the link you pasted goes to a 16GB card for that price. Was it a typo or is there really a 32GB card for $30 somewhere? Still, it's not a bad price for 16GB.

CF Speed
 

What's your recommended compact flash speed for 5D? For faster .mov file transfer, does card reader brand matters?

For HD video recording, you'll want a CF card rated for UDMA (Ultra Direct Memory Access). I use HoodMan RAW cards; they're UDMA 300x and guaranteed zero-failure. For card readers, a FireWire 800 CF reader will transfer card contents about twice as fast as a USB2 reader (2 gigabytes per minute compared to 1 gigabyte per minute).

I bought 2 very inexpensive 8gb 133 Kingston CF Cards for $ 29.00 apiece at Frys here locally. It captures without drop. I occasionally see the write indicator show up with one bar of 3 or4 highlighted. Have not experience any drops.

Same here, but if you try to interrupt the video by grabbing a still photo (which is supposed to cause a 1 second gap, then continue video recording) it might not work.

I had to switch to the Kingston 266x card in order to get that to work (16GB cards).

I think it's fair to say that UDMA is definitely not a requirement, at least not if you consider that a lot of people are using non-UDMA cards without problems. That said, if you have a really important project, or have the budget, then why not use UDMA.

Among other smaller and slower-than-UDMA cards I own, which have all worked fine, I've also been using a 133x Kingston 32gig card I got from NewEgg for $60 (that's right, $60 for 32gb) without problems. On a rare occasion I see one light on the buffer, but it's always gone away before going to two lights, and I've never seen a dropped frame. Yes, it is a bit slower, and I can tell sometimes when rapid-firing 21mp stills, but the thing works fine and the price is oh so right...

In reviewing the specs on the cards, versus Canon's stated requirements, these cards double the maximum write speed, as I understand it. In fact most 133x cards seem to do so. As far as stills during recording. I have done that without error too.

I do wonder if the 16 would write as well, and will probably try one at about $35.00

Write Indicator
 

I have an 8gb Sandisk Extreme 3 that freezes my 5d. The write indicator bars fill up and the camera freezes. I have to pop out the battery and I lose the current take. It is a little frustrating and happens at random times. Any suggestions for correcting this? I have two slower cards that don't have this issue.

Thanks Guys! Problem solved courtesy of transend card reader. I was able to transfer my 4gb(HDvideo) files for only 3mins.

Card Write Indicator
 

I have an 8gb Sandisk Extreme 3 that freezes my 5d when shooting video. The write indicator bars fills up and the camera freezes. I have to pop out the battery and I lose the current take. It is a little frustrating and happens at random times. Any suggestions for correcting this? I have two slower cards that don't have this issue.

It appears your card crashes, quits writing, the 5D2 fills up its buffer waiting for the card, and then the 5D2 gets locked up waiting for a write operation to finish. It must not have a time-out for giving up on the card.

It sounds like a bad CF card. Just replace it.

Cheers

Nigel

I'm using a Transcend 32GB 133x I bought for around $70. Thought I'd try it out because the cost was reasonable and I could always use CF card for my other cameras if it choked on the 5DmkII.

I have used this card for a couple days of casual family shots (and lots of video) and it worked flawlessly -- didn't even register any buffer bars. None!

I think the UDMA cards are really nice, but they're not essential.

p.s. The above member who was complaining about a Sandisk ExtremeIII CF card causing problems -- I'm not an electronics engineer, but it sounds like a defective card to me. I have an ExtremeIII 16GB card and it works fine, never had any problems.

I have 3 of these cards and they've not shown this symptom at all

High end CF cards compared
 

Here's a good review of high end CF cards. Personally, the most interesting thing to me is the Addonics ADSACFW SATA CF reader listed on page 9 of the article.

Roundup: CompactFlash Cards For Professionals : Compact Flash Powerhouses Reviewed - Review Tom's Hardware

Frankly, none of the cards look bad. I'm more interested in reliability and cost per MB than the last 10% of performance.

Thanks for posting that link! But I didn't see the HoodMan RAW 300x UDMA card in there.

I've been using a $60 133x Kingston 32gig card without problems. Now that's a price/size/performance tradeoff I can live with!

Have you tried shooting stills in RAW format with the 133x cards, shooting as rapidly as possible? I have a 16GB Transcend 300x card which will has allowed me to shoot 21 RAW (with no embedded JPG) shots before the buffer filled and the camera slowed down. I also have a 4GB 133x card which only gave me about 17 shots before the camera slowed down. Neither card has any trouble with video, however.

Julian

I always like Ron Galbraith's website.
Rob Galbraith DPI: Canon EOS 5D Mark II

And what's the minimum speed the 5D2 needs for video again?

Minimum required CF speed is the subject of debate at this thread:

http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/canon-eos...-cf-speed.html

I've used Ultra IIs (10mb/sec) and Extreme IIIs (30mb/sec) and both were sufficient for both photo and video.

Some Extreme III 8GB cards experience a camera lock-up were you have to take out the battery in order to reset the camera. I no longer use Extreme III for shooting video.

I bought Kingston 133x 32GB and 16GB cards for a 5 hour three-camera shoot and didn't have one lockup or buffer overrun. The only problem is transferring the files to the hard drive is taking about three and a half hours for the 16GB and seven for the 32GB cards.

Kingston Elite Pro 133x and dropped frames
 

I did a video test the other evening on the 5DM2 using a 16GB KIngston Elite Pro 133x CF card. The card was formatted in the camera and had little or no material on it.

To my surprise and disappointment I found that in the approx 1 minute fast moving sequence there were at least two areas where the image froze for three frames.

I repeated the experiment yesterday and had no such problems.

At first I thought it was just a bizarre but worrying quirk of the 5DM2/Kingston combo, but later I read a FAQ somewhere which said that the camera will drop frames when the aperture is changed on AF lenses.

Yesterday's OK result was done with the camera in Av mode with the kit lens - 24 - 105mm, but I can't remember what the mode was for the problem sequence (using the same lens).

I'm guessing that the dropped frames are related to whatever mode setting I was using with the kit lens.

Can anyone confirm this behaviour and set my mind at ease?

Thanks.

Dropping frames is likely because your exposure wasn't locked. Read up on this. There are a ton of posts on the subject.

And the Kingston 133x card does have issues, but it's with interrupting video with a still capture, and expecting it to continue filming the video (which it doesn't on mine). It works fine with the 266x card.

Thanks Steve. Whew! that's a relief to know it's a 'feature' and not a bug or a faulty card.

I have had some issues with a 133X CF in that it occasionally causes the 5d to 'freeze up" when I am reviewing clips. The only work around is to shut off and remove/reinsert internal battery. The DV files seem intact but its a hassle once the camera is mounted to the tripod.

I am using that exact card (two as a matter of fact) and do not have any such issues. I am using the Nikon lenses, however, which avoid the aperture issue with the Canon lenses.

Which CF cards to get with the 5D II?
 

Okay, I love my EX1, but I'm complimenting it with the 5D Mark II (I also shoot stills and have the original 5D). I need it for an ultra-lightweight option on multi-day backpacking trips and ease of using GND filters.

What are the best CF cards to get? I'd prefer specifics rather than 16GB or 32GB, I'd like to hear things more like, "Kingston 32 GB Elite Pro", or "SanDisk 16GB Extreme III 30mb/s (or 45mb/s)", etc. I'm not sure the speed requirements and how each card mfg compares.

Shooting landscape stills I never cared about speed because most landscapes stay relatlively still (I had to chase mountain once during an earthquake, but that's about it). Any specific advice would be appreciated as I'm ordering the Mark II as soon as I find out which cards to get. Super gracias.

I just purchased a 5D MII (been lurking here for a very long time - I'm an avid HD video and still photo amateur with some reasonable disposable income for toys).

I bought a bunch of the Kingston CompactFlash Elite Pro Memory Cards (8Gb, 16Gb and 32Gb - tested the 8gb first before buying a bunch). They are rated at 133x speed rating and I have had no issues with the Video recording with any of them. They are not as fast as the "SanDisk Extreme III" but IMO, the difference between the two brands has more to do with how fast and how many stills you want to take in continuous mode.

I also tried the "Jobo Secure Digital/MultiMedia to Compact Flash Type II Adapter" along with some real cheap (<$10) SD cards (SanDisk 4GB Secure Digital Card) and had terrible luck with video on the 5DMII (at best I could get 1-5 second clips before the buffer overload stops the video capture). I have not tried any better SD cards so I am not sure if it's the SD cards or the adapter.

So for my memory card collection I have a bunch of Kingston Elite Pro cards (133x) for video and a bunch of cheap Sandisk SD cards to use for stills (via the Jobo adapter). So far I am happy with this collection.

Hope this helps . . .

I Use SanDisk 16Gb Extreme III and IV, I have two of each and have had no problems.

Avey

My wife & I each have a few TRANSCEND 16 Go 133x cards & have never had any problems.

I have 2 16's and 2 8's of the Kingston 133x, and no problems.

I have Sandisk Extreme III 8GB and 16GB cards - working without a hitch on both 3 weeks of travelling shooting stills, and hour-long interviews (with changes and restarts of course). I was tempted to get some 32GB cards last week but decided on more 16's - just in case a card dies at some stage.
peter berg

I'll second the Transcend 133x . I have a 32GB Transcend 133x and it works great and the price was hard to beat. They seem to have somehow gone up in price since I bought mine, though. The great thing about these is that although they are MLC (cheap) they have more than plenty of write speed for 40Mbps (5MBps) video and a read speed that is significantly higher which helps offloading. robgalbraith clocked these cards as writing at ~12MBps in a 5DMK2 and reading at >40MBps in fast card readers. I would highly recommend checking his charts ( Rob Galbraith DPI: Canon EOS 5D Mark II ) before you buy any CF card. Make sure that the card is listed as having at least 6MBps writes in a 5DMK2, since 40Megabit/sec translates to 5MegaByte/sec. I looked there and found that the 32GB transcend 133x seemed to be the most reasonably priced large capacity CF card that had enough writes speed for video and unusually fast read speeds for offloading.

Thank you VERY much for the responses, they are greatly appreciated! I went into my B&H cart to buy the Mark II (I put it in there yesterday) and now it's saying it's backordered again. Hopefully they'll have another batch in the next couple of days. Thanks again.

I use both a 16GB and 32GB Kingston Elite Pro 133x compact flash cards ($35 and $70) , and they work great with the 5D Mark II.

I bought three 16gb Transcend cards. One failed on a job, first time I used it. Half the files were corrupt.

Since then I swtiched to Sandisk Extreme III and have had no problems.

Has anybody used the Hoodman RAW CF cards? (UDMA RAW CompactFlash-Hoodman Corporation)

Spec-wise, they look nice.

As well as their Firewire 800/400 reader (RAW FireWire 800/400 CF Reader-Hoodman Corporation)

If shooting video is important to you and you don't want your camera to freeze and loose an 8 minute shot, I would highly avoid the SanDisk Extreme III 8GB CF cards. They have been reported to freeze the camera. Read this thread for more detail 5D Mark II Freezes / Locks up / Buffer Problem SOLVED and http://www.dvinfo.net/conf/canon-eos...-compared.html and DVXuser.com -- The online community for filmmaking - View Single Post - Interview Shots from a Corporate Project.

I have now shot over 700GB of video with three cameras using the Kingston Elite Pro 133x 32GB CF cards and have not had one freeze or lock-up. We are shooting 14 minute takes each time. I would never trust the SanDisk Extreme III 8GB cards for this.

The SanDisk Ultra II 4GB card never experienced a lock up by the way. Only Extreme III 8GB.

Good luck!