SL3 6K Pro Res Card Too Slow

[JiriS]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

Greetings,

I've been shooting 6K @23.98 fps ProRes HQ videos with the Leica SL3, afforded by the latest firmware upgrade. 

After few minutes of capture, the recording stops with an error that the memory card is too slow. I'm using Sandisk Extreme Pro CF Express Type B 1700MBs / 1400MBs. 

Fair enough, I need to buy a faster card. But which one? There are V4 cards with much higher speeds, but can the SL3 take advantage of those speeds?

Let's say I want to buy the Angelbird AV Pro SE 3700MBs / 3500MBs.
Even if the SL3 doesn't support the max speeds, will it still be fast enough for me to shoot 6k Pro Res without interruption?

 

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[BernardC]

Angelbird certifies their cards for specific cameras. Anything certified for the SL3-S should work with the SL3:

https://www.angelbird.com/compatibility/?host_brand=5&host_model=395

[Photoworks]

 

I did a test when the firmware came out of the ProRess HQ with the Angelbird 1TB 1700mbs and didn't find any issues.

CF Express cards are basically SSD's.

many of them have a memory cache that is fast at the start and then slows down later, it is good to see what the sustained speeds are.

Some of them get too hot in the camera, causing the camera to give you a heat warning.

I don't think the SL3 has any faster speeds, that is usually reserved for 12K cameras. But since the faster cards are the same price, it is a no-brainer to buy the faster one.

If you want I can try another test to see how long i can record on the SL3

[jaapv]

7 hours ago, BernardC said:

Angelbird certifies their cards for specific cameras. Anything certified for the SL3-S should work with the SL3:

https://www.angelbird.com/compatibility/?host_brand=5&host_model=395

Sure? The SL3 is bound to have much larger files than the SL3S (24 MP)

[JiriS]

I pulled the trigger on Angelbird 2TB AV PRO SE CFexpress v4 Type B - 3700MB/s. 

Once it arrives, I will report back. 

[BernardC]

15 hours ago, jaapv said:

Sure? The SL3 is bound to have much larger files than the SL3S (24 MP)

For stills, yes, but not for video.

[Lovegenrefilms]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I've started using this card:  Angelbird 512GB AV PRO SE CFexpress v4 Type B 

Second shoot in and I've had the camera freeze multiple times during recording video on both times. This was in 4 the 4K 60P and the 8K. Last time out I switched to an older Angelbird SD card and no more freezing. 

This started occurring after the recent firmware update but that's also when I got the new card. Prior to that I was using the SD card for tests around the house with no issues. Based on these circumstances, it's hard to draw a conclusion. Will need further testing. 

Posted about this recently here. Would like to figure out if it's the card or the camera, I'm suspecting it's the card. It was indeed very hot when I pulled it out of the camera. 

[JiriS]

27 minutes ago, Lovegenrefilms said:

I've started using this card:  Angelbird 512GB AV PRO SE CFexpress v4 Type B 

Second shoot in and I've had the camera freeze multiple times during recording video on both times. This was in 4 the 4K 60P and the 8K. Last time out I switched to an older Angelbird SD card and no more freezing. 

This started occurring after the recent firmware update but that's also when I got the new card. Prior to that I was using the SD card for tests around the house with no issues. Based on these circumstances, it's hard to draw a conclusion. Will need further testing. 

Posted about this recently here. Would like to figure out if it's the card or the camera, I'm suspecting it's the card. It was indeed very hot when I pulled it out of the camera. 

Thank you for your observations. Hmm that doesn't sound too encouraging. Although the 512GB has significantly slower sustained write speed compared to the 2TB. I wonder if that also means the 2TB card doesn't have to "work so hard" and maybe will get less hot. 
 

I also had my SL3 freeze during 4k60 video recording in a very hot room. Unfortunately at that time I lost the video footage altogether. I did report it to Leica and they said that it is normal that the camera can overheat in hot climate. 
 

My original report was not about freezing but just camera stopping the recording saying the card speed can't keep up. At least in this scenario I didn't lose the footage that was recorded so far. 
 

I will do some testing once the new card arrives and report back. 

[Lovegenrefilms]

I'm looking at Angelbird website and I see the difference in speed when you look at the performance. I was unaware of this. I hope you have more luck, I might try to swap out the for the higher capacity. Let me know how it goes. Once I switched to my v90 angel bird SD card with 128gb, I had no more issues. 

 

 

[JiriS]

So the 2TB Angelbird card has arrived (AV PRO SE CFexpress B v4 MK2 2 TB).

Unfortunately it doesn't work with SL3. Not sure if it's the camera or the card at fault. 
After inserting the card into the camera, it asked for it to be formatted. Said Yes, formatting took a long time and then an error popped up that the card couldn't be formatted.
Took the card out and formatted it as exFAT on my Windows laptop (using Sandisk CF Express card reader).
Inserted into camera again and again it asked to be formatted. Said yes again and it failed again. But at this point the card could no longer be read on neither Windows laptop nor Macbook Pro. It doesn't show up in the Disk Management software either so it's not just unreadable partition problem.

When the card is inserted into the camera, it just comes up with "General CFe card error" and the camera is unusable unless the battery is pulled out.

I have contacted Angelbird and awaiting a response.

In the meantime, has anybody had any luck with any 2TB cards in the Leica SL3?

 

 

[Photoworks]

I have started a test of the SL3 in ProRes HQ on an Angelbird 1TB.  external power.

It has been recording for over one hour and still going.

The camera is a bit warm, but no overheating notice until now.

 

this card:

Capacity

1 TB

Form factor

CFexpress™ Type B

Max. read speed

1785 MB/s

Max. write speed

1550 MB/s

Sustained read speed

1785 MB/s

Sustained write speed

1300 MB/s

 

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

[Lovegenrefilms]

So this past weekend I used the camera on a wedding shoot but I started the day with an older angel bird sd card I had from my S1H. I went through that 128gb card pretty fast but with no issues. I went with the 512 Angelbird CF Express again and this time the camera did not have any issues or freeze during recording as it did on my previous shoot. The temperature was maybe 5 degrees less so not as hot as it was previously when I had the issues. Hard to draw a conclusion. 

[JiriS]

So Angelbird got back to me that the card doesn't support Leica SL3 and that they will refund me upon returning it. I find it a bit dubious. In my opinion it's more likely they sent me a dud. &nbsp
 

Anyway I have since purchased ProGrade Digital 2TB Gold with minimum sustained write speed of 1500MB/s. It's working like a charm and I was able to record 3 hours of 6k ProRes test footage before the card filled up. 
 

I have also changed my storage setup to not use the SD card as backup, but only write to CFe first. This makes my camera operate so much faster! It's much quicker from startup to first shot. And reviewing images is also significantly faster. It's almost like having a new improved camera now 🙂.