canon 5d mark iv designate sd for video

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Hi all,
I have finally got my Canon 5D Mark IV. I have never used two card slots. If I am using one slot - is there anything I need to do to set it up? Or is it simply insert one card and leave the other empty and I'm away? I will be using the SD card slot.

I may use the Compact flash slot in future but I'm not interested at present.

Thanks!
You can use only one slot, if that is your reference.
I would suggest that you purchase 32 GB CF card when you can and put it in the empty slot and set you camera to the SD as primary and to automatically switch to the CF card if the SD gets full.

Ed
Ok so I cannot use the SD card on its own? I need to use the CF card also? I would prefer to just reinsert SD cards.
I have CF cards but I just dont like them and they are much more expensive. If that's rhe case the idea of putting two slots in is redundant without choice between the two.

The manual doesn't clear this up.
You can use the one or the other or both. You can put jpegs on one and Raw on the other and all kinds of different setups. And you don't need to use both.
You can use either CF or SD alone with no card in the unused side or have them both filled. You can have the camera save to both cards simultaneously creating a backup on second card RAW and/or JPEG to both or you can have the camera save RAW to one card and JPEG to the other. You can have the camera use the cards as consecutive storage to increase storage space, card 1 plus card 2. It can fill the first card first the second card starts being used after the first card is full. It is very configurable. Keep in mind only a CF card can handle 4k video. So only CF will record 4K. If no CF card you can't record 4K video but both cards can handle HD video. Make sure you are using good fast cards that are rated for the specs of the camera. You don't want to lock the camera up while shooting and get an error because you installed cheap slow cards that cant handle the camera's write speed requirements.
I recommend having at least a small CF card inserted in the CF slot so you don't risk getting dust, dirt, lint into the slot and then one day you decide to put a card in the slot and jam lint or dirt between the card and the pins and risk bending a pin. Also keep in mind good CF cards have much faster write speeds than SD, you will get better camera performance with faster cards. Sets per second, buffer write to card. You just dropped $3499 on a high performing pro camera, why go cheap on not wanting to drop $65 on a 64gig CF card.

Last edited: Mar 12, 2017
Sorry Auto Correct on tablet changed shots per second to sets per second in my last post. lol. Could have been worse.
Why are you writing us? If you simply put a card in the camera and turned it on, you would have seen that it works with one card. Go out and shoot some pictures. It's not going to blow up.
Dave, we were all new to these cameras at some point, the 5D MK IV manual is bigger than any manual for a Canon camera I have owned before. I don't want to discourage anyone from posting a question for clarification and to get a better understanding of their new gear for fear it may be considered a dumb question. There are no dumb questions. It is an expensive camera and may be a bit intimidating to some. We were all new to this at one time. Some folks open the box and start experimenting to figure it out while others have a more cautious approach. It's all good. - Cheers
I know one man that can read the manual, understand it and remember it. Otherwise, for the rest of us, manuals these days are like reference books in the library used to be. You study one subject at a time, when you're ready to use it. I suggest putting in a battery and a card and go shooting, with the manual downloaded from Canon on your smart-phone. If you run into a problem, look it up.
Done the PDF on my android phone for other cameras.
DCStep,
I have returned a 5DIV before (In a previous thread I posted about the error).

Once again the card I used in the camera was an SD without CF, brand new, formatted and ready to go. The error specified by the camera was not listed on Canon's website nor was it recognised by Canon themselves. Many users on this forum suggested it may be a card error even though the card worked well when formatted to other cameras. Regardless I took that on board.

It resulted in a refund as I had no time to obtain an exchange. I purchased a new one upon return from a work trip and now I am playing about with it. All is well.

This is the first time I am using a dual card model. Previous models i have used are 5D Mark II, 7D, 2x 6D and now a 5DIV. So I hope you can imagine why I posed the question due to my first experience with a 5DIV and never having used a dual card slot model prior.

A further point I might add is that the SD card is listed as slot '#2' in the camera's menu. Coupled with my initial experience this prompted me to inquire as to whether a setup of the card was in order. None of this is mentioned in the download manual as previously specified.

Thank you everyone else for helping me clear things up. Your explanations are always welcome and indeed highly valued.
Yes, Adam, I imagine, based on ample evidence that you're insecure. There's ample instructions in the manual about using two cards. Maybe you didn't download the complete manual.
No one's mentioned, but it might be important, are your cards fast enough to enable the camera to operate at maximum fps? If you don't shoot multi-frame, action sequences, then it won't matter, but it will matter a lot, if you need max fps.
Yes I am insecure I guess, when you've had that experience.
Write speed is fine thank you. Good day! Doubt I will be posting back here again.
Mark,
This is great information which I could not find in the manual. However, my question is where do you go in the menu to set all of this up.
Thank you in advance,
John
As someone who has never felt the need to have a dual card camera, I rather resented the idea of having to have more than one, so I was relieved to see the 5DIV only needs one to operate. Nevertheless I did get the second card and hence get twice as many shots, which is great since this means I never run out of capacity. It really is all explained in the manual. Some things are complex in the 5DIV (AF options for example), but the two slots are not.
Hit that "Q" button and a bit below it you see the 2 slots displayed touch and select what you want to write to each of them.
Or menu "wrench", tab 1, line 1?
IF you go to Wrench tab 1 line 1 and select record separately you then can go to camera tab 1 line 1 and select Raw and or JPEG to record different file formats to each card.
I accidentally inserted an SD card into a CF slot and bent pins on a card reader. I think I would get a cf card just to fill the space.
Wow. I suppose this is certainly a possibility if you've never had a camera which used CF cards before. Maybe Canon should put a big yellow warning sticker on it, or the camera should come w/ a 'blank' pre-inserted? (like my Dell laptops always come w/ in the SD and EC slots)...
Personally I can't imagine choosing to use only the SD card, as the slower write speed handicaps the camera... but of course YMMV and if you are just shooting jpegs at low ISOs you might never notice(?)