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!

[Tim]

Hello ScottESwartz,

What you are seeing with this indicator is the amount of data being recorded to the buffer.  Even though you are using a 16GB memory card, if it is a slow card, this indicator will fill quickly and stop.  It makes it seem as though the card you're using doesn't have the speed to keep up with the recording level you have set.  You could test this by selecting a smaller movie recording size and compression method within the Menu.  For example, you may try 640 / 30 frames / IPB and see if this indicator either doesn't appear or fills more slowly.  This tells you that the card isn't simply fast enough to handle large recordings with ease, hence the quick fill up. 

Another method would be to use a much faster class of card, for shooting full HD video use the highest class of card you can afford.  This would be Class 10 with a high write speed.  This ensures that the buffer in the camera writes to the card quickly, allowing for longer record times. 

[ScottESwartz]

Thanks Tim!

Unfortunately I was already using a Class 10 card because I was assured that this would not happen.  Does that mean that even though the buffer indicator was coming up that it still could have been the camera overheating?  I had been shooting in the sun near the beach for several hours.  Or is it possible that I have a defective class 10 sd card?  Thanks again!

Scott

[MikeSowsun]

It may be defective or it may not be an authentic Class 10 card. There are many "fake" memory cards being produced for quick profits. 

[johnnyquest]

if you are recording video to the sd card slot, the canon 5d mark3 will shut off because the the sd slot cannot write video to an sd card fast enough; the sd card slot was never designed to record video or even photos. if you try to record video to the sd card, it will start recording, but when the buffer fills up, the camera will stop recording. even if you have a super fast sd card, the 5D will still stop recording when recording video; Canon did not design the sd card slot to record video (unfortunately). record video to the compact flash card, select the appropriate card slot. class10 udma7 / 800x / 120Mb/s is plenty fast for recording 1080p video on the 5D. 

i used to use the sd card slot for exclusively for photos, as fast sd memory cards are cheaper than compact flash cards. one day i was shooting in high burst mode, the buffer paused all shooting and created a double exposure. after a lot of research, i discovered what i wrote above. noe i only use cf (compact flash) cards.compact flash memory are better and more reliable than sd cards, but more expensive. 64Gb cf cards at udma7 120 Mb/s are now only 50.00, but still only twice that of an sd card. 

i hope this helps. i know how much it sucks to have your camera stop stop working during an important shoot.

[SkyYCCD]

I have been shooting on my 5D III for six years with no problems, using the regular SD card slot. I didn't start having this issue until recently, with BOTH of my Canon cameras! It's hard to tell if it's overheating or the card, and the compact flash cards are so expensive. Could the card type still be the issue, even though I never had problems with this type of card before?

[johnnyquest]

Again, Canon did not design the SD card to record any data, let alone fast data, like video; the SD card was designed for firmware updates, etc only. Record video to the CF card slot. CF cards are not expensive, compare them to V90 SD's, CFast, CFExpress and SSDs!

[AtticusLake]

Just FYI, Canon specifically state that video can be recorded to the SD card on the 5D mk III, as long as the card is fast enough.

https://canoncanada.custhelp.com/app/answers/answer_view/a_id/1002950/~/canon-eos-5d-mark-iii---comp...

Check the small print below the table: "ALL-I (I-only): 20MB/sec. or faster".

OTOH a CFExpress card would certainly give extra peace of mind.  But there's really no way to know how fast a CF card is, since the VPG rating system is fairly moribund.  But they should be fast enough for the 5D.

[Poucedeleon]

I just ran into this problem and had no ideal what was causing it until I read your post. I was recording to a Eye-Fi class 10 card in camera and my Atomos Ninja externally. After reading your post I removed the Eye-Fi card and now it is recording fine. The card is not counterfeit, it just does not have enough throughput. My other (SanDisk Extreme) class10 cards work fine.

[TCampbell]

Unfortunately the "Class 10" claim and logo on the card -- which is supposed to mean that card is capable of writing at a sustained speed of at least 10 megabytes per second -- doesn't necessarily mean that the specific card actually can write at that speed.

It may be a bad card... or an unscrupulous manufacturer.