As requested, I have uploaded two quick videos showing the buffer depth performance of the 1DX. One was shot at 12fps and one was shot at 6fps - my two speeds. Sorry if it's not the right speed for you

The test was conducted at ISO 200 in raw mode with a Lexar 1000x 32GB card.

In 12fps mode, the camera got 37 shots before it slowed down. I didn't count how many it was at 6fps. It seems that just like the 5D3, once the camera hits the buffer at 6fps it continues forever at 4fps, so the card seems to be the bottleneck here and new cards should help, as UDMA7 has more life in it.

EDIT: Adding 8fps and 10fps video
EDIT 2: Adding video of 1DX 6fps sound, vs. 5D3 6fps sound, vs. 5D3 silent sound, vs. 1DX silent sound.

Link to 6fps video

Link to the 12fps video

Link to 10fps video

Link to 8fps video

Link to sound comparison video.

I like the 12fps sound

Answers the question of shooting 6 vs 12fps for sports. I opened up both videos in two browser tabs and played them at the same time which was interesting.

Thanks Stan! 37 frames is better, but isn't the D4 over 50? Seems Canon is always a step behind in this specification and stuck at 3 seconds worth of continuous capture at the current model's highest frame rate. I guess dropping to 9 or 10 fps would extend it somewhat.

12fps does sound cool.... hmm, decisions, decisions...

12 FPS is nothing short of amazing when you actually here it!

rscheffler wrote:
Thanks Stan! 37 frames is better, but isn't the D4 over 50? Seems Canon is always a step behind in this specification and stuck at 3 seconds worth of continuous capture at the current model's highest frame rate. I guess dropping to 9 or 10 fps would extend it somewhat.

12fps does sound cool.... hmm, decisions, decisions...

I think the XQD card might make the difference. Word on the street says that it is pretty impressive.

http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-11674-12366

D4 with a Lexar 1000x CF card will do 66 continuous frames at 10fps. My guess is the 1DX at 10fps would probably be in the low to mid 40s? Two seconds of additional continuous action is considerable though.

The question always comes up: why would anyone need to shoot continuously for that long? At least in my shooting experience, there can be times covering sports when a play develops into one that is much longer than anticipated. For example, in football, focusing on the QB as he drops back and shooting him doing so (perhaps anticipating a sack) as he throws or hands off, then continuing to shoot the play, which becomes a long run or catch and run for TD, then photographing the reaction/jubilation afterwards. This can easily spread out over 5-10 seconds of nearly continuous action, is difficult to predict and therefore difficult to conserve buffer space. Shooting Jpeg helps, and sometimes is the better option.

rscheffler wrote:
http://www.robgalbraith.com/bins/content_page.asp?cid=7-11674-12366

D4 with a Lexar 1000x CF card will do 66 continuous frames at 10fps. My guess is the 1DX at 10fps would probably be in the low to mid 40s? Two seconds of additional continuous action is considerable though.

The question always comes up: why would anyone need to shoot continuously for that long? At least in my shooting experience, there can be times covering sports when a play develops into one that is much longer than anticipated. For example, in football, focusing on the QB as he drops back and shooting him doing so (perhaps anticipating a sack) as he throws or hands off, then continuing to shoot the play, which becomes a long run or catch and run for TD, then photographing the reaction/jubilation afterwards. This can easily spread out over 5-10 seconds of nearly continuous action, is difficult to predict and therefore difficult to conserve buffer space. Shooting Jpeg helps, and sometimes is the better option.

In the scenario you give her, I don't belive anybody would press the shutter button at the highest speed all the time
And the Nikon also have a little bit less resolution of course

Due to popular demand, I have also added an 8fps and 10fps video, see my original post at the top.

That was the longest five seconds of my life in the 10 fps video.

Lars Johnsson wrote:
I like the 12fps sound

+1 SWEET...

It is surprising that 8 fps sounds kind of slow after hearing the 12 fps!

No 14 FPS love??

Will Patterson wrote:
No 14 FPS love??

No. Jpg only. Meh.

40Driggs wrote:
12 FPS is nothing short of amazing when you actually here it!

The price of storage just went up!

Tom_W wrote:
40Driggs wrote:
12 FPS is nothing short of amazing when you actually here it!

The price of storage just went up!



Yes maybe $ 10 Storage and hard-drives cost nearly nothing today

Great videos and greatly appreciated! Curious subjectively how loud the 1D-X shutter is as well as how much more silent the silent mode is. The video makes it sound very loud but then it may just be my speakers are turned up too much! Thx

By popular demand, added a video to the original post that should illustrate the noise from both the 1DX and 5D3. Yes, the 1DX is insanely loud compared to the 5D3.

So why does Canon provide such small buffers? That's not even a gig of data. The memory technology is there as there are 3 gig video cards with far faster memory busses.

The nikon d4 has over 100 shot buffer without even a card in place.

I asked the same question back in March and was flamed and told to work on my technique...