7D Mk2 SD and CF cards

[Ken MT]

My Canon 7d Mk 2 has dual slots(CF & SD). Will it make any TIME difference if I record JPEG and RAW concurrently to either CF or SD slot, as against saving JPEG to the CF slot, and RAW to the SD slot, or vice versa, or RAW only?

The max burst for RAW is 24 images, or 130 JPEG, using high speed continuous shooting. The manual is not a great help.

[James G]

Ken, I assume you are bothered about write times to the cards only, since as far as I am aware the time stamp recorded in the EXIF data is set for the time the exposure occurred, i.e. when the shutter opened.

So assuming it is about write times to the cards, then it will depend in part on the type of shooting you are engaged in, and the rate the buffer fills/clears.

I have the 7Dmk2 and shoot RAW but write to both cards. (I had a card failure last year, and lost the contents of the failed card.)

I shoot a lot of macro and often shoot a rapid sequences of shots. I have never had a problem with the buffer filling and the camera going on hold until it cleared. This despite writing to both cards simultaneously. (I do not use burst shooing though!)

This link may help a bit... http://www.imaging-resource.com/PROD...-mark-iiA6.HTM

I've extracted a section as shown below....

Buffer clearing times were quite good considering buffer depths, ranging from 7 seconds after a max-length burst of best quality JPEGs, to 10 seconds after a burst of RAW+JPEG frames. Note that we also tested a UDMA7 CompactFlash card and found the buffer depths to be just a little lower but the clearing times a little shorter than the fast UHS-I SDHC card we use, so we went with the SD card numbers.

My gut feeling is that it will make no difference which slot you write to except that if you are burst shooting, then the camera buffer will fill faster based on the size of larger RAW files as opposed to the smaller size for JPEGS.

The other factor is the cards themselves and the write speed they can tolerate. Canon Tech Specs apparently use UDMA7 class cards for tests, which I suppose constitutes a card standard.
I use CF and SD cards rated at 40mb/s and have not experienced any problems, but.

If you think there is an issue it might be sensible to try some test shooting (burst shoots) and see how long the write to card indicator light on the camera stays on?

Hope this helps...

[rpcrowe]

I shoot with the original 7D cameras so I have no choice in which card to use. CF is my only option. I am very happy with my CF cards because they are pretty well indestructible. Cards have gone through a cycle in a washing machine and have been chewed on by a puppy. I was able to retrieve the images from the cards in both cases.

I use Lexar CF cards in 8 to 32 GB sizes in 400X and 800X speeds with UDMA capability.

I have found that these cards write faster than slower cards. I shoot a lot of burst photography at airshows but, have never been troubled by slow write speeds. I have experienced problems in write speeds when shooting with slower cards without UDMA capability. I used UDMA cards before I had a camera capable of utilizing that technology. They did not write any faster but, using a UDMA capable reader, I could download my images noticeably faster.

I have never had a CF card fail after I have initially begun to use it but, I have had two Kingston cards fail in my initial testing. I no longer buy that brand card.

[Black Pearl]

My Canon 7d Mk 2 has dual slots(CF & SD). Will it make any TIME difference if I record JPEG and RAW concurrently to either CF or SD slot, as against saving JPEG to the CF slot, and RAW to the SD slot, or vice versa, or RAW only?

The max burst for RAW is 24 images, or 130 JPEG, using high speed continuous shooting. The manual is not a great help.

Best advice - try it for yourself as you have the camera there in your hands. The conclusion of your tests will let you decide what and where you want to record.