Multiple Cards In mkIII

So, whats everyone using in both slots. and what are you recording? Generic or Extremes? RAW to CF and L jpeg on the SD? Anyone using sRAW as a back up, and what size of card? 2GB, 4Gb, or bigger?

i don't have that much cash for an mkIII, but I would use only Extreme

CF cards: I only use SanDisk cards Extreme III or IV ( I will eventually replace my III with IV). I have mostly 4 GB cards. I have one 8 GB card which I use in my 5D. I won't get more 8 GB cards. In fact I want to replace it with 2 4 GB cards because when the card is more than 6GB full the speed drops significantly. I don't know why but it does.

SD cards: I only have 2 GB SD cards. I have no SDHC cards yet and I don't really use the SD card on my MKIII even though I do have the card inserted. When I had 1DMKIIN I saved my settings on the SD card and I will most likely also do that on MKIII.

I only shoot RAW and don't use sRAW and most likely never will. I see no point using that format.

I use the SanDisk CF and SD cards with auto switching enabled. The only drawback to this is that the camera grinds to a halt when it is switching so there's a possibility of losing shots. When I was switching manually, I was usually aware of how many shots were remaining and could switch before hand if I thought there would be a chance of missing shots if I didn't. I think I may go back to switching manually again.

I use, mostly, 4GB Extreme IVs in the CF slot, RAW only on the one-then-the-other settings. I have a single 2GB SDHC which lives in slot 2 as emergency overflow. If the CF gets full in the middle of action or time-sensitive shots, then I let it run to the other card and swap out CFs as time allows. This gives me a cushion to fall on, although I admit I rarely need it. Eventually I'd like to get one pair of 8GB Extreme IIIs or IVs, then one more 4GB IV...mostly so that I can have 8+2 without having to carry a great deal of back-up cards... but mostly to round out the eye-sore empty slots in my card wallet.

8 GB are slower than 4 GB cards, so buy Extrme IV 4 gb if you want to have the maximum speed.

There's also the Extreme IV Ducati Edition, 45 mb/sec instead of 40. But pricey..

CF 4gb and 8GB (mostly 8 )
Sandisk Ultra2, RiData, Kingston and Transcend (trascend are slow! but they were on sale)

SD 2gb 4gb and 8gb
RiData and Sandisk Ultra2 (the big cards are RiData )

Usually use them sequentially, but as soon as I hit the SD card, I install a new CF when time permits.

PacAce wrote in post #3782534
I use the SanDisk CF and SD cards with auto switching enabled. The only drawback to this is that the camera grinds to a halt when it is switching so there's a possibility of losing shots. When I was switching manually, I was usually aware of how many shots were remaining and could switch before hand if I thought there would be a chance of missing shots if I didn't. I think I may go back to switching manually again.

Thanks for the heads up Leo, I'll look out for that. I've just ordered two 4gb Extreme III sd cards for the second slot. I got a shock when I threw in a four gb cf card and was told I only had 230 shots. Has anyone noticed if writing to two cards simultaneously slows the speed down?

i have two 4GB Lexar 133x (1 SD-HC and 1 CF) with the RAW being recorded to the CF and L JPEG to the SD-HC. seems to work great for me, no slowdown ive noticed, but with such a huge buffer i doubt any difference would be large.

I'm using Ridata 150x 4gb CF cards and 2gb SD cards. No problems with either cards and they perform very well at very low temps (e.g. -17F). I have from time to time recorded RAW on the CF and jpeg on the SD... but I typically use RAW files.

JBillings wrote in post #3783612
No problems with either cards and they perform very well at very low temps (e.g. -17F).

This is good to know, with the rugby/football season starting next week. Time to dig out the thermals...