60D long delay between HS bursts

When shooting in high speed burst mode on my 60D I have to wait what seems like an unreasonably long time before being able to shoot another series.

For example, when shooting RAW for the maximum length burst (say about 10 shots) I have to wait about 50 seconds before the red light on the body goes out and I can do it again.

Is this normal buffer clearing time or do I need a faster SD card? I'm using a Lexar 8GB 100x which I believe is Class 6.

It's probably the card. I see that a lot when I switch from the Sandisk 45mb/s then going to a Sandisk 15mb/s. Shooting and everything is fine but that time it takes to clear to buffer is noticeable.

teekay wrote in post #13651549
When shooting in high speed burst mode on my 60D I have to wait what seems like an unreasonably long time before being able to shoot another series.

For example, when shooting RAW for the maximum length burst (say about 10 shots) I have to wait about 50 seconds before the red light on the body goes out and I can do it again.

Is this normal buffer clearing time or do I need a faster SD card? I'm using a Lexar 8GB 100x which I believe is Class 6.

It's a combination of your card and your battery level....but, it's mostly your card!

Buffer clearing is based on speed of the card; so you'd need something faster to clear that buffer quicker.

I don't use many SD cards, so am not terribly familiar with the different ratings (ask me about Compact Flash instead)

But, yes, I agree it's most likely your memory card is too slow writing and the buffer is slow to clear. Shooting RAW you are seeing 25MP and larger files being written at a high rate. If 100X in SD memory is the same as 100X in Compact Flash, that would be a pretty pokey card by today's standards and an 18MP camera that's SDHC and SDXC capable will really slow down when using plain 100X. I use 300X and 400X CF memory cards in my 7Ds and 5DII.

Does anyone know how fast the 60D can write to the sd card? Or put another way, if you purchase the fastest card available, will it be to fast for the camera and a waste of money?

It won't be a waste of money. I believe the SanDisk Extreme Pro is one of the fastest SD cards out there at a reasonable price @ 45mb/s but unless they are on sale, I wouldn't of bought them. Even at 30mb/s vs a 15mb/s there is a noticeable difference but if you do not plan on doing a lot of videos or a lot of HS shooting at once, then your better off with Class 6.

jbrackjr wrote in post #13652002
Does anyone know how fast the 60D can write to the sd card? Or put another way, if you purchase the fastest card available, will it be to fast for the camera and a waste of money?

Go to www.dpreview.com check the write speed of your camera, then get the fastest card you need.

I just checked my 60D. It flushes the buffer completely in 22 seconds. I shot it two ways, HS continuous until it slows, and HS bursts until it slows. It cleared a full buffer in 22 seconds each time. I use Patriot 16GB class 6 cards. I hope this helps.

I seldom run into a full buffer in actual situations. When shooting sports, I use Large/Fine JPEG to get more buffer space. Well, that and I don't want to have to mess with processing 500-1000 .cr2 shots.

teekay wrote in post #13651549
When shooting in high speed burst mode on my 60D I have to wait what seems like an unreasonably long time before being able to shoot another series.

For example, when shooting RAW for the maximum length burst (say about 10 shots) I have to wait about 50 seconds before the red light on the body goes out and I can do it again.

Is this normal buffer clearing time or do I need a faster SD card? I'm using a Lexar 8GB 100x which I believe is Class 6.

I use a 1D4 (so not directly comparable). My camera takes both SD & Compact flash cards - the CF cards are generally much faster - however I use a 16GB Transcend Class 10 SD card which clears 22/24 Raw files a piece quicker than the time you quote. These Transcend cards are pretty cheap and compare well to Sandisk, so well worth a try. For your camera I would not consider a card that is less than class 10.

johnf3f wrote in post #13653504
I use a 1D4 (so not directly comparable). My camera takes both SD & Compact flash cards - the CF cards are generally much faster - however I use a 16GB Transcend Class 10 SD card which clears 22/24 Raw files a piece quicker than the time you quote. These Transcend cards are pretty cheap and compare well to Sandisk, so well worth a try. For your camera I would not consider a card that is less than class 10.

I can't believe how much faster my 400X CF dumps from the buffer as compared to my Class 10 Sandisk. I was always under the impression SD was faster.

Thanks everyone, it's as I suspected - I'll have to blow some $$$ on a faster card.

I'm using a PNY class 10 and not encountering any issues. As a test, bump the RAW down in size and see if that significantly changes things. That would help confim the card as a problem.

Just a point that can help speed up the write operation; if you are shooting RAW at maximum resolution and JPEG as well, there isn't any reason to have JPEG at a high resolution. Bump the JPEG way down. If you take that one in a million shot you can always go back and create the high res JPEG from the RAW.

I use only class 10 cards in my 60D, there is no reason to not use the fastest cards available.Memory cards Are Not where to scrimp on gear.

Check amazon and Adorama and B&H. I got one of my SanDisk Extreme Pro for like $80 for a 16gb then it came with a 4gb extreme and a memory card case. Then I got two for $120ish on sale at Amazon for the Today Deal's or something back 6-8 months ago. I'm sure they have dropped by now.