70d - movie recording has been stopped automatically

[LmharrisonTX]

I just purchased a new Canon 70D...once I start recording, it records for a few seconds...small boxes appear on the upper right side of the display screen and then it shuts down and says "Movie recording has been stopped automatically"...is this due to a setting or something? I have been using a 7D for a number of years and this is a new issue for me...

[Bitbucket1]

You're right. I happen to live near an electronics superstore, and before reading your post, I popped over and bought a Sony 64gb UHS class 10 card with a write speed of 40mb/s. The 70d is no longer overrunning the buffer on the card and causing the "Movie recording has been stopped automatically" error.

Surprising that the factory would ship its kit with a SD card that triggers an error right in one of the camera's sweet spots.

In any case, the definitive answer seems to be that this camera likes 40mb/s or better SD cards if you are going to shoot uncompressed Full HD video.

[thinksideways]

Hi there,

I'm wondering if I'm having the same video problem or not. I was able to shoot continuous video when I first got the camera. Then after a few days, my Canon 70D would  stop recording, but there is no message saying "recording has been stopped automatically." Instead when I start the recording I see a progress bar at the bottom of the screen that fills up with blue and when it fills the entire bar, it stops. I films exactly 4 seconds every time and the progress bar seems timed to it.

Did I accidentally set the video to shoot to a specific time length? Or should I consider getting Extreme Pro cards as some of you suggested?

Thanks,
Stephanie

[geffo]

thinksideways - I think it's the same issue as we're having. I just ordered a 90mb/s SD card which arrives Monday and I'll test and update on if that fixed things.

[thinksideways]

I figured out my problem:  I had accidentally set my camera to shoot video stills so it was only recording in 4 second increments. Once I disabled this, the video started recording properly.

[Bitbucket1]

Solution
Based on my research and that of the others I'm reading here, I think the conclusion is that the Canon 70d needs a card that can write data at 40mb/second or better in order to record video using low compression (ALL-I). Anything slower than 40mb/s and the camera will record data faster than the card can write, resulting in a buffer overrun and the "video recording automatically stopped" error message.

Speed options: 40mb/s vs. 95mb/s
For me, the problem went away with a card rated at 40mb/s. Others here are experiencing similar success with cards rated at 95mb/s. So it looks like you can save yourself a bit of money and go with a 40mb/s card and the problem should go away. Or you can spend a little more and give yourself true peace of mind with the 95mb/s card, though that might be more speed and cost than you need for the 70d.

Speed matters more than Class
Interestingly many cards can be class 10 cards. According to the video below, is a designation that covers write speeds ranging from 24mb/s up to 95mb/s. In fact, I think class 10 might simply mean "writes data at better than 10 mb/s". So class 10 is sort of meaningless in the face of this issue. The number to keep your eye on when buying cards to fix the buffer overrun problem is the write speed of the card (mb/sec) Fortunately, there are lots of good options above 40mb/s on Amazon and the prices seem to be coming down.

Card speed affects more than just video
Also worth noting, the speed of the card also affects how many sill shots you get before things slow down when shooting in RAW burst mode (see this video: youtube.com/watch?v=TuEtZb3ZNLA). Again the takeaway seems to be that you get the best performance above 40-45mb/s.

[geffo]

I agree with Bitbucket1 - but for me I had issues with a 40Mb/s card and it went away with my 90Mb/s card. Just found a PNY "Elite Performance" 64GB card on Amazon for a super low $40 and it has worked flawlessly on my past two shoots, where the Sony 40Mb/S card acted up several times a shoot. Guess sometimes the 40Mb/s on the Sony wasn't reaching those speeds so the camera crapped out.

I'm considering my issue resolved with this fix.

[Flossy]

Hello, am I right in thinking (yes, I'm a newbie) that if I get a card that is 95mb sec and irrespective of the actual size of the memory card ie it can be 16gb, 32gb or 64gb the video recording will work properly?  I'm thinking of getting either the 16gb or 32gb Sandisk Extreme Pro 95mb sec UHS-I mainly due to the cost factor.  Thanks for your help.

[Bitbucket1]

Yes. Imho, capacity is not a factor, only write speed.

[Krgphoto]

I am having a similar problem. I got my 70d a couple of days ago and have not been able to shoot video since I got it. I have a San Disk Extreme Pro 32gb Class 10 95 MB/s SDHC card. When I press the start/stop button, nothing happens. I've been in touch with canon support and have gotten no conclusive answers. It's really aggravating to spend all that money on a product that does not work!!

[Bitbucket1]

I'm wondering whether you are experiencing a different problem than the one being discussed in this thread. 

The symptoms of the problem being addressed here are that you can start video recording in low compression mode (ALL-I) but then you receive the error message "movie recording has been stopped automatically" as the card overruns it's buffer and video recording stops.

It sounds like you are not getting the camera to record video at all and you are not getting the error message above. To me, that sounds like a different issue and I'm thinking that the card isnt the problem, especially since the card you are using (or ones with similar specs) have solved the issue for those experiencing the "stopped automatically" issue.

This is perhaps overly general advice, but since you are a new owner of the 70D (as I was), you may want to check out this video series that takes you though every button and setting of the 70D :: http://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLAwt2t1vGthIMWNTt2OxPJ2GRjNYKZskU

It may seem like overkill, but there are lots of little features in the 70D that are not intutitve. For example, you can't shoot video and have wifi active simultaneously. Not sure why, but it's one of the many things that I leanred while watching this series. 

Apologies for not having a direct answer for your issue. Hope the above is helpful.