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!

[chansjsu]

I generally just try to stay with shooting video on CF cards... with SD only as backup because it's so inconsistent. If I do have to use SD, I'd dial back the video to IPB instead of ALL-I. Not ideal I know...

I and other shooters have slowly been moving towards Sony and Panasonic in recent years for video shooting. Canon doesn't seem to care about us DSLR video shooters. 😞 

[jskehanpro]

Hey Jimmerpage. Thanks for contributing helpful information. I'm not the most savvy with this camera, but I know how to look around, and even in the manual of the 5D Mark IV i can't find a single word about color "profile" or "cinestyle". I'm hoping your trick will help save me. Can you point me in the right direction to adjust the color profile setting? Thanks in advance for your help! 

[caralevine]

Hi,

I am trying to document a class I am taking and the camera keeps shutting off after 10:51.  I have a canon 5D mark IV. How can I get the video to record for longer?

thanks
Cara

[TCampbell]

There are a few limits inhrent to how it works.

#1 ... It isn't permitted to record for more than 29 mins 59 secs to comply with tariff agreements for "photographic" cameras (otherwise it has to be designated as a "video" camera and is tariff'd at a higher rate for countries that apply such tariffs.

#2... it will need a memory card large enough to handle the file space needs of the video you want to record.  If you shoot in 4k mode and only have an 8GB card, that card is actually expected to run out of space whithin 11 minutes. 

#3... if you use an SDHC memory card then it will have a FAT32 filesystem.  One limit of the FAT32 filesystem (which is readable by most any computer) is that no single file can be larger than 4GB.  I think the 5D IV will automatically cut the file at 4GB and then immediately start making a new file ... but this means you get a handfull of files rather than just one single file.  IF, on the other hand, you use a card formatted as SDXC, then it uses the exFAT filesystem which doesn't have the 4GB maximum filesize limit.  

#4... make sure you card is fast enough to keep up.  The 5D IV has a fairly large internal memory buffer.  As you shoot, data goes to internal memory (which is very fast) and that memory is being written to the card as fast as the card can handle it (but it wont be nearly as fast as the internal memory).    If your card can't keep up... you'll eventually fill the internal memory and this will force the camera to stop recording.    If you shoot in 4K mode then the card(s) need to be capable of sustaining at least a 100MB/sec write speed (be carefull... the advertising on the card packaging often tells you the "transfer" speed because you can READ from the card that fast.  But the only value you care about is the WRITE speed. 

CF card technolgoy is faster than SD card technology.  If using a CF card, then you want a UDMA 7 card, which would easily keep up.  In SD card technology, I think the fastest it can handle is UHS-I U3... I *think* that may be fast enough but I'm not sure (it's not nearly as fast as a UDMA-7 CF card.)

For "long" video recordings, it's best to use a dedicated video camera (vs. a photographic camera that can do video).  

[caralevine]

Hey

THanks for the reply.

I have a 32GB card.  I am not shooting in 4K and for some reason it only shoots for 10:51.  30 minutes would be great...but I don't know how to make that happen.  it is shooting 24 fps. I am using a CF UDMA card as well...still not up to 30 min...

could something be messed up in settings??

thanks

Cara

[TCampbell]

Most of the time when these issues of video cutting off before it should come up on the forums... it turns out to be inferior memory cards.   My guess is that the card isn't keeping up with the frame rate... the camera is very slowly grabbing data just a bit faster than the card can write... causing the buffer to slowly fill up.  

This is not likely a camera malfunction nor a problem with the camera's heat protection shutting down.  If it were... then the cut-off times would not be so uniform.  Since the cut-off seems to happen regularly at the same point ... it probably is a card performance issue (card isn't fast enough to keep up).

UDMA comes in lots of different speeds.  Page 356 of your manual should have a table.

For video, you want the fastest category card available ... e.g. a SanDisk Extreme Pro UDMA 7 card or Lexar Professional 1066x card.  IMPORTANT:  Do not use a CFast compatible card.  The camera is does not support CFast.  Both of those cards have a tiny icon of a video "clapper board" with the number "65" in the box.  That means they guarantee the card will have a transfer speed of at least 65MB/sec.  There are faster cards... but check them becuase probably those will be "CFast" cards and you should avoid using CFast.

Many cards with fast technologies such as CFast or UHS-I or UHS-II are still "compatible" with cameras that don't support those new technologies, but the rub is that if the camera doesn't support the technology and it has to be used in compatibility mode, it isn't enarly as fast.  The speed hit is often so severe that you're better off using the fastest card you can get that does NOT have the new technology.  This is why I suggest you avoid getting a CFast card since the camera doesn't have a CFast slot.

Get the card from a reliable vendor.  This can get confusing but there are fakes on the market.  I specifically avoid buying anything from an Amazon "marketplace" vendor (you may as well be buying from eBay.  "marketplace" is basically lets 3rd party sellers list products on Amazon and Amazon gets a cut.  But the problem is there are loads of fly-by-nights on marketplace.

[FuzzyMarmet]

That’s very frustrating as the specs indicate “or faster” which I assumed I was getting. I love Canon products but get annoyed by the incorporation of old tech (mjpg video) and the lack of support for current tech in their new products. As a guy that does both photos and video i’m Looking to streamline, not add to my growing collection of media (cf fast, cf, sdhc,micro sd, ssd, etc.).

[TCampbell]

"or faster" is a complicated thing.

For any given technology... making something faster isn't just a simple matter of pushing clocks to run faster.  Often times changes in how an underlying technology works have to be made.  This means the "faster" thing is now fundamentally NOT working the way it's predecessor worked.  But sometimes the new "faster" thing is "backward compatible" so it can still be used in products that do not technically support the new way of doing things.

But this "compatibility" mode is not as fast.

That's all speaking generally... but specific to the camera, what you want is the fastest card you can buy that specifically uses the technology the camera was designed to use.

The fastest performance you can get... is to NOT use the SD card and use the CF card instead.  And that CF card should specifically be a "UDMA 7" type card (that's the fastest version the camera supports).  

Note there is a new Compact Flash card technology called CFast.  But the 5D IV doesn't have a CFast slot.  Once again, these "CFast" cards are "compatible" with normal CF card slots... but you wont get CFast speeds when they are used in compatibility mode.  And the "compatibility" mode is SLOWER than UDMA 7 speeds.  So not only is there no benefit to getting a CFast card, it actually hurts performance.

Here's a CF card... and some of the things to look for as well as what NOT to look for.

First, what NOT to look for...

Notice the card says "160 MB/sec" (I've circled it in red and put a slash through it).  That's the max "transfer" rate the card supports.  But here's the thing... cards support "reading" at speeds which are MUCH faster than "writing" (reading is fast... writing is slow).  So it does no good to look at that speed because it's not the "write speed" of the card.   When recording video, it's the "write speed" that you care about.

Next, here's what you DO want to look for...

Notice this is a "UDMA 7" card.  I've circled that in green.  It's not a CFast card.  It's not any other spec.  It's UDMA 7.  (Accept no substitute)

Also notice the video "clapper board" icon.  I've also circled that in green.  The "clapper board" has the number "65" printed on it.  That means this card can sustain "write" performance for video at a rate of 65 MB/sec (notice how that's a lot less than the 160 MB/sec that I circled in red and put a slash through it).

It is possible to find faster cards... but check those carefully because it's much faster, it's probably a CFast card and the 5D IV doesn't support the CFast spec (so the card has to run in compatibility mode... and that wont be nearly as fast.)

SanDisk & Lexar often have information on the specs which will indicate if the card is recommended for use in 4K video recording. 

[FuzzyMarmet]

Thanks. I understand the nuances of the different speeds and the different types of media that are out there what is confusing that a single line in the manual says UHS 1 cards with x speed “or faster” but does not explicitly say UHS 2 cards are not compatible (to me UHS2 cards with a write speed seem to fall into the “or faster category). Furthermore I find it frustrating that Canon would chose not to support more current (and more readily available) media in their most current DSLR.

[TCampbell]

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@FuzzyMarmetwrote:
Thanks. I understand the nuances of the different speeds and the different types of media that are out there what is confusing that a single line in the manual says UHS 1 cards with x speed “or faster” but does not explicitly say UHS 2 cards are not compatible (to me UHS2 cards with a write speed seem to fall into the “or faster category). Furthermore I find it frustrating that Canon would chose not to support more current (and more readily available) media in their most current DSLR.

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There are a few reasons for this...

Recognize that the 5D IV was released in 2016 ... but would have been in development for quite a while before that (the 5D III was 2012).  At the time, UHS-II was very new.  As I search... I'm noticing most articles and products supporting the spec started to come out around 2017.  So it's not entirely surprising that it's not in the 5D IV.

But ALSO recognize that the 5D IV supports CF cards.  The reason CF cards are "still a thing" is because CF card technology has always been faster than SD card technology.  

If you want performance, use the CF card slot.    (use the right tool for the job)