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

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

  • 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.

  • 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/

  • 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
  • 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.

  • @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.

  • @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.

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

  • @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.

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

  • 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.

  • 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