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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
  • CFreakCFreak

    @LongJohnSilver I have this one: https://www.amazon.com/Transcend-Speed-UHS-3-Memory-TS128GSDU3/dp/B00J3KA8JG/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1472670583&sr=8-1&keywords=transcend+128+GB+SD+card It says it's write a guaranteed 30 MB/sec.

    I had a problem recently: http://www.personal-view.com/talks/discussion/comment/221657#Comment_221657 and did 2 low-level formats using SD FORMATTER from here: https://www.sdcard.org/downloads/formatter_4/ and the problem is now gone.

    If I had to buy again I'd look to see if there isn't a faster card these days that'll read & write 90 MB/sec. Class 10 U3.

    This one says it'll write upto 60MB/sec (128 GB): https://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-UHS-I-128GB-Memory/dp/B013CP3OHU/ref=sr_1_24?ie=UTF8&qid=1472670521&sr=8-24&keywords=128+GB+SD+card

    The problem I had was while spanning at high ISO and high detail with a 360 degree shutter (1/25th sec. exposure) in 4k .mov mode. The camera was being pushed to it's max.

    @saksofon try using the SD Formatter app to write over the entire card. That should get rid of any problems you're having. The other issue is that the card might be a fake and may fail someday. I had this with an official "Hama" card I bought years ago in Switzerland at "MediaMarkt" the big German discount electronics store.

  • saksofonsaksofon

    Hi guys! Maybe someone can help me in my question? My GH4 doesn't use all storage in SD cards. On a screen of camera I see - Card is full, but my PC show, that 10-12 Gb of memory is free. Where is a problem? Thank you!

  • LongJohnSilverLongJohnSilver

    This forum in the past used to be a place where people helped each other on our common passion. Now everybody seem more interested to post their opinion and that's all.

    Age of self or age of SN

  • LongJohnSilverLongJohnSilver

    I need a new SD Card for my new GH4 to be used along my beloved hacked GH2 with FM setting.

    I'm still using the SanDisk Extreme Pro SDXC 64 GB 95 MB/s Class 10 UHS-1" Is there any new product that will work flawlessly with this setting and GH4? Should I buy another card?

  • crowbarcrowbar

    Been using the gold Transcend class 3, 128 GB card also, mostly in 4K mode and have had an almost perfect success rate until recently when shooting 4K in the V-log profile. The recording was stopped with a message something like "due to the limitation of the card". This happened twice during the shoot but then many times there was no such problem. Could it be that V-log is more demanding? I've lost confidence in the card now when shooting V-Log for anything where you might have only one chance to get the shot.

  • kolinkokolinko

    Thanks, I ordered the R95MB/s + W85MB/s which is already much cheaper than the 280MB/s. Reconsidering that 1920x1080 has the highest bitrate with the gh4 I will mostly record in one of these modes.

  • AKEDAKED

    I have this one: R95MB/s + W60MB/s

    But I have also filmed with Class 10 cards of Sandics anf Panasonic ant they worked too.
    At least for me at that time.

  • kolinkokolinko

    @AKED which one, the R95MB/s (read) + W85 MB/s (write) or the R95MB/s + W60MB/s?

  • AKEDAKED

    I have 2 Transcend 128 GB cards with 95 MS/s They cost 65€ and I almost only film in 4K. Never had any problems with it. But I also used slower Sandisc cards than that which also worked fine. In my opinion the 280 MB/s are absolutely not neccessary.

  • kolinkokolinko

    hi @Alexauwa I just went to my local electronic reseller and he told me he owns the gh4 himself and he had problems recording 4K with SanDisk Extreme Pro 64 GB SDXC memory (95 MB/s, Class 10, UHS-I, U3). So he sold me the SanDisk Extreme Pro 32 GB SDXC memory (280 MB/s, Class 10, UHS-II, U3) which cost me $98. I will try it later and then post my experience. Maybe he is just a good seller, who knows. I couldn't find appropriate actual information about the right memory cards for the gh4. The first posting in this thread to me seems just too old to be considered seriously for help to choose a proper memory I find.

  • AlexauwaAlexauwa

    Will that card work fine with all modes on the GH4? I've heard that the Extreme Pro series is not necessary.

    http://www.amazon.com/SanDisk-Extreme-32GB-UHS-I-Memory/dp/B00MBFPT44/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&qid=1435574861&sr=8-1&keywords=sandisk+extreme

    Do faster card allows me to capture more details/mbits in general?

  • stucameraman1stucameraman1

    Hi all, Iv'e been trying out a £30 Samsung SDXC 64gb Class10 U-1, write=40MB, read 80MB. This is truly an amazing card for my GH2 & GH4, i was trying to get the card to trip up but it wouldn't. I first took 900 pics at a family party, then shot loads of 96fps + 4k + UHD 4k + 1080-100mb and 200mb, took ages to fill the thing up, i deleted files then continued with some 4k. I have not benched marked this card yet so i cant tell you its max write speed, but i did pick up the card for £30 NEW, sealed from CEX central London. Also the samsung and Sandisk does not show up in their search engine. you have to phone or ask in store. image I also spotted a newer samsung SDXC 64gb thats slightly faster than mine in TESCO for £45, im going to try this one next....hope this info helps stu.

    20140522_184148_smaller.jpg
    2448 x 3264 - 2M
    20140522_184148_smaller-1080.jpg
    1920 x 2560 - 2M
  • Vitaliy_KiselevVitaliy_Kiselev

    image

    Another write benchmark, cards other than Toshiba is not good cards here.

    gh4_7.jpg
    647 x 446 - 69K
  • xsaxsa

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

  • mrbillmrbill

    128gb. Class 3 transcend

  • mpgxsvcdmpgxsvcd

    @mrbill

    What card were you using?

  • 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.

  • konjowkonjow

    Is the file stop recording OK when you get freeze?

  • 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

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

  • 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.

  • tinbeotinbeo

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

  • konjowkonjow

    thanks @mpgxsvcd for your testing.

  • 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.

  • 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.

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