Sounds and Rates, and Exceeding the EOS 5D Mark IV's Buffer Depth Rating

The Canon EOS 5D Mark IV has arrived and one of the first tasks was to evaluate the frame rate and buffer depth performance. I thought I would share these results with you today.

To test the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV's 7 fps drive mode and 17/21 (21 with UDMA 7 CF card) frame RAW file buffer specs, the camera was configured to use ISO 100, a 1/8000 shutter speed (no waiting for the shutter operation), a wide open aperture (no time lost due to aperture blades closing) and manual focus (no focus lock delay). The lens cap remained on (insuring a black file and the smallest file size) and a freshly-formatted fast memory card was loaded. The tested rates and capacities are about best-obtainable for the camera and card combination being used.

Reducing any concerns about the buffer depth: using a Lexar 64GB Professional 1066x UDMA 7 Compact Flash Card (Max. Read/Write Speed: 160/155 MB/s), the 5D Mark IV captured 36 frames in 4.98 seconds to precisely match the rated speed and, great news, far exceed the rated buffer depth. In addition, with this Lexar card installed, additional frames continued to be captured at a 4.4 fps rate. If DPRAW capture is enabled, the frame rate using the same card drops to 4.9 and the buffer wall is hit at only 9 frames. Subsequent frames are captured at a 2.2 fps rate. The larger-sized DPRAW images definitely impact performance in this regard.

Using a Lexar 128GB Professional 1000x UHS-II SDXC U3 Memory Card, the 5D Mark IV captured 21 frames in 2.85 seconds to once again match the rated drive speed and also match the UDMA 7 buffer depth rating. Using this card, the post buffer-filled frame rate was 1.6 fps.

Using a Sony 32GB Class 10 UHS-I (SF32UX) SDHC Card (Max. Read/Write Speed: 94/45 MB/s), the 5D IV captured a respectable 24 frames in 3.28 seconds to again precisely match the rated drive speed and exceed the rated buffer depth by a few frames. Using this card, the post buffer-filled frame rate was 1.6 fps. So, the slower UHS-I card recorded a higher number of frames before filling the buffer than the faster UHS-II (not-supported) card.

These buffer capacities should be considered best-possible for the referenced cards and your in-the-field results will likely vary, but a fast memory card, especially a fast CF card, definitely makes a difference with this camera.

Following are links to MP3 files capturing the sounds of the 5D IV:

Canon EOS 5D Mark IV One Shot Mode
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Burst Mode
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Silent Mode
Canon EOS 5D Mark IV Silent Burst Mode
Burst Comparison: Canon EOS 5D Mark III compared to IV

Camera sounds are recorded using a Tascam DR-07mkII Portable Digital Audio Recorder with record levels set to 50% at -12db gain and positioned 1" behind the rear LCD.

The 5D III vs. 5D IV sound comparison illuminates the more-subdued sound of the 5D Mark IV. The silent modes are once again available, but ... with the camera being quieter to begin with, the silent modes don't seem as dramatically quieter in this camera. Live view shooting can be used to further minimalize the 5D Mark IV's audibility.

Learn much more about the Canon EOS 5D Mark IV here.

You can find Canon 5D Mark IV in stock at these retailers

Posted: 9/9/2016 2:16:24 PM ET   Posted By: Bryan
Posted to: Canon News    Category: Camera Gear Review News
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