EOS 6D skipping frames
 

I tried to search for this but all I got are stories of people that can't play their footage smoothly in their computers and it skips frames constantly. That's not the problem I have.

The first card I put in the 60D was a Patriot LXPro 32 GB Class 10, which I had bought because I saw it several months ago in some benchmark as one of the fastest cards available at that time. It worked without problems in my video cameras, but when I tried to record video with the 60D, it filled the buffer right away and stopped, even after I had formatted it at low level. So for those on the market for cards, do not buy Patriot because they're junk.

But regardless of that, after pressing the record button each time after the stop error, sometimes it would keep recording. However, when I saw the footage on Edius, every now and then I would see that it skipped a couple of frames, but I attributed that to the cheap card, since there's no NLE faster than Edius and I have a very fast computer.

So while I wait for a faster card, I started using an old AData Class 6 16 GB card that gave me absolutely no buffer errors. But the skipped frames problem continued, and this time I was able to see it on the 60D screen while recording, so I have to assume it's a problem with the camera rather than the card, because even if the AData is also a cheap card, what I'm seeing on the camera's screen while I'm recording is not the video being played back from the card, but the raw footage from the camera itself.

Later I imported the footage into Edius, and I saw the problem advancing frame by frame on the timeline. It's actually three frames that it skips, simply showing four identical frames, the first of which is new and three that look like the first one before moving to a new frame, and obviously this causes a very visible jump. I opened the footage in Premiere and in Vegas and it was exactly the same.

So my question is, did I get a bad unit, or is this a design problem with this camera? I hope it's a not a design problem, because no matter how great the picture quality is, if it's going to skip frames every now and then, it's not something I want to keep.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

Hi Sebastion,

Maybe the Patriot LX "Pro" 32G Class 10 cards are problematic...I don't know.

I can say that I have been using 6 Patriot LX Series 32G Class 10 cards (not the "Pro" classification) for the last 2 years without a problem with my 60D. These...



You could try a hard reset of your camera back to default settings and see if that helps...and check on the latest firmware update for the 60D.

Best of luck.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

It's definitely some weird error. It's never happened to me.
It sounds like it's got some weird hiccup in the standards or something. Like it's recording at 24fps but the codec is still outputting a 30fps file.

Try changing that around, going to PAL and so on just to see what happens. Or updating the firmware, as mentioned (that doesn't cause any warranty problems does it?)

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

Actually the camera came with the latest firmware, 1.1.0. I should probably just ask for a replacement from B&H to be on the safe side, although I'll try that PAL thing later today, but it seems like a glitch to me. I don't think it's related to frame rate because it doesn't happen at specific intervals but randomly.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

I've got the same card/the same buffer problem. I called Canon Professional Service, and was told quite bluntly that the larger the SD card (32gb+) coupled with being Class 10 is a no-no for the 60D. Apparently there is one incredibly expensive class 10 high capacity SD card that has no problems, as far as their test have shown.
Formatting before use was the only advice he could give me. He said something along the lines of Class 10 cards are fine for that first file, then fall off track with additional files. Found this odd since I had this problem with a 32gb Sandisk Class 6, which I had replaced by the manufacturer.
Hope your new card solves your problem!

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

Sounds frustratingly bad. I wonder if reinstalling the firmware would touch that part of the system? Probably not, but I don't know.

Anyway, class 10 cards do seem to vary wildly in quality. It's not the most stringent rating system apparently. I've used a couple of 32gigs from different people and never had any real buffer trouble though. They haven't been super expensive brands either.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

I use these and they are not cheap but they work. They have no problems with keeping their speed up when nearing full capacity.

http://www.atpinc.com/p2-4a.php?sn=00000185

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

So it could be that the Patriot card is not actually junk, but just incompatible? In that case it would be Canon's fault, because that Patriot card works perfectly well with my Sony HDR-AX2000 video camera.

Funny thing is, the manual says it has to be Class 6 or higher and a class 10 doesn't work, but I have a Kingston 32 GB class 4 card that I've been using with the 60D and it doesn't show the buffer error at all. I'm talking about the error that shows the message that it stops automatically, not the bug I experienced where it skips 3 frames. That I haven't had much chance to test since last weekend, but I'll try it exhaustively in some other cards before I send it back.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

Yesterday I've been walking around shooting several minutes of video with the Kingston 32 GB card and it didn't skip any frames, so it could be the card after all. But I have until Tuesday to send the camera back, so I will keep doing tests and hopefully I won't have to send it back. Of course I could be jinxing it by posting about it, so who knows.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

Today it skipped twice while using one of those Kingston cards. I would think it's the card, except that I saw the skip happen on the camera's monitor as I was shooting, and that makes me think it's the camera that has a problem. Oh well, I guess I'll exchange it and see what happens with the next one.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

Sebastian:

I've watched and followed the SDHC card issues with DSLRs ever since I picked up a Canon T1i (pathetic video implementation). I've had the 7D, T2i, 60D, and T3i. I still have the 60D.

In all the problem reports I've seen Patriot, A-Data, and Dane-Elec have been the worst offenders. Quality control is all over the place, one sample works, another is full of problems. Kingston has had known problems with buffering in Canon and Nikon DSLRs and of all the "bargain" brands Transcend seems to have the best record. But I've still seen just enough problem reports concerning Transcend I don't trust that brand either.

I feel the problem is your cards, SanDisk has the fewest problems of all (except Hoodman Raw on which I've seen NO problem reports. The majority of SanDisk problems have turned out to be operator error (like never formatting the card in the camera it will be used in, or buying a card and using it in the camera over a period of time, deleting individual files but never formatting, that sort of thing).

My advice: Try one of these.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/828326-REG/SanDisk_SDRX3032GA21_32GB_SDHC_Memory_Card.html
http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/824140-REG/SanDisk_SDSDXPA_032G_A75_Extreme_Pro_32_GB.html
I use 16GB versions of the Extreme Pro in both my 60D and in Panasonic GH2's, I've used the older plain SanDisk Class 6 and Class 10 cards in the T3i and 60D and never had a skipped frame or buffer problem.

Re: EOS 6D skipping frames
 

Thanks, Bruce. As it turns out, the problem had nothing to do with the card. It's either a design flaw or a limitation in the technology. I found out the frame skipping only happens when the camera is in auto-exposure, and when moving the camera from a bright to a dark area and viceversa. The reason why I didn't notice that with the Class 4 Kingston card is because I was shooting in manual exposure all that time, while I had been shooting in auto when I saw that problem, mostly because I was following my dogs around and they kept going from bright sunlit areas to shaded ones and viceversa, and I wanted to avoid the steps when moving the aperture wheel, not to mention that the clicks are recorded in the audio track.

But I know of at least two other people who have the same problem, so I suppose it's that way and exchanging it would not make a difference.