D1 Mark II - Memory to card down load slow

All,

Excuse me if this question has already been posed in the forum. If so, please reference me to it. Here is the scenario:

Camera: Canon EOS D1 Mark II
Memory Cards used: Compaq Flash cards to include SanDisk Extreme III, Lexar Pro 133 x, Hoodman UDMA. SDHS to include: Patriot class 6, SanDisk Extreme II. The issue I am seeing remains constant regardless of the type and capacity of card that I am using.

Firmware: EOS D1 Mark II Version 1.2.6

Issue: Downloads from the camera memory to the storage cards are taking between 2.5 and 3.5 per second per frame to download. So for example a burst rate of 8 FPS will take approximately 20 seconds to complete the transfer. The delay affect my preview and shooting time in that I need to wait until the transfer has completed before I can shoot an 8 FPS burst rate or to preview my shots.

If I am only shooting a couple of frames at a time, this doesn’t create a big problem, its when I shoot long burst rates that cause delays in continous shooting or viewing. I thought perhaps someone could offer some suggestion before I send the camera in for evaluation and repair. All good suggested will be much appreciated. Thanks in advance.

Bill Duke

That is a fairly normal amount of time and is why cameras have a buffer. The only way around that is to shoot in JPEG which I don't recommend. Why do you need to look at every image on the LCD?

Does the Canon EOS-1D mark II, have a custom function to enable noise reduction, where each file is processed twice before it is written to the card ??? If it does, then this might be your problem. Simply disable the custom function for normal shooting and much shorter download times to the card................

Joe Elliott wrote:Does the Canon EOS-1D mark II, have a custom function to enable noise reduction, where each file is processed twice before it is written to the card ???

No, it only has long exposure noise reduction which only kicks in for exposures over 30 seconds if enabled. There is nothing wrong with his write times.

Here are some numbers to support E.J.'s statement. Consult Rob Galbraith's CF/SD performance database for some further insight into how various cameras perform with various storage media. The 1D Mk II is a few years old now, and simply can't take advantage of high speed cards.
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/multi_ ... =6007-6896

As seen in RG's database, the absolute fastest write speed you can get is under 7.5 MB/second. The 1D Mk II has a buffer that can hold about 20 RAW frames. Average file size for RAW on this camera is about 8.3 MB according to one source.

So if you shoot the buffer full at 8 fps, this creates about 166 MB of data. At the fastest possible transfer rate, this will take ~22 seconds to transfer to flash storage. Which is pretty much what you're seeing...

Thanks for your replies and especially the CF/SD performance data from Rob Galbraith’s website. It looks like the transfer speeds from camera memory to card is what it is for the D1 MK2. I’d been ok with it until I bought the 40D and began to see a big difference in the transfer speeds. The big issue for me is the lag time between multiple high burst rates. Preview time is limited to single frame exposure checking so the delays don’t kill me near as much as the missed shots do.

Case is closed. Much appreciate the responses.