# What card(s) will you use for the 7DII?



## Quasimodo (Oct 21, 2014)

I will only use the camera for stills. 

Will you both have a CF and a SD card, and if so which are you planning to use. I have several CF cards for my 1Dx, but I would like dedicated cards for the new 7DII. 

G.


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## Old Sarge (Oct 21, 2014)

Quasimodo said:


> I will only use the camera for stills.
> 
> Will you both have a CF and a SD card, and if so which are you planning to use. I have several CF cards for my 1Dx, but I would like dedicated cards for the new 7DII.
> 
> G.


I have several CF cards and it is always best to have cards dedicated to each body. I have three bodies (when my Mark II arrives I will still have three as I keep the two latest, my 40D goes to wife, her 30D goes to son, his 20D goes to daughter, etc.) and will have at least two sets of new cards, CF and SD. I haven't decided on size yet, though I expect I will use 32 gig UDMA-7 and UHS-1 cards....unless someone on here can convince me otherwise.


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## Sabaki (Oct 21, 2014)

I ordered 2x Sandisk 32gb 160mb/s UDMA 7 CF Card & a Sandisk 32gb 120mb/s SD card

lol I just hope it gets here soon, our post office is on strike!


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## Quasimodo (Oct 21, 2014)

I have a Lexar Professional 800x 64bg UDMA 7 card (in slot 1), and a SanDisc Extreme 32gb, 60MB/s UDMA (in slot 2) on my 1Dx, and the cards have never held me back so far (as far as I know). So I am thinking that I might buy a dedictated Lexar Professional 800x 64GB UDMA7 for my 7DII? If you look away from the possibilities to have the second cards slot at back up, or to be able to continue shooting when first card is full, is there a reason to start to invest in SD cards as I have none from before?


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## Davebo (Oct 21, 2014)

I prefer to use 16G cards (for stills)...just in case one fails. Will also get 160mb/s UDMA7 CF cards and 120mb/s UHS-I
SD cards. Don't waste your $ on UHS-II SD cards, since you won't enjoy the 3x speed advantage.....the 7D II only supports UHS-I. UHS-II cards will work but will only operate at normal speed.


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## darth mollusk (Oct 22, 2014)

120mb/s UHS-l SD cards exist?


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## Hjalmarg1 (Oct 22, 2014)

Quasimodo said:


> I will only use the camera for stills.
> 
> Will you both have a CF and a SD card, and if so which are you planning to use. I have several CF cards for my 1Dx, but I would like dedicated cards for the new 7DII.
> 
> G.



As a precaution I shoot in both RAW and JPEG in different card. RAW in Sandisk 32gb 160mb/s UDMA 7 CF Card and JPEG in a Sandisk 16gb 120mb/s SD card. Both formats in high resolution


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## DominoDude (Oct 22, 2014)

*If* I get one, I will continue to use CF cards for my shots. I could possibly consider to buy the smallest possible SD card onto which ML will fit and go like that. (Yes, I assume ML will find a way to run on the 7D Mark II.)


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## Old Sarge (Oct 22, 2014)

Hjalmarg1 said:


> Quasimodo said:
> 
> 
> > I will only use the camera for stills.
> ...


That is my general intention, shoot raw to the CF and jpeg to the SD. Not sure of the sizes yet but your method seems good.


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## Steve Balcombe (Oct 22, 2014)

CF - Lexar Professional 800x, 120 MB/s, UDMA 7. 

SD - Lexar Professional 600x, 90 MB/s, Class 10, UHS-I

I didn't go for the highest spec SD card because I'll only use it for JPEG and as an emergency overflow if I let the CF card fill up, and there's a big price difference. But in any case that should be fast enough to get maximum performance.


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## Quasimodo (Oct 22, 2014)

Steve Balcombe said:


> CF - Lexar Professional 800x, 120 MB/s, UDMA 7.
> 
> SD - Lexar Professional 600x, 90 MB/s, Class 10, UHS-I
> 
> I didn't go for the highest spec SD card because I'll only use it for JPEG and as an emergency overflow if I let the CF card fill up, and there's a big price difference. But in any case that should be fast enough to get maximum performance.



I am actually thinking about going for that CF Card with 64GB and dropping the SD altogether. Thats how I did it with 1Ds III.


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## 2n10 (Oct 22, 2014)

I ordered a 32 GB Sandisk Extreme UDMA-7 120mb/s CF and a 32 GB Sandisk Extreme UHS-1, Class 10 90mb/s SD. I plan on using the SD as an overflow.


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## Old Sarge (Oct 22, 2014)

Jackson_Bill said:


> Old Sarge said:
> 
> 
> > Hjalmarg1 said:
> ...


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## Don Haines (Oct 22, 2014)

I have a drawer full of 32Mbyte CF cards at work....

It would be like the good old days... changing film holders on the 4x5  Swap one out for every picture....


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## Steve Balcombe (Oct 22, 2014)

Don Haines said:


> I have a drawer full of 32Mbyte CF cards at work....
> 
> It would be like the good old days... changing film holders on the 4x5  Swap one out for every picture....



Landscape photographers seem to make a virtue out of working at that pace!


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## Steve Balcombe (Oct 22, 2014)

Quasimodo said:


> Steve Balcombe said:
> 
> 
> > CF - Lexar Professional 800x, 120 MB/s, UDMA 7.
> ...



I did think about that. I went for a 32 GB CF because I know that is enough for my typical usage, but the SD card is 64 GB because it was a good deal. I could have bought a 64 GB CF card for about the same price as those two. 

To be honest my main reason for getting both cards is that I've never had the option before so I wanted to see how I get on.


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## Quasimodo (Oct 22, 2014)

Steve Balcombe said:


> Quasimodo said:
> 
> 
> > Steve Balcombe said:
> ...



LOL


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## NancyP (Oct 22, 2014)

Don Haines wins the award for best response to this thread.


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## DominoDude (Oct 22, 2014)

Don Haines said:


> I have a drawer full of 32Mbyte CF cards at work....
> 
> It would be like the good old days... changing film holders on the 4x5  Swap one out for every picture....



Haha
I can picture the following at your nearest Canon center in a near future: *looking at Don's 7D Mk II that has been sent in for service and repair* -How the h*ll could this card door be all worn down already after two months?? It has to be a design flaw.


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## icassell (Oct 22, 2014)

I ordered a couple more SanDisk Extreme 32GB CF cards yesterday. I use them in my 7D1 and figure I'll use them in the Mark 2 as well. I haven't given any thought to the SD slot yet. I have a couple of 32GB SD cards for my Olympus TG-3 and think I'll try them in the Mark 2 and see what I think of the 2 card system before I order any since I have no experience with a 2 card camera.


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## Quasimodo (Oct 22, 2014)

I have a friend who will travel to NYC on Saturday, and I really hope he has time to pop by B&H. The price they have for two Lexar CF professional 64GB UDMA 7 cards, is (with tax) less than the price of one of those cards in Norway.


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## Don Haines (Oct 22, 2014)

Quasimodo said:


> I have a friend who will travel to NYC on Saturday, and I really hope he has time to pop by B&H. The price they have for two Lexar CF professional 64GB UDMA 7 cards, is (with tax) less than the price of one of those cards in Norway.


B+H is closed on Saturdays


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## Monchoon (Oct 22, 2014)

I am debating on which card speed to get? Would the difference be really noticeable between the Lexar 1066x and the Lexar 800x?


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## Quasimodo (Oct 22, 2014)

Don Haines said:


> Quasimodo said:
> 
> 
> > I have a friend who will travel to NYC on Saturday, and I really hope he has time to pop by B&H. The price they have for two Lexar CF professional 64GB UDMA 7 cards, is (with tax) less than the price of one of those cards in Norway.
> ...



He will be there for a full week


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## Quasimodo (Oct 22, 2014)

Monchoon said:


> I am debating on which card speed to get? Would the difference be really noticeable between the Lexar 1066x and the Lexar 800x?



I asked a friend of mine in Canon, and according to him, the 800x UDMA will be more than sufficient for stills. I did not ask about video, as that is not my thing. I have the exact same card for the 1dx, and as far as I know it has not been a limiting factor when shooting pictures. I guess that it might impact transfer speed? to a computer...


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## Monchoon (Oct 23, 2014)

Quasimodo said:


> Monchoon said:
> 
> 
> > I am debating on which card speed to get? Would the difference be really noticeable between the Lexar 1066x and the Lexar 800x?
> ...


I am going to using it for stills, so if the speed at 800x will be fine that's what I will go with. Thanks.


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## nebugeater (Oct 23, 2014)

Probably VISA.


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## Werz (Oct 26, 2014)

Granted I don't know much about DSLR yet (and less about cards), is the CF faster than the SD? It seems everyone is going for the CF first, would really like to know why (they also seem a lot pricier compared to SD cards : 45$ vs 132$ for a 16GB extreme pro. If they're about the same I would prefer to use the cheaper $ SD cards).

Would writing RAW files to both (one live, one backup) be a good system?

Thank you for the help


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## Valvebounce (Oct 26, 2014)

Hi Werz. 
I'm sure others will clarify this but CF consistently run at or near their quoted speeds, SD cards write once at or near their quoted speeds, then despite showing as empty once you remove the data they slow right down as they write zeros to each bit before writing the data. This can be overcome by doing a full format which will write the zeros for you. A quick format does not work as this only clears the index (file allocation table). The drawback to this is a full format of a large Gb card will take a long time. Don't remember why CF doesn't have this problem, something to do with all those extra pins SD cards don't have. 

Cheers, Graham.


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## Werz (Oct 26, 2014)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Werz.
> I'm sure others will clarify this but CF consistently run at or near their quoted speeds, SD cards write once at or near their quoted speeds, then despite showing as empty once you remove the data they slow right down as they write zeros to each bit before writing the data. This can be overcome by doing a full format which will write the zeros for you. A quick format does not work as this only clears the index (file allocation table). The drawback to this is a full format of a large Gb card will take a long time. Don't remember why CF doesn't have this problem, something to do with all those extra pins SD cards don't have.
> 
> Cheers, Graham.



Thank you Graham, very informative!


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## Eldar (Oct 26, 2014)

I have a couple of spare Lexar 800x 64GB UDMA7. I´ll try with those. I use 1000x in my 1DX. I also have a 64GB 600x SDXC card, which I will try. But if it slows down the camera, I´ll drop it and just go with the CF.


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## natek (Oct 26, 2014)

Valvebounce said:


> Hi Werz.
> I'm sure others will clarify this but CF consistently run at or near their quoted speeds, SD cards write once at or near their quoted speeds, then despite showing as empty once you remove the data they slow right down as they write zeros to each bit before writing the data. This can be overcome by doing a full format which will write the zeros for you. A quick format does not work as this only clears the index (file allocation table). The drawback to this is a full format of a large Gb card will take a long time. Don't remember why CF doesn't have this problem, something to do with all those extra pins SD cards don't have.



That is wrong. Both CF and SD cards are internally the same. Flash memory is organized in "blocks" (individual chips if you want to say so). You can write individual "1" to the chips, but not "0". Instead, you have to delete the data in the whole block, and then rewrite everything again.
That means: If you "format" the card (quickformat or otherwise makes no difference), the card knows that there is no more important information stored in the chips, and the next time you write it will zeroise the first chip, then filling it with your data. That is no problem.
The only big difference between flash and other storage is when you want to change some data. If you change for example a file on your usb drive, the whole block gets rewritten with the new, changed information. The old block gets marked for deletion.
But that is the same for SD and CF (and all other flash memory).


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## wyldeguy (Oct 26, 2014)

I've got a transcend 32gb 1000x CF that I bought for a wedding I shot and I will be using that mostly but I also have a sandisk extreme pro 32gb SD card that I will probably use in it as well from time to time. Obviously if I want the full speed and buffer I will use just the CF.


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## Nethawk (Oct 26, 2014)

natek said:


> Valvebounce said:
> 
> 
> > Hi Werz.
> ...



Exactly. This should not be an issue if you follow best practice and format your card rather than erase, but in-camera it wouldn't matter for performance anyway.

Just any FYI, 16gb cards typically have better write speeds than a 64gb. I like the smaller size because it forces me to change and miss the remote possibility of losing images. They're way cheaper too, although per-GB is about the same.

Without true write speeds of the 7D2 being known, it's looking like Sandisk Extreme (45MB/s SDHC, 60MB/s CF write speeds) will be all that anyone needs to keep up with its buffer.

If you write simultaneously to both cards speed will throttle back to the slower medium. It's probably better if using two cards to configure SD for overflow or backup.

Video isn't as demanding as stills, its write speed requirements are considerably lower. For 4K video (let's not go there please) the recommended standard is UHS-3, with write speeds about 30MB/s, for HD recording Canon still recommends Class 6. For stills you don't want to be purchasing anything this slow anyway, so just about anything will work for the 7D2. Even so, the buffer in this thing is a beast, few people will be experiencing performance issues with even slower flash memory.

Loved the reference to old film holders! I wish flash card wallets were made to look the same, they'd sell like crazy.


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## Jane (Oct 26, 2014)

Why not use the best cards you can to take advantage of the new technology and high frame rate? I have several pairs of cards for my 5DIII - 32 GB Lexar 1000x CF and Lexar 32GB 600x SD.


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## Nethawk (Oct 26, 2014)

Jane said:


> Why not use the best cards you can to take advantage of the new technology and high frame rate? I have several pairs of cards for my 5DIII - 32 GB Lexar 1000x CF and Lexar 32GB 600x SD.



As fast as the cards are, the limitation is still the write speed of the camera. Sure, if you have money to burn go for it, but it won't provide any increase in performance.


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## Helios68 (Oct 28, 2014)

I would use the faster 16GB CF Card form Lexar or Sandisk. Go to a well known manufacturer. You should also use a SD card for automatic backups.


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