirez said:
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I had an XS drive - a portable battery powered card reader and harddrive that allowed me to copy my CF cards to disk so I could then reuse the CF cards. I had two 2Gb CF cards at the time and they were really expensive, so copying to this affordable drive was a good budget option. It was however very scary because there was not really a good way to check if the data was actually transferred properly. I used this system when I travelled to Malaysia in 2008 and fortunately I didn't loose a single photo.

http://www.photographyblog.com/news/xs_drive_2_smart_2300/


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## slclick (Feb 15, 2014)

I've tried all the configurations and have settled to shooting only CF in the past 6 months. I own a grundle of cards and always have at least 2 with me so I have yet to run out of space. I have had a poor relationship with SD cards,too fragile for me and I dislike the slider switch. All RAW except for the occasional b&w jpeg shoot for kicks.I used to hate forgetting to switch the card slot after removing the CF when I shot dual slots, using only the CF solves that.


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 15, 2014)

slclick said:


> I've tried all the configurations and have settled to shooting only CF in the past 6 months. I own a grundle of cards and always have at least 2 with me so I have yet to run out of space. I have had a poor relationship with SD cards,too fragile for me and I dislike the slider switch. All RAW except for the occasional b&w jpeg shoot for kicks.I used to hate forgetting to switch the card slot after removing the CF when I shot dual slots, using only the CF solves that.



These are the sort of issues I want to know about before I will invest in an SD card. So how about the following scenarios? 

Let's say I have a 4GB CF and a 32 GB SD. While shooting I fill the CF and remove it. Will the camera then continue on the SD card only?

And let's say I remove the CF and replace it with a fresh 4GB card, will the camera then continue recording on the SD where it left off?

Thanks


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## slclick (Feb 15, 2014)

mrsfotografie said:


> slclick said:
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> > I've tried all the configurations and have settled to shooting only CF in the past 6 months. I own a grundle of cards and always have at least 2 with me so I have yet to run out of space. I have had a poor relationship with SD cards,too fragile for me and I dislike the slider switch. All RAW except for the occasional b&w jpeg shoot for kicks.I used to hate forgetting to switch the card slot after removing the CF when I shot dual slots, using only the CF solves that.
> ...



It will do what you tell it to do. Write to one. Write to both, Write to one then the other. And all these configurations in all manners of file formats. And yes, if you remove a card it will automatically write to the remaining card regardless of previous configuration.


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## East Wind Photography (Feb 15, 2014)

slclick said:


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And even when the camera is "off". If you leave the card door open and replace the cf card it will stay on the previous setting. However as soon as you close the door it will switch to the SD card.

I reported this issue to Canon and it was fixed in the 1dx but not in the 5diii.

I just use the usb to download now and leave the cards innthe camera. Lots of reports of bent cf pins so i reduce that risk by just leaving thm in the slot.


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## mrsfotografie (Feb 15, 2014)

East Wind Photography said:


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Thanks for your comments. I think I'll just go and play around with it a little to get a feel for it


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