topic Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video?? in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

Kre8ivOne — Sat, 26 Oct 2013 19:49:17 GMT

Why does my Rebel T3i stop recording in the middle of me video taping?? Is it because I do not have enough space on my camera for a video? It lets me take plenty more pictures. And when it stops in the middle of a recording, I start recording again, and it works for a little while then stops again! I really don't get it. It is extremely frustrating because I am left with all these chopped up video segments and I completely miss something that my baby is doing (the reason I started taping in the first place!) I am begining to wonder if I should just invest in a video camera instead of taping with my camera. I would REALLY prefer not to, seeing as how I spent a fortune on it, and would like it to do what it is intended to do! Can someone please help??

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

ebiggs1 — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 12:55:22 GMT

The canon T3i will stop recorded video once it hits 29.59 mins or hit the 4 gig mark on the card.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

Kre8ivOne — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 19:08:11 GMT

So you're saying that it will stop recording once one of two things happen?...1.) either it has reached almost a half an hour of recording time or 2.) it has reached 4 gb of memory (and that can be either video usage or photos or both??)

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

Kre8ivOne — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 19:32:05 GMT

Or is it when the videos alone have taken up 29:59 min/4 GB of space?

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

TCampbell — Sun, 27 Oct 2013 21:24:28 GMT

The camera formats the memory card using the "FAT32" filesystem rather than a proprietary filesystem. This allows the card to be read by nearly any computer (Windows, Mac, etc.)

HOWEVER... there's a limitation in that filesystem that no single file can grow above a specific size. That size is 4GB.

Also, the camera documentation describes that the camera will stop just 1 second short of the 30 minute mark regardless of the file size.

In pro video, movies are normally constructed by bringing together many very short clips. The one-long-continuous-take video style isn't used. If you are attempting to record a long event in one-long-continuous-take then it would be better to use a video camera for the task.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

ebiggs1 — Mon, 28 Oct 2013 12:55:17 GMT

I don't shoot videos as I am a still photographer and alwways have been but a video maker buddy says he uses an external hard drive to overcome the limit. I don't know how he does it or if it even works. But you might want to investigate whether you can extend the built in limits that way, too.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

KarenRice — Sun, 03 Nov 2013 03:03:32 GMT

You should make sure your SD card is Class 10. That is, it will have a little 10 (inside a circle) on the front of the card. Some cards are class 4, 6, etc. I had the same problem because I was not using the class 10 card. I also use a 32GB card. Hope this helps.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

ebiggs1 — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 13:10:12 GMT

Even so, were you able to pass the 29:59 limit put in by Canon? No? I doubt the speed of the card has any effect on this factory set limit.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

KarenRice — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 13:40:03 GMT

The OP said nothing about recording for 1/2 hour at a time - you did. When I first got my camera and I tried recording I was only able to record short segments at a time - which sounds exactly like what the OP said was happening.

I re-read the OP's comments and saw nothing about trying to record for a half hour straight, or longer.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

ebiggs1 — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 20:42:27 GMT

Ms. Rice you are correct about not mentioning the 29:59 limitation but that is only one issue. There are two. The 4 gig mark on the sd card. If the 4 gig mark is reached (approx. about 12 minutes) before the 29:59 mark it will also stop recording.

That is why my video friends overcome this limitation and record via the HDMI to a Atmos Ninja or a device that will record hdmi output to a hard disk on a laptop.

I believe all DSLR's have some kind of time or file size limit that you will run into. These cameras (T3i) are still cameras that will do video. They are not video cameras!

But than again I am a photographer, not a videographer. So, the advice is worth exactly what you paid for it, nothing.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

KarenRice — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 21:10:59 GMT

I have never had that experience, and I have more than 4GB on my cards at any given time. All I know is that my video problems went away when I switched to Class 10 and I also use either a 16GB or a 32GB card nearly all the time. *shrug*

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

ebiggs1 — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 21:34:13 GMT

Check page 283 of the T3i manual.

You can have several files on your sd card which totally exceed 4 gb but you can not have a single file bigger than 4 gb.

Depending on the resolution and other parameters you are using is how long it will record before it reaches 4 gb.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

KarenRice — Mon, 04 Nov 2013 21:43:41 GMT

Well again - the OP didn't mention a time involved; only that her camera stopped recording in the middle of a video. I never have clips more than 3-5 minutes long at a time so that's why I did not experience it. I did however experience the camera shutting off every 30 seconds or so, which is what I assumed was happening with the OP. The Class 10 card took care of it and it's never shut down on me since I started using the Class 10 card (unless of course I use up the battery.)

I certainly didn't intend to turn this into an argument.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

TCampbell — Tue, 05 Nov 2013 16:45:50 GMT

You can have more than 4GB worth of stuff on the card in mutliple files, you just can't have a single file which exceeds 4GB. That's a filesystem limitation. The camera would have to close one file and start a new file to keep going.

It's also fair to say that if for any reason the card doesn't keep up with the write speed, it'll stop the recording (the camera doesn't really have much choice -- the card refuses to take the data as fast as the frames are being captured.) So it's a good idea to use quality cards -- I'd probably stick with the better SanDisk or Lexar brand cards. This is one area where trying to save money is risky and not likely worth it.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

dal33a — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 11:45:42 GMT

okay..so about this 29.38 minute thingy..i acc just done that, and now my camera wont record anything at all..but, i have also tried removing all my photos and videos off the camera and it still wont record even though the SD card is empty...what do i do?

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

Waddizzle — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 16:03:19 GMT

I strongly suggest that you start a new thread for you issue. It's bad form to revive an old thread with issues of your own, even if they are related. I would liken it to photo bombing someone who is taking a selfie.

Here's why "photo bombing" someone else's thread is bad. If the original author has emailed enabled on their original post, then your coming along and reviving the thread with your own issue causes the original author to receive email about your issue, instead of their own.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

RobertTheFat — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 17:13:03 GMT

@Waddizzle wrote:
I strongly suggest that you start a new thread for you issue. It's bad form to revive an old thread with issues of your own, even if they are related. I would liken it to photo bombing someone who is taking a selfie.

Here's why "photo bombing" someone else's thread is bad. If the original author has emailed enabled on their original post, then your coming along and reviving the thread with your own issue causes the original author to receive email about your issue, instead of their own.

Welll ... If that's the worst thing that happens to the original author today, he probably won't mind all that much.

Re: Why Does My Camera Stop Recording in the Middle of a Video??

Waddizzle — Mon, 28 Dec 2015 19:24:52 GMT

It is good ettiquette in technically oriented forums to start your own thread for your own issue. This makes it easier for users to search for solutions on previous threads, without having to scroll threw dozens of replies just to find an answer that they were not looking for.