14/05/2026 3:30 pm
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So I've been rocking my 7D Mark II for ages now mostly for birds and local sports stuff and I usually just stick to my old reliable CF cards but they're getting so hard to find lately without spending a fortune. Anyway I tried switching over to just using the SD slot for a soccer game yesterday and the buffer lag was absolutely insane like I was getting the busy signal for like 5-10 seconds after a long burst which never really happened with my compactflash setup. I'm prepping for a big high school track meet next weekend and I really need to get this sorted because I cant afford to miss the finish line shots while the camera is still thinking. I know the 7D2 is kind of picky and I think it only supports UHS-I but then I read somewhere that some of the newer v30 or v60 cards might actually help with the clearing times even if the bus speed is capped. My budget is around 100 or 150 bucks so I dont mind spending a bit for quality but I dont want to waste money on a v90 card if the camera cant even use it.
What are you guys using for high-speed stuff these days that actually keeps up with the 10fps raw bursts? Is there a specific brand or model that seems to play nicer with the dual slot setup because I'm seriously struggling here...
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14/05/2026 3:30 pm
Man, I feel your pain. The 7D Mark II is a beast for sports, but that SD slot is definitely the weak link compared to the CF side. Since that slot is strictly UHS-I, you gotta be careful not to overspend on V60 or V90 cards thinking they'll clear the buffer faster. They wont. The camera hardware literally cant talk to them at those speeds, so you're just paying for tech you cant use. Here is what I've found works best for those high-speed bursts without breaking the bank:
- SanDisk Extreme Pro 128GB SDXC UHS-I 200MB/s V30 — This is basically the gold standard. Even though it's rated for 200MB/s, that's mostly marketing for read speeds. Write speeds stay around 90MB/s, which is as fast as that 7D2 slot is ever gonna go. Super reliable for birds and sports.
- Lexar Professional 1066x 128GB SDXC UHS-I Silver Series — I’ve used these for track and field too. They're usually a bit cheaper than the SanDisk pros and I havent noticed any real difference in buffer clearing times during actual use.
- Kingston Canvas Go! Plus 128GB SDXC UHS-I V30 — A solid budget pick that still hits the UHS-I ceiling consistently. Just a heads up... if you're shooting in backup mode (writing to both cards at once), the camera will always slow down to the speed of the slowest card. If you're doing heavy 10fps RAW bursts, I would suggest keeping the RAWs on a fast CF card and maybe just putting JPEGs on the SD. Honestly, even the best SD card is gonna struggle to keep up with that 7D2 buffer compared to a good UDMA 7 CF card, so manage your expectations for that track meet...
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14/05/2026 3:45 pm
I agree with the previous point about the hardware bottleneck. The 7D Mark II simply wont see any benefit from those expensive high-tier cards. If you want to keep costs down while ensuring you dont get a card that fails mid-event, there are a couple of mid-range options that provide a decent price-to-performance ratio for this specific body. Here are two reliable picks:
- Samsung PRO Plus 128GB SDXC UHS-I
- SanDisk Extreme 128GB SDXC UHS-I V30 Honestly, these will hit the maximum write speed the 7D2 slot can handle. Just remember that the internal buffer is still the primary limiting factor for those 10fps bursts. If you write RAW files to both cards simultaneously, the camera will always wait for the SD card to finish before clearing the buffer. That is basically why youre seeing that busy signal longer than you did with just the CF cards.
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14/05/2026 4:15 pm
Seconded!
