topic Re: EOS 5D Mark IV 256GB CF Memory Card Compatibility in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 5D Mark IV 256GB CF Memory Card Compatibility

emipelaez17 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:50:29 GMT

can someone tell me if a 256 gb memory card is compatible with the 5d mark IV? I was thinking about getting a SanDisk or Lexar 256gb card but i'm seeing some reviews that say the 5D Mark II works with the 128gb card but not the 256gb card. Does anyone have any experience with this? Thanks!

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card

rs-eos — Wed, 21 Feb 2024 23:50:27 GMT

It should work a-ok. Though with my 5D Mark IV, I have only used Sandisk 128 GB and 64 GB CF cards.

Are you planning on doing video work? If not, a 128 GB card can hold quite a bit; even if capturing in RAW+JPEG.

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card

emipelaez17 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 04:22:21 GMT

Hi, Ricky,

Appreciate your quick response. I also use the 128gb card and shoot RAW and JPEG, but I’m going to Thailand for two weeks this year and thought I’d get the 256gb card so I don’t have to worry about running out of space. I saw those reviews based on a 5D Mark II owner so wasn’t sure if I’d have similar issues with the Mark IV. I’d prefer to take one card but maybe I’ll just bring two 128 cards.

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card

rs-eos — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 11:50:00 GMT

It actually would be better to have multiple pairs of cards. Also, look into a backup solution. E.g card reader along with a portable drive you could copy the images to.

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card Compatibility

March411 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:34:19 GMT

Good day emipelaez17

I travel a bit and needed the same answer so I did the research. Every thing I found really pointed to using a 128GB card max. The link I provided explains that you can use a larger card but it will format differently and the format needs to be completed on a PC.

https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART174049

I did find some people were using a 256GB card in the Mark IV but the camera would not format the card, they needed to I format it in exFAT on a PC.

Personally I did not go with the 256GB as it seemed like it could present challenges and I didn't want to put my images at risk. There is a fair amount of information on the topic and really no exact answer beyond knowing that 128GB appears to be the safest max. That was the overall consensus, the people that used exFat were doing so for video.

Search What is the CF capacity limitation for EOS 5D IV and you'll see what I mean.

Good luck!

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card Compatibility

rs-eos — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:53:28 GMT

128 GB CF Cards, formatted in the 5D IV are done so with exFAT. So 256 GB cards would be treated the same way.

Re: EOS 5D Mark IV 256GB CF Memory Card Compatibility

March411 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 13:57:09 GMT

OK Ricky, but if you read closely I stated most owners reported that they would not format the 256GB card in camera. The details that I posted matter, I never stated that the 5D IV didn't use exFAT but thank you for the clarity.

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card Compatibility

emipelaez17 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:09:30 GMT

Hey, Enthusiast,

Thanks so much for your reply! I will go with the 128 card and avoid unnecessary hoops I have to jump through. Appreciate your research and advice. Cheers.

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card

stevet1 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:23:42 GMT

emipelaez17,

From what I read, The size of any video depends on resolution of video, FPS and Audio Quality too. Uncompressed 1080p video of is 120–130mb per minute average.

120 megabits per minute would translate into into something like 7-9 gigabytes per hour.

A 128gb card would give you something like 14 - 18 one-hour videos shot in HD 1080p.

As for still photos, a 128gigabyte card would hold 3,200 photos if they were 40 megabytes apiece.

It would hold 6,400 photos if they were 20 megabytes apiece.

Steve Thomas

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card

March411 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:39:09 GMT

I can't speak to video since I rarely shoot any but the image quantity will vary depending on the file size you shoot and your selection of raw and jpg. I shoot both in largest format and I end up with about 1800 shots. The variables are fairly large for images depending on file size and what type of images you capture.

I carry addition cards in a hard wallet when I travel and pull them every other day regardless of how full they are, cards can fail so I do what I can to protect what I have shot.

Re: 5D Mark IV CF Memory Card

rs-eos — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:50:54 GMT

If working with 4K video, the 5D IV uses a very inefficient Motion-JPEG codec with generates massive files. So having a 256 GB card in that case may be needed for longer videos.

Re: EOS 5D Mark IV 256GB CF Memory Card Compatibility

rs-eos — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 14:52:46 GMT

The 5D IV can and does format cards in exFAT. There's no need to format on a Mac or PC.

Re: EOS 5D Mark IV 256GB CF Memory Card Compatibility

March411 — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 16:52:54 GMT

I'm not sure if a firmware update resolved it but through my research the feedback was that 128GB worked fine, the 256GB would not, it required a PC.

From the Canon Website

CF cards up to 128 GB in capacity and SD/SDHC cards will be formatted in FAT32. CF cards exceeding 128 GB and SDXC cards will be formatted in exFAT. When shooting a movie with a card formatted in exFAT, the movie will be recorded in a single file (instead of being split into multiple files) even if it exceeds 4 GB. (The movie file will exceed 4 GB.)

https://support.usa.canon.com/kb/index?page=content&id=ART174049

Things may have changed since I took a look into it. Have you formatted a 256GB card yourself to see if it did work. That would be great and I could go out and purchase larger cards.

Re: EOS 5D Mark IV 256GB CF Memory Card Compatibility

normadel — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 20:43:27 GMT

There's an old question in the computer world regarding using very large storage drives......"How much data do you want to entrust to just one spindle?"

Sure, it's handy to use a very large memory card and not have to swap cards in your camera. But what if that one single card fails, or gets corrupted somehow? You can lose a treasure trove of Thailand photography in one fell swoop Spreading your efforts over multiple cards means that if one fails, you have not lost everything.

Re: EOS 5D Mark IV 256GB CF Memory Card Compatibility

rs-eos — Thu, 22 Feb 2024 23:25:50 GMT

The 5D IV is one of Canon's cameras with dual card slots. And with two different card types on top of that. I have used large cards over the years for both photos and videos (128 GB, 256 GB) and have not run into any issues. I employ the usual best practices when working with media cards.

Cards can fail, yes, but with the redundancy of dual card slots, it's far less of an issue. For crucial projects, I'll even set the camera to record RAW+JPEG to both slots.

And large capacity cards are very important when doing video work.