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GH4 Memory Cards. What works and what doesn’t?
  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    I have a GH4 and the following 7 memory cards. Listed in order of their theoretical speed. Some of these cards have failed with the “Motion Recording was cancelled due to the writing speed of the memory card” error message in the GH4 and some have not. If they failed then it was always in the stills mode while recording 1080p @ 60 FPS 200 mb/sec ALL-I video.

    These cards all failed at some point

    1. Eye-Fi 8 GB Class 6
    2. Eye-Fi 16 GB Class 10
    3. Transcend 32 GB Class 10
    4. SanDisk 8GB Extreme SDHC 30 MB/sec Class 10
    5. Transcend 64 GB SDXC UHS-I Class 3(Gold Plated Label)

    These cards have never failed despite my best efforts to make them fail

    1. Transcend 32 GB SDHC UHS-I Class 1
    2. PNY 64 GB 90 MB/sec UHS-I Class 1

    Please post your experiences with different memory cards and the GH4. Please only comment if you have the GH4 and have tried the memory card with it. No comments like “This memory card is better so it must work”. Just actual tests that you have performed yourself.

  • 38 Replies sorted by
  • plasmasmpplasmasmp

    SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s 16GB. Hasn't failed yet after filling the card 5 times. I have a bunch of slower cards I probably wont even try in the camera.

    Modes tested: C4k, 200mb/s All-I 30fps

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    Can you also define what modes you have tried? For instance: 200 mb/sec All-I 1080p @ 60 FPS in stills mode while taking video and stills simultaneously.

    The objective of this thread is to determine what cards work in what situations. Some cards will fail only with certain settings. Some cards will only fail in certain situations.

  • aaronchicagoaaronchicago

    @mpgxsvcd where did the gold transcend fail? I have the 128gb version and havent had any dropped frames yet.

  • maphiusmaphius

    @mpgxsvcd Hey there. Regarding the Gold Transcend (Ultimate) UHS-1 Class 3 card that failed - are you using the R95•W60MB/s card or the R95•W85MB/s card?

    And also, the Transcend 32 GB SDHC UHS-I Class 1 card you mentioned, are they the red/maroon coloured cards?

    Cheers.

  • johnnymossvillejohnnymossville

    Still testing my Kingston U3 64GB card but it hasn't failed yet. I will keep you updated.

  • MikeSlMikeSl

    @mpgxsvcd, my GH4 is in the mail right now. My PNY 128GB Elite Performance 90MB/s SDXC Class 10 Flash memory Card (P-SDX128U1H-GE) is also in the mail (based on your initial reporting I thought this might be my best bet). I'll test it out when I get it, it sounds like your "worst case" is to record 200 Mb/s All-I 1080@60fps is still mode and shoot some photos while it's recording. I'll be sure and try that out next week once my equipment is here. Thanks for starting this thread, it helped me go with the PNY.

    Mike S.

  • emwebemweb

    @aaronchicago Do you have the Gold R95 W60 version? I just received a Transcend 64 GB SDXC UHS-I Class 3 (Gold) R95 W60 and haven't opened it yet.

  • SunscreenSunscreen

    SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s 32GB & SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s 64GB works when recording in:

    C4K .MOV, 200 mb/sec All-I 1080p @ 60 FPS .MOV, 100 mb/sec 4K @ 30 .MOV, 100 mb/sec FHD @ 30 .MOV recording VFR (96fps)

    All recorded clips are over 2 minutes in length with plenty of motion within the frame.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    Here is a picture of the cards in question. I have shot many hours with the GH4 so far and the only cards that have not failed are the two middle cards in the picture below. I cannot recommend the gold Transcend card in the picture anymore if you use the 200 mb/sec All-I mode. It failed on a simple low light high contrast scene. No fast motion just noise and high contrast.

    If you don't use the All-I mode then just about any good class 10 card will work. Personally I think the All-I mode is wasteful. I only used it for testing of the cards. I stopped using it after that. The IBP mode is much more efficient and reliable.

    Transcend 32 GB SDHC UHS-I Class 1
PNY 64 GB 90 MB/sec UHS-I Class 1
    P1620788.JPG
    1445 x 813 - 423K
  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    All right I found the card I like best. The 128 GB Transcend 600x(90 MB/sec) card with Rainbow banner will not fail with any video mode on the GH4 no matter what I did to it. That card costs $83.50 per 128 Gb on Amazon. I tested it and it will continuously write at 60 MB/sec.

    For the price you are not going to find a better card. In addition the buffer is so large on the GH4 that you will almost never fill it. Buying the more than twice as expensive 95 MB/sec Sandisk card is a waste of money in my opinion. I would rather have the extra 64 GB than the extra speed if there is any real speed difference at all.

    It shows that it can record 2:51 hours of 100 mb/sec video or 1:23 hours of 200 mb/sec video. It also shows that it can take 4421 RAW+JPG images on the highest settings. That is a great deal for only $83.50.

    Here is the link.

    http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EH5US4W/

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    The eye-fi class 10 16 GB card was the worst one in my tests. It could barely do 8 MB/sec. Even the class 6 Eye-Fi card did better than that. That card is NOT class 10 but it is great for uploading stuff directly from the camera.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    UHS class 3 is a gimmick. Most UHS Class 1 cards are just as fast.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    How many people are just going to stick with the SD cards you used with the GH2/GH3 and how many people are going to upgrade to a higher capacity card?

  • mrbillmrbill

    I bought class 3 cards - the 64gb Kingston, and the 128gb and 64gb gold transcends. No failures on any of these cards so far.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    It was really strange yesterday. I had a failure with my 120 GB Transcend card. It was really hot and it failed on the first try with 200 mb/sec all I. I switched to 100 mb/sec IBP after that and no failures. Heat and direct sunlight have an affect on these cards.

  • konjowkonjow

    thanks @mpgxsvcd for your testing.

  • tinbeotinbeo

    I had a failure with my 120 GB Transcend card
    Were you talking about this http://www.amazon.com/gp/product/B00EH5US4W/

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    @tinbeo

    Yes that is the card. I have to say that I might be wrong about the Sandisk 95 mb/sec not being worth it. If it is truly stable with all I in all situations then that might be your only reasonably priced choice. However, I really think that All-I just simply isn’t worth it.

    IBP is simply more efficient than ALL-I. IBP allows the encoder to allocate bits to the places that need them instead of treating every square inch of the image with equal priority. If half the image is exactly the same as the previous frame why waste precious bits on it?

    I can say that the 128 GB Transcend card has never failed on ANY 100 mb/sec or less mode. For me that is just perfect. I filled almost the whole 128 GB card on Saturday. Pretty much recorded video or shot in burst JPG+RAW for an entire day and didn’t need a second memory card. I was switching back and forth between 4K and IBP 1080p constantly. Those modes never had any failures.

  • konjowkonjow

    @mpgxsvcd Im wander if was the file lost, corrupt or just stopped when All-i recording failed?

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    @konjow

    It gave me the standard write speed error message. However, the camera froze up. I pulled the battery and then set everything to IBP and it had no problems after that.

  • konjowkonjow

    Is the file stop recording OK when you get freeze?

  • mrbillmrbill

    Been testing 200mbs mode extensively, and in 4 days, I had one card speed error, shooting high detail foliage. Other than that, it's been faultless.

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    @mrbill

    What card were you using?

  • mrbillmrbill

    128gb. Class 3 transcend

  • xsaxsa

    My friend uses 128GB card by Komputerbay and he is happy with it.

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