# Best memory card for Canon 7d?



## becksey (May 19, 2014)

I'm photographing my first ever wedding next month, and I am currently borrowing my friends Canon 7d (gulp), but it only has a SanDisk Ultra II 4gb, which means in RAW I can only take 107 photos. 

Is anyone able to recommend a memory card (or two so not all eggs in one basket) that could cover the event, that isn't too expensive since it's not my camera, nor am I being paid loooads to cover it since it's my first.
Oh gosh someone please help


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## The_Traveler (May 19, 2014)

Local prices somewhere in England are really out of our bailiwick but you will get several responses to your mentioning that you seem to be planning to shoot a wedding with a single unfamiliar camera body and taking money for it and you know so little about the process that you are asking for advice on card brands.

This is wrong for many reasons that you could could infer but an analogy occurs to me.  
What would you think of someone who decided to go into business as a psychiatrist and asked what brand of tissues one should place next to any clients?


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## JohnTrav (May 19, 2014)

Transcend 32gb 400x. Not too expensive and holds over 1000 raw shots from a 7D. I'm a sports photographer and that's what I use for my 7D. 

4gb I would think would hold more that 107 shots though I would think. I lost my 4gb card though so I don't know off the top of my head.

That's another point to mention. If you are doing a wedding is recommend using multiple cards. You don't want to shoot the entire wedding on one single card and risk losing it all if the card gets misplaced or corrupt. Just a thought since I've actually dropped a card before in a park not knowing and lost half my shots from the day. Luckily it was just for fun and not anything serious on it.


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## becksey (May 20, 2014)

The_Traveler said:


> Local prices somewhere in England are really out of our bailiwick but you will get several responses to your mentioning that you seem to be planning to shoot a wedding with a single unfamiliar camera body and taking money for it and you know so little about the process that you are asking for advice on card brands.
> 
> This is wrong for many reasons that you could could infer but an analogy occurs to me.
> What would you think of someone who decided to go into business as a psychiatrist and asked what brand of tissues one should place next to any clients?



I didn't advertise myself for this. It is one of my friends weddings, and she approached me for this, knowing that I have never photographed a wedding before. She has faith in my work, and I am trying my hardest to get everything ready and perfect for that date. So please get your facts right before telling me how wrong I am and whatnot. I'm simply asking about a memory card, and people opinions on which ones are best for such events. 



Everyone has to start somewhere.


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## becksey (May 20, 2014)

JohnTrav said:


> Transcend 32gb 400x. Not too expensive and holds over 1000 raw shots from a 7D. I'm a sports photographer and that's what I use for my 7D.
> 
> 4gb I would think would hold more that 107 shots though I would think. I lost my 4gb card though so I don't know off the top of my head.
> 
> That's another point to mention. If you are doing a wedding is recommend using multiple cards. You don't want to shoot the entire wedding on one single card and risk losing it all if the card gets misplaced or corrupt. Just a thought since I've actually dropped a card before in a park not knowing and lost half my shots from the day. Luckily it was just for fun and not anything serious on it.



I emptied the card of files, set it on L RAW and that's what it told me I could take. I will have a look into it. I did mention that I would probably invest in more than one card  But ouch! I have loads of memory cards for my 1000d, if only they were the same type ey!
I will have a look at the one you mentioned! Cheers!


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## The_Traveler (May 20, 2014)

becksey said:


> I didn't advertise myself for this. It is one of my friends weddings, and she approached me for this, knowing that I have never photographed a wedding before. She has faith in my work, and I am trying my hardest to get everything ready and perfect for that date. *So please get your facts right before telling me how wrong I am and whatnot.* I'm simply asking about a memory card, and people opinions on which ones are best for such events.
> Everyone has to start somewhere.



All the facts I know is what you said originally and I was trying to warn you that you were approaching a cliff that you may not be aware of.


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## bigal1000 (May 20, 2014)

becksey said:


> I'm photographing my first ever wedding next month, and I am currently borrowing my friends Canon 7d (gulp), but it only has a SanDisk Ultra II 4gb, which means in RAW I can only take 107 photos.
> 
> Is anyone able to recommend a memory card (or two so not all eggs in one basket) that could cover the event, that isn't too expensive since it's not my camera, nor am I being paid loooads to cover it since it's my first.
> Oh gosh someone please help



Get a Sandisk Ultra 32mb,by the way what do have for a backup camera body for the 7d if goes south?


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## becksey (May 20, 2014)

The_Traveler said:


> All the facts I know is what you said originally and I was trying to warn you that you were approaching a cliff that you may not be aware of.



Well the girl seemed very keen on getting me to do it, and is paying me less than what the others she had approached wanted to charge her. I'm already pooping myself over this job, but it's something I want to do!


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## becksey (May 20, 2014)

bigal1000 said:


> becksey said:
> 
> 
> > I'm photographing my first ever wedding next month, and I am currently borrowing my friends Canon 7d (gulp), but it only has a SanDisk Ultra II 4gb, which means in RAW I can only take 107 photos.
> ...



My 1000d would do the job if the 7d failed, obviously much lower in quality, but it's better than nothing. I don't think the 7d will break though


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## SpikeyJohnson (May 20, 2014)

I have never used CF cards so I looked them up and realized you could be paying a bunch of money.  Depending on your keep rate (good photos vs bad photos shot out of a certain number of photos), you could do it with I think a 16 GB or 32 GB card.  I have shot a few weddings as backup and have filled the 16 GB once or twice. But Generally my keep rate is pretty high in weddings. So I would venture to say that 2 16 GB cards would work or 1 32 GB.  If you get the 1 32 GB, I would bring a laptop and backup between certain events such as the ceremony, luncheon, reception, bridals, etc. Then you will be sure you don't lose photo's. 

I remember when I was in your shoes, it can be extremely stressful shooting your first wedding.  I have only been second shooter but in my first wedding, my friends liked my photo's better than the hired professional I was shooting with.  So in retrospect, make sure you always have the camera ready and get the shot's.  Set up your camera for the situations and the light or else the camera could walk away from you in Av or Tv modes. I recently had this happen when me and my father were shooting a car show (just for fun) on a short amount of time. I let the camera take over in Aperture Priority and it ruined and blewout many of the photo's. So I would get the camera set up in Manual before you shoot any of the events and allow it to vary a little bit on shutter speed.

Good luck and I hope you do well.


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## jaomul (May 20, 2014)

Any sandisk fast card will do. The 7d has a great buffer so unless you are pressing the shutter and hoping for the best you should be ok. Probably there are 10 more good brand names that would also do the trick. I dont however recommend a 32gb card. Go for a few 8gb. You may have to change out a bit more but if in the unlikely event one fails (all eggs in one basket). If you shoot raw the 7d has a medium raw setting that makes a 10gb file also. this also is not the best way to go but might be ok for non critical parts of the day

As for back up, your 1000d will likely be as good image wise in good light, the 7d better in lower light. It may help to have a lens mounted on both for convenience. Good luck


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## The_Traveler (May 20, 2014)

becksey said:


> JohnTrav said:
> 
> 
> > Transcend 32gb 400x. Not too expensive and holds over 1000 raw shots from a 7D. I'm a sports photographer and that's what I use for my 7D.
> ...



I am not familiar with Canon annotation but you seem to be saving both Raw and large Jpeg. (see space numbers below)
Since card space is at a premium, because you have to buy it new, you might consider saving, along with the Raw file, either a much smaller jpeg or none at all.

From Page 58 of the manual:
The number of shots shown is calculated to fit on a 4GB card


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## becksey (May 20, 2014)

SpikeyJohnson said:


> I have never used CF cards so I looked them up and realized you could be paying a bunch of money.  Depending on your keep rate (good photos vs bad photos shot out of a certain number of photos), you could do it with I think a 16 GB or 32 GB card.  I have shot a few weddings as backup and have filled the 16 GB once or twice. But Generally my keep rate is pretty high in weddings. So I would venture to say that 2 16 GB cards would work or 1 32 GB.  If you get the 1 32 GB, I would bring a laptop and backup between certain events such as the ceremony, luncheon, reception, bridals, etc. Then you will be sure you don't lose photo's.
> 
> I remember when I was in your shoes, it can be extremely stressful shooting your first wedding.  I have only been second shooter but in my first wedding, my friends liked my photo's better than the hired professional I was shooting with.  So in retrospect, make sure you always have the camera ready and get the shot's.  Set up your camera for the situations and the light or else the camera could walk away from you in Av or Tv modes. I recently had this happen when me and my father were shooting a car show (just for fun) on a short amount of time. I let the camera take over in Aperture Priority and it ruined and blewout many of the photo's. So I would get the camera set up in Manual before you shoot any of the events and allow it to vary a little bit on shutter speed.
> 
> Good luck and I hope you do well.



I've just ordered two 32 gb cuz I found some reduced on Amazon and they were only £5 more than the 16gb! I'm extremely stressed already and it's a month away! The bride seems to have a lot more faith in me than I do myself!! I'm going to be practicing every day for the next 31 days! I think that bringing a laptop along for backup is a very good idea, get as many shots as I possibly can! I don't know if I have a backup photographer or even how to sort out one. EEek! Thank you!


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## becksey (May 20, 2014)

jaomul said:


> Any sandisk fast card will do. The 7d has a great buffer so unless you are pressing the shutter and hoping for the best you should be ok. Probably there are 10 more good brand names that would also do the trick. I dont however recommend a 32gb card. Go for a few 8gb. You may have to change out a bit more but if in the unlikely event one fails (all eggs in one basket). If you shoot raw the 7d has a medium raw setting that makes a 10gb file also. this also is not the best way to go but might be ok for non critical parts of the day
> 
> As for back up, your 1000d will likely be as good image wise in good light, the 7d better in lower light. It may help to have a lens mounted on both for convenience. Good luck



I just decided to get two 32gb ones because I found very good offers on them, not scandisk but they will work fine, good reviews and all that! I usually shoot candid, photographing people they either don't want their photo taken, or are unaware, so this is going to be quite a bit different! I love my little 1000d, but it feels like a toy compared to the 7d haha! Cheers


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## The_Traveler (May 20, 2014)

Get a contract, just to establish manage expectations for pictures required, deliverables, time, etc.

The better you manage expectations, the better chance there is that your friendship will persist undamaged.

You definitely need, if not a second shooter, at least someone to stick with you to assemble people for formal shots, hold things, put memory cards away, etc.


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## JohnTrav (May 21, 2014)

becksey said:


> jaomul said:
> 
> 
> > Any sandisk fast card will do. The 7d has a great buffer so unless you are pressing the shutter and hoping for the best you should be ok. Probably there are 10 more good brand names that would also do the trick. I dont however recommend a 32gb card. Go for a few 8gb. You may have to change out a bit more but if in the unlikely event one fails (all eggs in one basket). If you shoot raw the 7d has a medium raw setting that makes a 10gb file also. this also is not the best way to go but might be ok for non critical parts of the day
> ...



I have SanDisk cards and transcend.  They all work the same.  In my opinion they are both just as good of quality and the transcend was a lot cheaper and I also bought on amazon too.  Glad to here you picked up two cards.  The photographer at my brothers wedding said he walked out with over 1000 pictures so you will need the space.  I'm sure he was a little happy with the shutter release button.


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## robbins.photo (May 21, 2014)

Ok, well thought I'd weigh in real quick here. If your going to be shooting burst in RAW at any point I would use the Sandisk Extreme Pro cards. The thing about most of the other cards mentioned thus far is that their write speeds are relatively slow in comparison, generally around 45 mbps. The write speed is what will really make the most difference to you, a fast write speed allows information to be written to the card and cleared out of the buffer of the camera much quicker, which of course prevents the buffer from being overwhelmed as quickly and gives you the ability to shoot longer bursts before the camera slows down to try and clear the buffer.

I use sandisk extreme pro's exclusively in both of my cameras and honestly once you try them it's very doubtful you'll ever be willing to go back to a slower card, they really do make that much difference. My cameras actually take SD cards, but the good news is Sandisk does make the extreme pro in CF cards as well, and they are even faster than the SD's - the write speed I believe on the CF cards is up to 150 mbps. They are more expensive than your average run of the mill CF card, but believe me they are well worth it.

Oh, one other quick note - see if you can borrow the 7d before hand and shoot with it for a bit, you really don't want to be using a camera that you aren't familar with if you can avoid it. I'd also think about taking your own Canon DSLR along as a backup, just in case. Good luck!


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## jaomul (May 21, 2014)

robbins.photo said:


> Ok, well thought I'd weigh in real quick here. If your going to be shooting burst in RAW at any point I would use the Sandisk Extreme Pro cards. The thing about most of the other cards mentioned thus far is that their write speeds are relatively slow in comparison, generally around 45 mbps. The write speed is what will really make the most difference to you, a fast write speed allows information to be written to the card and cleared out of the buffer of the camera much quicker, which of course prevents the buffer from being overwhelmed as quickly and gives you the ability to shoot longer bursts before the camera slows down to try and clear the buffer.
> 
> I use sandisk extreme pro's exclusively in both of my cameras and honestly once you try them it's very doubtful you'll ever be willing to go back to a slower card, they really do make that much difference. My cameras actually take SD cards, but the good news is Sandisk does make the extreme pro in CF cards as well, and they are even faster than the SD's - the write speed I believe on the CF cards is up to 150 mbps. They are more expensive than your average run of the mill CF card, but believe me they are well worth it.
> 
> Oh, one other quick note - see if you can borrow the 7d before hand and shoot with it for a bit, you really don't want to be using a camera that you aren't familar with if you can avoid it. I'd also think about taking your own Canon DSLR along as a backup, just in case. Good luck!


To be honest Robbins.photo this is more of an issue with the 24 mp nikon crop cameras and small buffers. Sure the write speed makes a difference for clearing the card but the 7d buffer is around 27 raws after a recent firmware upgrade. I had slow cards when I bought it first and even then I was never limited by its speed. My Nikon d7100 however is a different story


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## JohnTrav (May 21, 2014)

My buffer on my 7D is 22 shooting large raw. I have filled my buffer numerous of times with 400x write speeds. Considering I shoot sports a sandisk pro would make sense for me personally but it is out of my budget right now. And with 22 shots before it fills give me enough where I only really fill it once in a blue moon. 

As far as shooting a wedding like mentioned In my opinion write speeds above 400x would not be needed. I don't know any portrait, event, or wedding photographers that shoot in high burst mode. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong since I've meet actually shot a wedding. 

A sandisk pro with write speeds of 150mb/s would be awesome for me to own.


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## lambertpix (May 21, 2014)

I've got a 32GB Lexar 800x card that I've been pretty happy with, and some Kingston's that have been ok for stills, but aren't fast enough for video.  I've got some older Sandisks that I've actually had problems with on occasion, so they stay on the bottom of the stack, to be used only in case of emergency.


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