Memory card for the canon 7D

[brenny130]

I just ordered my Canon 7D (yeah!) and have a question on the memory card. I know I need a CF but do I have to get one that has UDMA? I understand that UDMA is a much faster card but wondering if I get one that doesn't have UDMA will it even work w/ the 7D and if so just how slow will it be? Thanks!

[Colin Southern]

Hi Brenny,

All cameras have internal buffer memory so as you're taking shots the buffer fills up ... but at the same time the camera is writing images to the card. So it all depends on how big the buffer is - how big the shots are - how many you're taking in a given time - and how fast the card is; in other words, there are quite a few variables.

Having just said that though, unless you're trying to shoot a movie "one frame at a time" - generally - slower cards don't slow things down significantly (if at all). Additionally, most cards are waaay faster than the camera (most cameras seem to max out at around 15 mb/s, whereas many cards are capable of 30 mb/s or more.

What I would suggest though is sticking with a GENUINE quality brand like Sandisk. Buyer beware though, there are a LOT of fakes around (approx 100% of "Sandisk" cards on the likes of eBay are fakes) - so my suggestion would be to grab something like a genuine Sandisk 16GB (or there abouts) from a reputable store like B&H or Adorama.

PS: Congrats on the new camera

[arith]

I got a Duracell 4GB UDMA since they were are on offer, I haven't had a problem with it and I shoot raw 15-19MB files on multishot regularly at 6.5 frames per second. It can do up to 14 I think but normally I only do three at a time. The card can store around 180 raw files of which I will either get up to a hundred when I go out, or less if I start deleting on the spot.

[bfkimball]

Here's my cousin demonstrating the importance of faster memory cards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLDeUCzOlw0

Brenny, this is with a 7D.

Obviously if you're not shooting continuously then it doesn't matter too much.

First post. :-)

[Colin Southern]

Here's my cousin demonstrating the importance of faster memory cards:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KLDeUCzOlw0

Brenny, this is with a 7D.

Obviously if you're not shooting continuously then it doesn't matter too much.

First post. :-)

Hi "bfkimball" (what's your first name by the way?),

Welcome to CiC - great to have you with us

Interesting clip - I'm thinking that this may well be one area where Canon may have improved quite significantly. A few years ago when I was shooting with a 10 fp/s Canon 1D3 I did a test between a Sandisk Extreme IV (40mb/s) and Extreme III (20 mb/s) (at the time), and it didn't make any difference; additionally, I worked out that the camera was maxing out at around 15mb/s, which could be a bit frustrating (it had a 30 frame RAW butter, but at 10 FPS that only lasts 3 seconds!).

The other option of course is to just shoot JPEG on those occasions where one needss more (at which point it pretty much becomes unlimited).

[bfkimball]

Hi "bfkimball" (what's your first name by the way?),

Welcome to CiC - great to have you with us

Thanks!

My name's Brian. :-)

[Colin Southern]

Thanks!

My name's Brian. :-)

Cool - thanks Brian (sounds so much better than bfkimball)