I think I need a faster card

When I first purchased my T3i I said to myself that I would never need some insanely expensive san disk extreme pro memory card. Recently I realized that I have found limitations to my t3i in its buffer capabilities. I have been doing HDR panoramas and HDR macro focus stacking, which as you may know takes up a ton of buffering space. If I take a regular HDR shot with Magic Lantern at the maximum of 9 exposures the camera will fly through the first 6 shots and then struggle to accomplish the last 3 shots on my san disk HC card. When I make a macro focus stack I hit the same problem only it really sucks then because the focus stack could be anywhere between 25 and 60 shots. It is very difficult to shoot a bug when the camera bogs down at 6 shots during a focus stack and because of this I have not successfully completed a satisfactory HDR focus stack yet, but I am trying. Anyways I am thinking about getting an 8 gb San disk extreme pro and I was wondering if anyone on here can vouch for me in this situation. Any improvement could be a matter of capturing a shot all together but if its a gimmick, or it will not help my buffer situation to upgrade please let me know. I wish that canon would incorporate larger buffers in their cameras, like maybe 1-2 gigs of RAM, I know that the technology is there.

if i remember correctly, cards dont increase your buffer, just the time it takes to clear your buffer.

from the amount of shots you're getting (approx 6) i'd say you're shooting raw and 6 is about the maximum buffer capacity on the t3i

So in theory could a faster card clear the buffer before it can reach 6 shots?

calypsob wrote in post #14137079
So in theory could a faster card clear the buffer before it can reach 6 shots?

i dont think so, the camera shoots until the buffer is full and then it clears the buffer. I dont think there are cards fast enough to clear the buffer almost instantaneously. right now the only way that i can think of is upgrading your camera but thats not exactly a cost effective method

Its the camera itself. I borrowed a friend of mine's expensive high speed card, made no difference.

Try shooting with a rebel XS! I think mine is 1.5 FPS shooting RAW and the buffer fills in 3 shots. Your T3i is blazing fast compared to mine. From your side it's complaining about shortfalls, but when I hear your speeds, I'm thinking "Damn! if only mine was that fast!"

I can almost use an old lever action film camera faster. ok maybe not, but it sure feels like that sometimes. Especially when someone shoots near me with a pro model, and it's like an Uzi, compared to a revolver.


I can get faster with JPG, but for me the trade off isn't worth it.

Unless you have a very old card I would suspect you are limited by the processing speed of the camera. And that should be a factor of how much data you are moving to the card.

Are you shooting raw or jpg? Can you shoot jpg and lower the size? The specs say 3.7 fps up to 34 for large jpg. That should be nearly a 10 second run. Raw is 11 shots or 3 seconds.

But then, it could just be late and my mind has already gone to bed.

Upgrade to a 7D...

I doubt the card will do anything. I just got sent a Sandisk 16gb Extreme 45mb/s card by mistake (ordered 30mb/s), and my 450D bogs down just the same as using slower cards.

Hmm I am starting to see the advantage of the 7d. Unfortunately I wont be able to swing the price for a while. To bad looks like I'm at the mercy of the wind for now.

Well the Canon site states :
"Maximum Burst
JPEG (Large/Fine): approx. 34

RAW: approx. 6

RAW+JPEG (Large/Fine): approx. 3

* The number of possible shots and maximum burst apply to a 4GB card based on Canon's testing standards.

* The image file size, number of possible shots, and maximum burst will vary depending on the shooting conditions (3:2 aspect ratio, subject, memory card brand, ISO speed, Picture Style, Custom Functions, etc.)."

calypsob wrote in post #14154007
Hmm I am starting to see the advantage of the 7d. Unfortunately I wont be able to swing the price for a while. To bad looks like I'm at the mercy of the wind for now.

I have never investigated Magic Lantern but my initial check shows that the 7D is not and probably never will be supported.

Titus213 wrote in post #14155128
I have never investigated Magic Lantern but my initial check shows that the 7D is not and probably never will be supported.

Good point. In that case I may have to wait and see what the future has in store.

Sirrith wrote in post #14139796
I doubt the card will do anything. I just got sent a Sandisk 16gb Extreme 45mb/s card by mistake (ordered 30mb/s), and my 450D bogs down just the same as using slower cards.

It was not a mistake. Sandisk upgraded all of their lower end cards and retailers haven't updates their product pages yet. Ultra's are now 30MB/sec, Extreme/HD Video are now 45MB/sec.

In most cases a faster card won't make much of a difference unless your card is performing extremely poor.

You could consider upgrading to a 60D for $640 plus tax via Canon loyalty program. It can do 15 raw in the buffer and clears the buffer in about 22 seconds.