5D Mark IV video automatically stopped recording on fast SD cards

[chansjsu]

My 5D Mark IV seems to randomly "automatically stopped recording" video when using various fast SD cards. It's strange, it might record for several minutes long clips without any issues but then suddenly stop on it's own on a new clip after a few seconds. After that it would appear to be stuck "writing" as the red LED indicator keeps lit and the rest of the camera is unresponsive for a while. Have even sometimes had to pull the battery after being nonresponsive for a while.

Now these are all fast SD cards of various brands and they've all exhibited this behavior, but again randomly. It doesn't do it on the first video I start shooting on so I've always thought that maybe only some brands/speeds work while others don't, or maybe it depends on the video recording mode/settings and what I'm shooting (like if it's busy/has a lot of info to process it can't keep up). 

After multiple shoots I've seen this happen and have had to revert back to only using CF cards to be safe. 

Cards I've used are SanDisk Extreme PRO SDXC, Transcend and Sony, all of them Class 10, UHS-I U3 with high rated speeds. All bought from reputable retailers like B&H, Adorama, etc and all of them have worked flawlessly on other cameras like Sony and Panasonic shooting 4K video. On my Canon 5D Mark IV I wouldn't even be shooting 4K, am only shooting 1080p footage and this still happens. I remember it happening even on my old 5D Mark III with some SD cards as well. 

Are the U3 SD cards just not fast enough for Canon even though they work perfectly on every other camera? Am I just unlucky and got 2 5D bodies in a row that have randomly defective SD slots? 

Would appreciate any help! 

Thank you!

[TCampbell]

Are any of these "MMS" cards?

Here are the specs for card types supported for the 5D Mk IV (taken from Canon's specifications page):

Recording Media

1. CF card 
   • Type I drive (Type II and Microdrive non-supported.)
   • UDMA Mode 7 supported.
   • CFast cards cannot be used.
2. SD, SDHC and SDXC memory cards 
   • UHS-I supported.
   • MultiMediaCards (MMC) cannot be used (results in error).
   • UHS-II not supported. If a UHS-II card is used, it may be slower than a UHS-I (depends on the card specifications).

Note that you can use other SD cards and they will "work"... but they may not perform as needed.

[chansjsu]

MMC cards? From 10+ years ago? I've listed the brands/types of the cards in my original post. Here are pictures too. They're current UHS-I SD cards that are bought from reputable retailors (so they very likely aren't fake/copies unless B&H got a bad batch). 

As you listed, UHS-II isn't even supported so I haven't bought those newer/faster speed SD cards since they aren't even supported. And again my UHS-I cards all work perfectly fine on every other camera I've tried them in.

[TCampbell]

Those look to be valid card types.

A UHS-I card should have the SDXC or SDHC logo with a roman numeral "I" after it  (see samples logos here: https://www.sdcard.org/developers/overview/bus_speed/ )

Also, on the back side of the card, a UHS-I card will just have one row of gold contacts on the leading edge.  A UHS-II or III card would have a 2nd row of contacts (photos are at the above SD-card standard website).

I would do a low-level format.

Also... is there any chance you've used this cards in a different camera before using them in this camera?  Most cameras lay down a file structure after they do the format and the file structure is specific to camera model.  So it's generally not a good idea to swap cards between cameras unless you reformat them so they get the correct file structure layout on the card.

[chansjsu]

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@TCampbell wrote:

Also... is there any chance you've used this cards in a different camera before using them in this camera?  Most cameras lay down a file structure after they do the format and the file structure is specific to camera model.  So it's generally not a good idea to swap cards between cameras unless you reformat them so they get the correct file structure layout on the card.

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Yes, I have swapped the SD cards between cameras before, but before using them I've always formatted them on each camera to be safe. Only Canon has the low level format option which I've never used before, just the default formatting. If this truly is the cause I guess I will just have to make sure it always formats low level every time then. 

I also remember my issue has popped up before even with a brand new SD card that was never used in any other camera previously but again I didn't do low level format. 

Hopefully this is the answer and I'll never have to encounter this dreaded problem ever again...

[TCampbell]

The main difference between 'low level' vs. a quick format is that the low level actually does test the card.  A quick format assumes the card has no issues and simply puts a filesystem on the card with the basic directory structure the camera expects but it doesn't actually test any of the empty space to make sure it's all fine.

Low level formats typically erase, write, then read-back to verify that what it reads back actually matches what was just written to that location (e.g. it can detect errors that the quick format would miss).  

Also, if there is an error, filesystems have the ability to mark blocks as "bad" -- so that way it wont attempt to use that block again (and you don't have to toss the card in the trash bin).

You shouldn't need to do low-level formats every time... but it's always a good idea to do a low-level format at least once with each new card.

[jimmerpage]

I had the same problem even though I had fast SD cards (150 MB/s). I would record in 4K and it would only last for about 3 seconds before stopping the recording.

After some fooling around I found that strangely enough it was because I was in the Neutral color profile. For some reason when I switched over to CineStyle or one of the other defaults it worked flawlessly. So maybe try that!

[Stephen]

Hi there!

You want to make sure your SD card has a sustained write speed that meets or exceeds the read/write specification for the quality you want to record. In the case of 4K video on the EOS 5D Mark IV, the card has to be able to read and write consistently (not burst) at 90MB per second or faster. Many cards will achieve burst rate, but not sustained rate, and this will cause the process to fail. 

You can look at our knowledge base article on the speed class requirements HERE. 

We've found that UDMA 7 100 MB per second or faster CF cards tend to be easier to source. 

If you need further assistance, we invite you to reach out to our US-based technical support team at 1-800-OK-CANON (800-652-2666) for one-on-one troubleshooting! 

[Redshift48]

I too have noticed the same problem with my new 5D Mark IV.  I am shooting in 4K and after 3 seconds, it stops recording and dispays a message on the LCD that "the recording was automatically stopped" - no obvious reason.  An earlier post suggested turning the camera off and back on again and that worked at least temporarily.  But that does not seem to be a good long-term solution to me.  This has happened quite a few times.  I'm using a SanDisk Extreme Pro 256 GB SDXC card and a SanDisk Extreme Pro 64 GB CF card.  I have performed several low level formats within the camera on the SDXC card and I ususally reformat both cards once I have uploaded the data to my computer.  This camera is new enough that I am not panicking yet - my interest is still photography primarily.  But I am curious and I do not like having something go wrong with a new expensive piece of equipment.  I have not checked to see if my firmware is the latest but, as I said, it is very new (6 weeks).

[RobertTheFat]

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@Redshift48 wrote:

I too have noticed the same problem with my new 5D Mark IV.  I am shooting in 4K and after 3 seconds, it stops recording and dispays a message on the LCD that "the recording was automatically stopped" - no obvious reason.  An earlier post suggested turning the camera off and back on again and that worked at least temporarily.  But that does not seem to be a good long-term solution to me.  This has happened quite a few times.  I'm using a SanDisk Extreme Pro 256 GB SDXC card and a SanDisk Extreme Pro 64 GB CF card.  I have performed several low level formats within the camera on the SDXC card and I ususally reformat both cards once I have uploaded the data to my computer.  This camera is new enough that I am not panicking yet - my interest is still photography primarily.  But I am curious and I do not like having something go wrong with a new expensive piece of equipment.  I have not checked to see if my firmware is the latest but, as I said, it is very new (6 weeks).

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It sounds as though your SD card may be faster than your CF card. On a 5D3 (and I suppose also a 5D4), if you remove the preferred card, the camera will permanently switch your preference to the other card, and it requires manual intervention to set it back. So it's easy to lose track of which card you're using. To ensure that a difference in card speed isn't contributing to your problem, why don't you try each card separately as the only card in the camera and see if it makes a difference.

[michaelgeyer]

For me resolution was only to write videos also on the CF Card.....