Canon R5 Recommended Canon R5 Memory Cards

[Tim Mayo]

We have recently tested 13 CFexpress cards and 17 UHS-II SD cards in the R5 to find out which cards perform best in camera.

The complete article can be found over on the blog here:

Best Canon R5 Memory Cards With Speed & Buffer Tests - RF Shooters

We test over 30 memory cards in the Canon R5 to find out which CFexpress and SD cards are the fastest in-camera.

rfshooters.com

The maximum write speed of some CFexpress Type B cards is up to 1700 MB/s, however during our tests the maximum write speed in the Canon R5 is only around 518 MB/s when shooting RAW + JPEG L and the file sizes specified in our tests.

The top 10 CFexpress Type-B cards all performed extremely well, and although some cards are marginally faster than others, in the field you are unlikely to notice any difference at all.

Our advice would be to purchase whichever card is cheapest at the time of purchase, or whichever brand you feel most comfortable with.

The Angelbird 512GB AV PRO CFexpress 2.0 Type B SE Memory Card is typically the best value per GB and would be our recommended card if we had to pick one for shooting stills or video, since it also works great with 8K RAW and 4K120.

We would avoid the SanDisk Extreme Pro, The Prograde Digital Gold and the Wise Advanced CFexpress Type-B cards since the performance did drop off with these cards, at least with the capacities tested, the larger capacities may perform better.

When it comes to UHS-II cards the speeds do vary a lot more than the CFexpress cards in-camera.

The fastest card is the Sony SF-G Tough UHS-II card, but this can be a tight fit in the R5’s card slot.

We’d recommend going with the Kingston Canvas React Plus UHS-II Memory Card instead. It’s only fractionally slower than the Sony but a lot cheaper. It also slides in and out of the slot without any issues unlike the Sony Tough card.

Please let us know if you found this guide helpful, or if you would like to provide your own feedback on a particular card.

 

[MikeZ]

Hi Timothy, and thanks for the detailed info. Much appreciated.

 

[Hali]

Thank you so much for the information, Tim, I will keep it bookmarked for when I have to buy another one.

 

[Nick L]

Tim, thanks for this, interesting that not all CF express cards are equal, I have two Integral cards (one cinematic grade (128GB) and the professional grade (256GB)) no issues with the R5 or with buffering and speed but the 256GB card is faster especially at low iso shots. The SD cards I use are the Lexar 1667x 256GB cards I have three of these not the fastest but not normally used except of trips where I save the CF express for the days I need the speed.

 

[Dave Williams]

I initially bought a 128GB Sony Tough card which was recommended at the time as being one of the best around but 18 months later and after discovering the delights of video I needed a bigger card. The Angelbird 512GB was recommended by a friend and it was only slightly more expensive than the price I paid for the Sony a year earlier. It might not be quite as fast but it copes with everything I have wanted so far. Exceptional value.
My only "complaint" is that to be able to get the latest firmware updates for the card you have to have an Angelbird card reader.As I already had a Lexar one I wasn't going to buy another but there again, do I need a firmware update?

 

[Tim Mayo]

I initially bought a 128GB Sony Tough card which was recommended at the time as being one of the best around but 18 months later and after discovering the delights of video I needed a bigger card. The Angelbird 512GB was recommended by a friend and it was only slightly more expensive than the price I paid for the Sony a year earlier. It might not be quite as fast but it copes with everything I have wanted so far. Exceptional value.
My only "complaint" is that to be able to get the latest firmware updates for the card you have to have an Angelbird card reader.As I already had a Lexar one I wasn't going to buy another but there again, do I need a firmware update?

The Angelbird AV Pro SE 512GB is very good value and certainly fast enough for pretty much anything that you could throw at it. It is a shame that you need their reader to update the firmware though, although if it's working just fine there's probably no need to update anyway. I'm guessing the firmware updates may just resolve any compatibility issues with new cameras.

 

[Dave Williams]

Since I wrote that appraisal of my Angelbird 512GB AV PRO CFexpress 2.0 Type B SE Memory Card I have to report some problems. The first card started to have small pieces disintegrate so I sent it back under warranty and received a new one. ( I wondered if that was a result of the card getting too hot in my R5) The new one was really slow downloading to my Mac, which is the latest 24" one, and after running some tests on a free download app Angelbird sent me, it was visible that the read speed was nowhere near the promised speed whereas my Sony one matched the claim on the card. Angelbird once again replaced the card but I have to say the performance is still very disappointing in as much as it can take an age to wait for a big download. The good news is the write speed doesn't seem to be effected and it copes perfectly with 20 fps bursts and 120fps HD video. Value for ,money for a 512GB is still excellent.
Has anyone else found similar problems?
Incidentally I have a Lexar card reader...although it manages the Sony card perfectly, could that be the problem I wonder?

 

[Tim Mayo]

Since I wrote that appraisal of my Angelbird 512GB AV PRO CFexpress 2.0 Type B SE Memory Card I have to report some problems. The first card started to have small pieces disintegrate so I sent it back under warranty and received a new one. ( I wondered if that was a result of the card getting too hot in my R5) The new one was really slow downloading to my Mac, which is the latest 24" one, and after running some tests on a free download app Angelbird sent me, it was visible that the read speed was nowhere near the promised speed whereas my Sony one matched the claim on the card. Angelbird once again replaced the card but I have to say the performance is still very disappointing in as much as it can take an age to wait for a big download. The good news is the write speed doesn't seem to be effected and it copes perfectly with 20 fps bursts and 120fps HD video. Value for ,money for a 512GB is still excellent.
Has anyone else found similar problems?
Incidentally I have a Lexar card reader...although it manages the Sony card perfectly, could that be the problem I wonder?

That's a pity Dave as this is definitely one of the best value Type B cards on the market. Good to hear that they replaced it under warranty. I do plan to test the read speeds at some point, I have a few readers but not the Angelbird one yet. When I pick one up I'll let you know what speeds I'm getting.

 

[Zebraspark]

I have always used Sandisk cards with great success. Looking at reviews of the other brands UHS-II there are some reports of thermal throttling, random issues, speeds may not be as advertised for video, etc.
Sandisk seems to have consistently very high ratings and for me it's not worth saving $20 on a card for potential risks.

For example Angelbird may be Austrian and their factory tour video shows some steps. They show final enclosure assembly and it's not even in a controlled environment and no ESD benches, etc. I think they do their SMT work in house but what about the silicon? The UHS-II card does not work well in R series according to the guide here.

The RF Shooters guide showing measured card speeds is fantastic and very helpful.