Mark III using CF and SD Memory Cards

I am currently using a 1D Mark III to shoot sporting events. At present I use only Compact Flash cards. I am considering using both a CF card and a SD Memory Card of equal sizes and have the camera write simultaneously to both cards as a back up.
I assume this is a good idea....

Will this slow down the write speed of the camera because now it has to simultaneously write to both cards? I have had a history of problems with Lexar cards in the past.

I assume there would be no problems with this set up

Thanks

I don't have any problems with this setup however I use the Switch to Alternate option so when my CF card is full it switches over to the SD card so I'm not caught switching cards as the race is going on. I used the 1:1 write before and didn't notice any lag or delays in writing to the cards but got tired of all the duplicate data on my memory cards.

Any time I'm shooting something unique, like a wedding, I simultaneously write to both CF and SD. I've not noticed it slowing down the performance of the camera but then I almost never shoot at 10fps so if it did make a difference I doubt I'd notice! I'm sure the answer is out there somewhere though.

PaintballPhotography.c​om wrote in post #7480022
I am currently using a 1D Mark III to shoot sporting events. At present I use only Compact Flash cards. I am considering using both a CF card and a SD Memory Card of equal sizes and have the camera write simultaneously to both cards as a back up.
I assume this is a good idea....

Will this slow down the write speed of the camera because now it has to simultaneously write to both cards? I have had a history of problems with Lexar cards in the past.

I assume there would be no problems with this set up

Thanks

I'd recommend using one or the other but not both. Have the SD card in there as backup in case you bend a pin or your CF card goes T.U. Or, have the Mark III set up to write to SD when CF is full.
It's a tough decision though, I could see when it would be handy to have the back up but that being said I've never had a CF card fail in camera.

I had a CF card fail before and now I write to the CF in Raw and the SD in SRAW. Makes no different and why risk anything by writing to full then switching. I'm do not usually shoot more than 400 at a time anyhow and if I did then I would just get 16 GB cards then.

jft158 wrote in post #7480513
I had a CF card fail before and now I write to the CF in Raw and the SD in SRAW. Makes no different and why risk anything by writing to full then switching. I'm do not usually shoot more than 400 at a time anyhow and if I did then I would just get 16 GB cards then.

8GB is the highest I am willing to stick in the camera, anything above that and I get the worries about a crapload of photos going corrupt. The only reason I have the 8gb cards is because I've been waiting on a 5DMk2 for video otherwise I would be sticking with my trusty 4gb cards.

PaintballPhotography.c​om wrote in post #7480022
I am currently using a 1D Mark III to shoot sporting events. At present I use only Compact Flash cards. I am considering using both a CF card and a SD Memory Card of equal sizes and have the camera write simultaneously to both cards as a back up.
I assume this is a good idea....

Will this slow down the write speed of the camera because now it has to simultaneously write to both cards? I have had a history of problems with Lexar cards in the past.

I assume there would be no problems with this set up

Thanks

Writing to both will not slow down the camera at all, but it may slow the buffer offload. As long as you don't shoot 30 RAW images in 3 secs you should be fine. If lexar cards are bad for you, try getting the pro models, or switch over to sandisk extreme iii. Backups are generally pointless, the chance of card failure with properly maintained cards is nearly nothing, and even when there is failure you can generally recover a good deal of it.

Thanks for all the input, as usual lost of good info here.
I guess I am being a little paranoid but I was a “victim” of the Lexar problem of images disappearing form some of their cards in Canon Cameras a few years ago.

I am paid to travel and shoot events all over North America and I can not even imagine what would happen if I lost images

I tried shooting with a second card in my Mark III set to rec. to multiple and there was no significant difference camera speed that I noticed but the buffer offload was very very slow…the dam red light stayed on forever….

I tried switching to auto switch media to take advantage of the increased memory of having two cards and I noticed the red light seemed to stay on longer…was this just my imagination or is the buffer off load slower with two cards in my Mark III?

Shouldn't be if you're using auto switch because the camera won't actually write anything to the second card until it detects that it cannot write to the primary. I keep a 4gb SD in my Mk3 all the time and I don't notice any buffer offloading issues even firing off high speed bursts.

What cards are you using? I keep Extreme III SD's and Ultra 2/Extreme III CF's in my Mk3.

I am currently using SanDisk Extreme III 16 gig cards and Delkin Compact Flash PRO 16 gig cards. I am sure the Delkin cards my raise a few eye brows after my bad experiences with Lexar. I am also assume the Delkin cards may not write as fast to my computer but since I upload my cards in the evening after an event the write to computer speed is not important to me.

I assume the camera write speed to the Delkin cards is the same as the SanDisk cards

Heh, I'm from the "use whatever works for you" era so if Delkin works then by all means go for it!

As far as difference writing from the camera, you probably won't see much of a difference seeing as you'll fill the camera buffer long before you exceed the max transfer rate of the card.

I (as a general rule) use a 4GB (because I can burn the entire card on a single DVD) CF recording RAW and a 2GB SD simultaneously recording the largest JEPG.

smcclelland wrote in post #7481703
Shouldn't be if you're using auto switch because the camera won't actually write anything to the second card until it detects that it cannot write to the primary. I keep a 4gb SD in my Mk3 all the time and I don't notice any buffer offloading issues even firing off high speed bursts.

What cards are you using? I keep Extreme III SD's and Ultra 2/Extreme III CF's in my Mk3.

that's a good idea if you are using small cards. i don't use anything smaller than 8 gb in my 1d3 and if i know a shoot will exceed 8 gigs i'll use a 16-gig card.

i've never had a card failure of any type tho so my way of thinking is fewer cards is better .

ed rader