Switching between CF and SD on 1DMKII

[ricwis]

I decided to use the SD slot in the 1DMKII thinking it is faster to push a few buttons to swith cards than it is to change cards.

According to the manual, all I need to do is push the bottom button on the left (the one with the card and magnifying glass) and turn the back dial to select card 1 or 2.  But, it does not work.  It does not change which card is in use.  Even when the CF card is full, I cannot switch.  If I take the CF card out of the camera, then it switches to the SD card.  If I want to switch back, I have to take the SD card out.

I must be missing something.  I checked custom function settings to see if maybe something was turned off, but I did not see anything that should affect this.  Any idea what I am doing wrong or not doing?  Thanks,

[pobrien3]

1) Press and hold 'DISPLAY' button, at the same time rotate the Quick Control Dial (the big one on the back of the camera) until the folder icon (far right) is highlighted. Release the 'DISPLAY' button.
2) Press and hold 'MEM CARD / MAGNIFY' button, at the same time rotate the Quick Control Dial to select the card you want.

You're done.  The instructions in the manual could be a little clearer - on page 60 it starts by instructing you to set the camera to folder mode - that's the first step above, then the subsequent steps (create new folder, select folder, select memory card) are follow-ons from that.
Peter
<edit> Just realised after posting, you asked about the 1D2, my instructions were for the 1DS2 - I presume they're similar if not the same.

[Tim Gray]

Yes, same for 1d2.  I had the same problem interpreting the instructions.

[ricwis]

Thank you.  It worked.  I read and read and never figured out to use the display button to put the thing in folder mode.  Now that I know, it will work better for me than chaning cards.

[pobrien3]

You're welcome. I think Canon should add an option to automatically flow to the next card when the first is full - seems nuts to me to have to go through that rigmarole when you've filled up the primary card.  For fashion, wedding or event photographers (I shoot a lot of events), this would help greatly.  I hate that point when, with eye to the viewfinder and not on the rear display, I realise that I've just run out of space and need to switch cards.
Peter

[kbolin]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have two CF cards and it would switch automatically when one card gets full.  AND it would be great if one could remove the full card and insert a new empty card while the camera is writing images to the second card.  Perhaps a little green LED above each card that would indicate if it was safe to remove it.

Kelly

[Dennishh]

Thanks for finally making this easy. I wish Canon would get this translation thing done correctly. This method is much better than taking out the card and turning the camera back on with the card you want to use, like Ive been doing for a year or so.  
Dennis

[jani]

Wouldn't it be nice to be able to have two CF cards and it would switch automatically when one card gets full.  AND it would be great if one could remove the full card and insert a new empty card while the camera is writing images to the second card.  Perhaps a little green LED above each card that would indicate if it was safe to remove it.

While Canon isn't doing exactly what everybody wish for them to do, they've done something, at least:

A new memory card selection short cut makes it fast and easy to switch between card slots when choosing recording location.
...
When shooting RAW and JPEG simultaneously, images can now be recorded separately onto a different memory card (CF or SD).

(http://www.dpreview.com/news/0508/05082208canoneos1dmkiin.asp)

[Jim Z]

According to the manual, all I need to do is push the bottom button on the left (the one with the card and magnifying glass) and turn the back dial to select card 1 or 2.  But, it does not work.

I must be missing something.  I checked custom function settings to see if maybe something was turned off, but I did not see anything that should affect this.  Any idea what I am doing wrong or not doing?  Thanks,
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It does in fact work this way on the 1DM2N but believe for the Pre N version you had to proceed as described in previous posts here.  Possibly you are looking at instructions for an "N"?