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 · Accepted solution]

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