I've been using the S270U since April and generally love it. My biggest issue is that 5-10 times per wedding shoot, when I start recording, the CF card will record a split second, then stop for about 5-7 seconds before resuming recording for good. This seems to happen randomly. On some occasions, usually when I start to record too soon after powering up or pausing, it won't start at all. The latter issue is controllable, but it only makes the former issue more stressful, as I sometimes have to quickly consider whether or not the CF will eventually kick in, roll too long to find out that it won't kick in, pause and start again, etc. This is quite annoying when there's a spontaneous moment happening, and I'm standing there like an idiot acting like I'm capturing it when in reality it's taking a good 15 seconds to get rolling. Knock on wood, I haven't missed anything critical yet - I usually start rolling a good 30 seconds or so before the planned moments just to be sure. Does anyone else have this issue with the Z7 or S270? I use 32GB Transcend cards. (I suspect this may be causing problems with converting the clips in Cineform, but that's another post.)

Bob
IndyVisual (http://www.indyvisual.com)

This is just a guess, but I'd say the card is too slow. Looks like you might have to spend more for faster cards.

I use the same cards with Z7. Same issue.

CF card recording seems problematic with rapid start/stop/start operation. I've also found that transfer time via USB is almost as slow as tape capture. So, I now just stick with good old MiniDV.

After I got my free 8GB card from the Sony rebate, I swear by high quality cards. They are worth the extra money. And compared to P2 cards, CF cards are like the dollar menu at Wendy's.

I use the same cards with Z7. Same issue.

CF card recording seems problematic with rapid start/stop/start operation. I've also found that transfer time via USB is almost as slow as tape capture. So, I now just stick with good old MiniDV.

USB?!? Get a Lexar Firewire 800 card reader. I picked one up off Best Buy's clearance website for $30 a few months ago. FCP log & transfer is 4-5 times faster than real time!

Do your camera's heads a favor & get a good the card reader.

As for recording on my Z7U camcorders, I've had great success with both the 16GB and 32GB unbranded (supposedly Samsung OEM) CF cards I bought from a vendor on eBay. I just paid a little over $60.00 for a new 32GB card.

USB?!? Get a Lexar Firewire 800 card reader. I picked one up off Best Buy's clearance website for $30 a few months ago. FCP log & transfer is 4-5 times faster than real time!

Do your camera's heads a favor & get a good the card reader.[/QUOTE]

I agree, I would prefer to use the recording heads on my cameras as little as possible. I don't have a Firewire card reader, but I recently picked up a cheap $3.99 USB 2 multi-card reader which works great. Just the other day I captured from this card reader a full 32GB card (148 mins) and it took less than 20 mins. The newest version of Vegas 8 has an import from the Sony recording unit feature. I tried it with the card reader, and Sony Vegas imported the files as if it was from the Compact Flash Recording Unit -- works great.

Ian

I normally use the 16gb transcend 133x cards in my S270 and Z7 and have had no problems.

This Xmas I used a couple of the sony 300x 8gb cards that were freebies with the cameras, I found them slower in use and from power up they took ages for the CF unit to inititalise and be ready for recording. I was shooting party material for my pub so only had CF loaded with no tape.