MarkintheHV Loc: Hudson Valley

I normally shoot on the fast (10fps) frame rate due to doing mostly bird photography, which after a few seconds will slow down while writing the buffer full of raw files to the memory cards. The other day, I was shooting in the quiet mode (5 fps), and noticed that the buffer didnt seem to fill up when shooting raw. My question is has anyone played with configuring a different frame rate (between 5 and 10fps) to find out how fast you can shoot raw without dealing with the pauses while the camera empties the buffer?

Thanks

Basil Loc: New Mexico

Do you shoot with both CF and SD cards installed? Reason I ask is, someone here on UHH had posted an interesting article about optimizing write speeds on the 5D III which has to do with not using the SD in order o maximize rite speeds. While the article references the 5D III, I suspect the same logic would apply with the 7D II (not sure if the 7D II has the same "slower" SD slot as the 5D III?). One of these days I may do an experiment to see if removing the SD card affects how fast the buffer fills.

http://www.borrowlenses.com/blog/2013/01/tip-optimize-canon-5d-markiii-write-speeds-avoid-sd-cards/

MarkintheHV Loc: Hudson Valley

I usually shoot with both cards installed, but I prefer to write to the SD card.

Nice article, I will give that a try.

robertjerl Loc: Corona, California

SD cards are just plain slower than CF.

I have my 7DII set to write RAW to the CF and then the SD as overflow if it fills up and I don't change out for a fresh CF card.

I am using the SanDisk Extreme Pro cards and I know at the slow burst setting I haven't had it stop or slow down. One burst of two ducks fighting went to almost 15 seconds when they stopped and I took my finger off the shutter.

gwong1 Loc: Tampa, FL

Basil, The 7D MkII is faster. Gary http://www.cameramemoryspeed.com/canon-7d-mark-ii/fastest-sd-cf-card-comparison/

Jolly Roger Loc: Dorset. UK

If you shoot in silent mode the speed is reduced, so less frames per second are taken. This allows the buffer / writing to keep up. You also need to consider how fast the cards are that you use.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

my 7DII is set to shoot with the CF card first and then have the SD card take over when the CF is full. Are you saying that if I shoot in bursts that the SD card will automatically get preference??? I'm not sure I understand.

amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA

No, I don't think anyone was saying that.

What they are saying is basically that card speed is another factor that can effect frame rate and buffering. On the whole SD cards tend to be slower, so if you are writing to that at the same time as the CF (such as for backup), you can expect the slower of the two cards to determine what frame rate the camera can do and how many total frames you'll get in a burst before it needs to slow to clear the buffer.

But if you are only using the SD card to pickup once the CF card is full, then you shouldn't see "slowing" until that happens....

Unless your CF card also isn't particularly fast. If it, too, is relatively slow, that also would tend to slow down frame rates and allow fewer shots before needing to slow to clear the buffer.

Canon rates the 7DII at 10 FPS and 31 RAW file burst when using an 8GB UDMA 7 card (speed and brand not specified, but both would matter too). They show SD UHS-I reducing it to 26 RAW files. They also note that these performance levels are at 1/1000 shutter speed, and that certain AF modes, lenses, aperture settings (and probably more) may slow the frame rate. They rate "Silent mode" at 4 FPS, not 5. Saving RAW + JPEG greatly reduces the number of frames before buffering slows down shooting. Using non-UDMA 7 CF ("standard", whatever that means) also will reduce buffering to an estimated 24 images.

All that's a bit vague. You might do some research on Canon's website to see if they give more info about what specific memory cards they test with. Or do some Googling to see what memory other 7DII users have found helps maximize their camera's performance.

foathog Loc: Greensboro, NC

OK thanks.