Best Choice for the Canon R5 MKII Memory Cards

[watash1965]

Can someone please help me to decide the best choice for my new R5 MKII memory card and why?  Is it the CFexpress Type B, or the SD/SDHC/XDSC?

Thank you for your advice.

Steve

[March411]

Are you planning on shooting stills, video or both because video will need faster write speeds.

[watash1965]

Hi March 44,

Thank you for your response.

My shooting will be within the disciplines of candid street photography (photo journalism), architecture, portraits & landscapes.

Your thoughts please.

I can appreciate this...

"To find common ground you must be willing to search for it.
Our interests intersect more than they diverge."

Thank you,Watash 1965

[watash1965]

Correction... March411

[March411 · Accepted solution]

@watash1965 I shoot stills, in the many years shooting Canon I've never shot video. I use two  manufacturers cards in my R5 MkII (and other bodies) with zero issues. I do shoot a fair amount of H+ burst and have yet to fill the buffer. I do tend to feather the shutter button instead of longer bursts.

BH photo is a good source and sometimes has them for a decent price in two packs. That being said a decent price is a relative term these days since memory has almost doubled in the past year. 

I'm not sure if they are the best, they are pretty darn good and performed flawlessly for me. Once I am done downloading the images and making sure the images are safe on a local drive I do format my cards, every time. I complete a low level format around every 3 to 5 cycles to clean up residual data that may be left on the card using the quick format.

• SanDisk Extreme PRO CFexpress Card Type B 
• Extreme PRO CFexpress Type B Memory Card
• Lexar Professional 1800x UHS-II SDXC Memory Card GOLD Series
• Lexar Professional DIAMOND CFexpress Type B

Hope this information is useful

[watash1965]

March411,

Thank you for your follow-up.

Do I understand correctly you prefer the CFexpress Type B card?

I purchased two SanDisk 512GB Extreme PRO UHS-II SDXC Memory Cards.

Could I use this for sports photography in H+ mode with good results?

I appreciate your knowledge, its tough when your just starting out.

Thank you

Watash1965

[shadowsports]

Looks like Marc @March411 uses two. I use three brands regularly. 

AngelBird, ProGrade and SanDisk.

My preference.  As far as CF Express type B, all three are excellent.  AngelBird has some of the best pricing out there.  It's my primary for CF B.

For SD cards, you'll want to avoid SanDisk v60s.  Some of these cards have known compatibility and corruption issues with the R5 Mark II and if you were unlucky to get one of them, it might not be usable or reliable.  

While you can safely mix and match brands (I do frequently), I would be hesitant to mix different speeds in some shooting scenarios.  Such as recording to multiple cards simultaneously.  Not an issue in single card shooting scenarios.

Unfortunately due to material constraints, all memory and storage products are pretty expensive these days.  🫩 I loaded up at the end of 2024 and when I look at memory prices today it makes me cringe.  

Personally I record all my video to CF Express B and stills to SD.   I recently shot 800 photos using H+ with my ProGrade v90 SD.  It was perfect.  If you can afford faster memory, I suggest you go with that.  The have it and not need it philosophy, over the one time when you do and you're waiting for your buffer to empty to continue shooting.  For many photographers this isn't an issue, and if you're a one or two shot photographer slower memory will work.  All of my SD cards are UHS-II v90 so it doesn't matter which I grab, they all perform about the same.  The faster memory I own now is good today and can be used for the foreseeable future.  Next body, etc.  Same with my lenses.  Just because this is what I do doesn't mean it's right for everybody.  🙂

Lexar is also a good brand. I've just never used it.  Definitely go with Marc's recommendations here.  Make sure (No matter which brand you purchase ) you purchase from a reputable vendor.  Counterfeit cards are out there, so beware.

[March411]

Those are good cards, are they V60 or V90? My cards are V60 and I have been very pleased with the performance when shooting sports. I do use the V60 and knock on wood, zero issues and I have put a lot of frames through the V60's. Personally I think its a random issue but if you do as @shadowsports and buy from a preferred supplier you can exchange them if you have an issue. 

Have you thought about picking up any CF cards specifically for sports? If you haven't it may be worth it as you can achieve faster writing speeds.  When shooting sports @ high burst (H+) they will write and clear the buffer faster. If you feather the shutter button, smaller quick bursts the SD cards will be fine.

You should load and format a card Then shutter the camera until it stops firing and let it clear the buffer. Try to keep track of how fast your buffer clears and then check the card and see how many frames you captured. It will give you a baseline on how your cards perform. Nothing is more frustrating than waiting for the buffer to clear when shooting sports.

Write speeds for your card depending on type:

• SD V60 - 150 MB/s
• SD V90 - 300 MB/s
• CF type B 1200 -1500 MB/s 

[shadowsports]

Thank you @March411.. Specs are helpful. They speak for themselves.  

All of my SD cards are v90.  The only v60 SD card one should avoid is the SanDisk. Here's the product advisory from Canon. 

Steps to resolve still image problem when using certain SanDisk SD cards with the Canon EOS R5 Mark II | Canon U.S.A., Inc. https://share.google/XYpqSBbpC6E6a8nMF

I haven't followed it too closely. It may have subsequently been resolved but it's not worth it to find out. 

Random example pricing and performance figures.  

Prograde Gold v60 256GB $219

• 256GB Storage Capacity
• UHS-II / V60 / U3 / Class 10
• Max Read Speed: 250 MB/s
• Max Write Speed: 130 MB/s
• Min Write Speed: 60 MB/s

ProGrade Iridium v90 256GB $299

• 256GB Storage Capacity
• UHS-II / V90 / U3 / Class 10
• Max Read Speed: 300 MB/s
• Max Write Speed: 275 MB/s
• Min Write Speed: 90 MB/s

For maximum versatility and future proofing I standardized on 256GB v90.  Although I typically capture video to CF Express B, this allows me to capture 4K video to an SD (XF-AVC) if I want at any frame rate.  256 GB gives me over an hour of recording time.  You'd have about 30 minutes for 128.  I love taking pictures but video has crept its way into my heart 😍.  You can save quite a bit more going with a 128 GB which still provides plenty of capacity for stills.  I'm getting off topic now. Sorry.  

For still images 128GB capacity. R5 mkII

RAW (Highest Resolution / 45 MP): Approx. 6,540 shots

RAW + JPEG (Large): Approx. 5,120 shots

RAW + HEIF (Large): Approx. 4,860 shots

First rule of thumb for a good photographer. Don't put all your eggs in one basket. Change your cards frequently. I would never hit the still image capacity limits on an SD card, even if I shot H+ all day.  

Who knows what the future holds. Sensor technology is always changing/improving.  Video is going to continue to get better. Files are going to continue to get bigger.  I wonder if Canon will ever have a 60 plus megapixel sensor like Sony.  Thus far 45 has been plenty for me.  

I'm sure the four brands we've suggested will give others purchasing options.  

[March411]

Hey @shadowsports appreciate the additional information but I've stayed on top of the advisory since I own several within the advisory scope. There are some notes that are significant as it is not a wide spread issue and as I own several within the impacted advisory I can say that mine have functioned perfectly but clearly others have had issues with older cards

On the positive side Canon/SanDisk/Western have been transparent and stayed in front of the challenges. 

Notes:

• Higher-capacity V60 cards (512GB, 1TB) and all V90 Extreme PRO cards remain fully functional and are not included in the advisory.
• Canon and SanDisk issued a joint advisory, SanDisk and Canon recommend contacting SanDisk Support for a free warranty replacement if you own an impacted card.
• Newer revisions of these V60 cards with updated firmware also resolve the issue. SanDisk/Western Digital offer warranty replacements for affected cards.
• Newer revisions of these V60 cards with updated firmware also resolve the issue. Packages containing updated, compatible cards feature a blue dot sticker on the back and a star mark on the rear of the card itself. Again, the challenge was occurring with the 64GB–256GB V60 and was limited.
• The 512GB and 1TB V60 models, as well as V90 cards, are not affected.

Again, to be clear I am not saying there wasn't a challenge. Conversely it is well-intentioned to clarify the overall situation behind the SanDisk advisory.