Canon 5D Mark iii stopped recording video!

[ScottESwartz]

I was shooting on my new Canon 5d Mark iii yesterday, recording to a 16SD card and using a RODE shotgun mic for sound when a weird image appeared on my live view.  Towards the right of the screen these blocks started piling up.  When there were 4 blocks, my video stopped recording!  I'm talking maybe 10 or 15 second videos here.  My SD was less than half full at the time, and when I hit record again I only got about 10 to 15 seconds more of video recording.  What the heck was going on!?  Please help!

I've drawn a picture of what the blocks lookied like to further illustrate my point.  Thank you!

[BillyD]

I have done a low level reformat of the cards from my Sony A7s2 for my new Canon 5d4, but it will not record video for more than a few seconds. The cards are Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB 280 mb. I have never had issues with the cards shooting full frame 4k in the Sony. In the Canon, I get just a few seconds of recording before it says "recording has stopped" ...Any thoughts?

[Waddizzle]

---

@BillyD wrote:

I have done a low level reformat of the cards from my Sony A7s2 for my new Canon 5d4, but it will not record video for more than a few seconds. The cards are Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB 280 mb. I have never had issues with the cards shooting full frame 4k in the Sony. In the Canon, I get just a few seconds of recording before it says "recording has stopped" ...Any thoughts?

---

Yeah.  Try formatting the cards in the Canon.  Why are you using the Sony to format cards for use in the Canon?

[Tronhard]

Have you made any changes whatsoever to the camera configurations, used different cards - or bought new cards?

Have you tried switching cards between cameras to see if that has an effect? 

When you transfer files from the card to a computer, what process do you apply?
Do you plug a cable into the camera and a computer and transfer the files, or
do you remove the card from the camera, plug it into a card reader attached to the computer and transfer the files that way.  If you are using the latter method with a Windows  machine, do you use the Eject feature in File Manager to close open file connections to the card before physically removing it from the card reader?

What precisely do you mean by 'new' 5DIII?  Is the camera literally new (the design is over 10 years old), is it refurbished (if so, by whom) or is simply a camera that is used, but new to you?

I agree with the others that it seems illogical to format cards for a Canon camera on a Sony camera.  Conventional wisdom suggests you format your cards in (and thus for) the device on which they will be used.

[AtticusLake]

Hi Scott,

what you're seeing is a buffering indicator.  This comes up when the card isn't accepting data fast enough.  In other words, you need a faster memory card.  If you're using a "16SD" card  (I guess you mean 16GB, SDHC) I'm not surprised.

I see recommendations that you should get a C10 card; and others that you should go by the write speed printed on the card.  I'm afraid that these are both not great advice.

The "C" rating on the card theoretically tells you the write speed in MB/s.  So C10 is 10 megabytes per second, or 80 megabits per second.  The problem is that the C rating isn't designed for video.  So C10 means that the card can take 80 Mb/s under some circumstances (if it's not just outright fake); but it might go that fast only occasionally when recording video, and so it will eventually fail.

As for the number printed on the card (like the "240 MB/s!!!" number) it's total garbage, and doesn't tell you anything about how the card will work for video recording.  Please, if you value your sanity, just ignore this number.

For video recording, the "C" speed classes just aren't good enough.  A "U3" card might work for you, but I would recommend getting a card with a "v" speed rating -- that's specifically designed for video.  I guess the camera only supports up to U-class cards -- so that's what I would go for.  A CFExpress card would be good too, but according to the link below, SD should work for this, if it's fast enough.

Canon have a list of compatible cards, including compatible SD cards for video: https://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1002950/~/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii---comp...

I note that they recommend a card with 20MB/s (megabytes per second) capability for video, and in SD cards, that means at least a U3 card.  Again, do not go by the speed printed on the card -- you need the U3 rating, specifically.  And get it from a reputable brand and seller -- there are a LOT of fake SD cards out there, particularly on Amazon.

This whole area is a bit of a minefield, not least because the card makers print completely misleading numbers on their cards.  I made a whole set of videos about this stuff, which you can find here: https://moonblink.info/MudLake/tech

"Memory Cards for Video" should be particularly relevant.