I've shot a bit of material on my new EX-1 and need to download them to my laptop. Since I'm only shooting stock, I won't be doing any manipulation or edit, just download and submit. 2 questions:

A) Given this, will my G4 Powerbook handle the type of PCIe USB card readers I'm seeing discussed on this site. I too don't wish to drop $250 on a Sony SxS card reader if I have an alternative. Is this reader at $48 just a plug-in USB reader, or a card that requires install?? Anyone have a specific model number for a USB reader that handles the SxS card (other than the expensive one)?

thanks,

Michael Javorka
Austin, TX

Hey Michael,

I also use a powerbook G4 to pull footage off my cam during longer days out.

Here's what I do.

1) shoot up my two cards
2) plug the camera in and dump the footage off using the Sony Transfer tool software
3) copy footage to an external drive (now it lives in two places)
4) do a little QA between the footage on the external drive and the footage on the computer. I watch a few clips randomly to make sure it's all "there" and I also compare the size (in bytes) of the folder on my external and internal drive.
5) once I am feeling confident that the footage is good, I reformat the cards and start over.

I actually wish I had the USB reader, then I could just dump cards off and still shoot!