I have been using the Kensington reader and 16gb transcend SDHC cards to record my weddings and so far, I've had no problems. I got two 8gb SXS cards with my camera (Ex3)and I was thinking of buying one or two 16gb SXS cards so I then could record the weddings (3hrs worth) right through with a bit more confidence than I would have with the transcend cards.

As you know It would mean copying the sxs cards to the harddrive and reusing them again for the next wedding, not really happy about reusing the sxs cards so soon but what else can you do, were as at the moment, I don't have to reuse the transcend cards till the bride & groom collect their DVD.

If I had enough SXS cards to record the important bits but what part of the wedding isn't important.

What do you think?, should I go this route.

If you're getting paid gigs then I would only use SxS cards. I've been shooting for over a year and a half with the SxS cards and have had no problems. But you can see all over this forum where people have problems with the more inexpensive options. Yes, occasionally problems with SxS cards but FAR more with the others.

I shoot mostly commercial work and worst case most of it can be re-shot. But try telling the bride (or worse the mother of the bride!) the next day that you lost the vows because of a card failure. Not ME!

Hi Tony.
I wouldn't worry about transferring the files to HDD. I copy mine straight to a one internal drive and a back up on an external. If you are realy nervous about losing the files due to drive failure, why not spend £130 or so on a Blu-ray burner (you may already have one) and back up to disc, only a few £s for 25gb. Sony SxS 8gb cards are going for about £150 inc VAT at the moment, 16gb are £373.75 inc Vat Here http://www.proav.co.uk/Blank-Media-Tapes/XDCAM-Optical-Disc-SxS-Cards/p16702_sc634.aspx not to a bad price. So long as you have enough SxS cards to cover the service and the speeches, you will be fine. You can use SDHC cards for the rest of the day, where you will have time to check recordings every now and then.

I have been using the Kensington reader and 16gb transcend SDHC cards to record my weddings and so far, I've had no problems. ........

As you know It would mean copying the sxs cards to the harddrive and reusing them again for the next wedding, not really happy about reusing the sxs cards so soon but what else can you do, .........
From what I've heard, any problems people have had with SDHC cards have tended to be with new untried cards, especially with trying out new variations. AFAIK, cards which have proved reliable over a period have carried on being so.

I also understand that any failures don't go unnoticed at the time, they immediately indicate a recording problem. But tried and trusted cards just seem to carry on working.

You've got to work out where the greatest risk is. A card failure or accidental deletion. A bit like securing your home at night - you want to keep burglars out, but you don't want to make it too difficult to get out in the event of fire. The beauty of SDHC cards is you can have enough that they don't have to be reused until the edit is over. It would be a shame to spend a lot of money to hopefully get a more reliable card, only to find that what you've actually bought is a less reliable workflow.

From what I've heard, any problems people have had with SDHC cards have tended to be with new untried cards, especially with trying out new variations. AFAIK, cards which have proved reliable over a period have carried on being so.

I also understand that any failures don't go unnoticed at the time, they immediately indicate a recording problem. But tried and trusted cards just seem to carry on working.


I just had a failure of a SanDisk card that has, up to this point, been reliable. Luckily it was on a pro-bono shoot (wouldn't use it if I was getting paid). I got the dreaded "media error" and had to actually turn off my EX1 and reboot. Lost about a minute of recording time, maybe more.

It made me much more leery of the "less expensive" route. Definitely go with SxS if your charging for your services.

Forrest

Only SxS cards for me. It just is not worth the risk to loose shots due to a 'media error' with SDHC. I have also never (knock on wood) had a problem with SxS.

Two 32 GB SDHC cards gives me nearly 4 hours straight record time. Off loading cards during a shoot is high risk. Human error causes most problems even with SxS. I'd rather have several 32GB SDHC cards than have to offload SxS and bring a laptop. I've been using my 32GB SDHC cards since January and have NEVER lost a clip, NEVER had a media error. Of course if you can afford 3 or 4 32GB SxS cards to avoid dumping off of cards during a shoot then go for it. At that price I can practically buy another EX1 (or at least a HVC HM100) and do a two camera shoot.

If you are going to buy SxS cards I would seriously consider the 32 GIG cards, especially if you do long form event shooting. The price on the 32 gig card, from what I have seen, is quite attractive.

Why not record on SXS then just copy back to your sdhc cards as well as your hard drive for your back ups then you can keep until delivery as you do now. As some have reported the occasional problem with SxS is it not also risky using 32gb cards? using two 16gb cards would half the risk of potential loss, and using 8gb cards only a 25 percent potential loss.

Thank you everyone for your advice, I really appreciate it.
Yes, I'm getting paid for my weddings.

What would you buy, a 16gb SXS or a 32gb SxS? The 16gb would bring my recording time up to 2hrs and with a 32gb I would have 3hrs. (inc the two 8gb sxs I already have)

I use 4 x 16GB SXS cards Anthony, and a load of SDHC - both Transcend and Sandisk. As one guy said use the SXS for ceremony and speeches and the others for the rest - I think it's a nice balance and not as many cold sweat moments!

I've had problems with certain SDHCs but only when they were new and not tried and tested. I sat down and did some tests on all my SDHCs recently and it seems to have worked - I isolated 3 cards which couldn't hack it.

FWIW I think the best test is to record with 2 cards in the slots and repeatedly switch slots without stopping recording - the dodgy cards show up media restore pretty quickly, the others just keep on recording. I trust them after these tests, but obv not as much as SXS!

FWIW I think the best test is to record with 2 cards in the slots and repeatedly switch slots without stopping recording - the dodgy cards show up media restore pretty quickly, the others just keep on recording. I trust them after these tests, but obv not as much as SXS!

I don't. I've tested cards in this manner and have had faults show up only at the time of transfer. You need to be testing the transfer not just testing for media restore.

As I've written elsewhere on the forum, the Transcends are now not to be trusted but I've been having joy with the ATP Pro cards.

Thanks again guys, what would you go for, a 16gb or a 32gb sxs card.

I'm going for a 16GB card (buying EX1 in a couple of weeks so will get 1 8GB card with it). I intend to pickup some SD card options when I save up but the SxS cards have the reliability factor. For my 2 cents I don't think it's going to be a big issues dumping down footage onto the laptop. I'm intending to use a couple of external drives raided togather so the risk of loss is very very minimal.

Damian,I cant say for sure but I think you will get one 8gb card with it.

Cheaper to get 2 16GB by the looks of it. I can get a 16GB for $730AU or a 32GB for $1580AU.
The hard drive unit (PHU 120K) 120GB size goes for $1566 (but no over cranking).

I guess it depends on your shoot situations but dumping to laptop during a shoot is the BIGGEST risk. It's seems the bulk of the issues are "human error" that happen during a shoot and most of those were during the laptop dump.

Should I list all the risks?
Bad copy and not knowing until after the card is erased.
Risk of the hard drive failing itself.
Rushing to pull the card from the camera.
Erasing the wrong card.
Risk of damage to the laptop.
Risk of laptop being stolen.
Various risks around the laptop losing power at a critical moment.
Interruption of the shoot to insert and remove card.
Having the laptop in a convenient place.
In some situations the act of booting the laptop (screen light and startup chime) can be an interruption.

You can swear up and down you'll be careful and the above but there are so many points of failure and so many posts about them that it's a risk EASILY avoided.
Two to four 32GB cards can get you through even a very long shoot day without ever offloading and rarely having to pull a card.

You can spend $1700 - $3400 on 2 to 4 32GB SxS or you can spend about $350-$700 on the equivalent number of adaptors and good tested SDHC (mine have NEVER failed me EVER).

I see NO POINT in using 16GB SxS at all (get 32GB if you must). The only reason to use 16GB SDHC is that the client can leave with the "master" if they like and you can bill them for the "stock."

Thanks again Craig, for all that advice.
I was thinking, (just thinking) that if I got a 32gb sxs card that would leave me with almost 3hrs of recording time and I have enough SDHC cards if needed to finish the shoot on the day.

That leaves me not having to offload the cards till I get home to my PC.
What I have done in the past is to offload to the PC (all with CB) and when complete, bring the clips into the Edius timeline and leave them there till its time for me to work with them.
This also lets me check everything I've recorded on the day.

I don't know if B&H ships to you but they have the SanDisk SxS 8GB cards which are the exact same as the Sony SxS(SanDisk makes the Sony SxS cards). 1 for $199, 2 for 189 each or 3 or more for 179 each. I think it was Doug Jensen who likes to use 8GB cards so he can easily back em up to DL DVDs - just an idea.

SanDisk | SxS ExpressCard 8GB | SDX-VS-008GR | B&H Photo Video (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/548306-REG/SanDisk_SDX_VS_008GR_SxS_ExpressCard_8GB.html)

Steve,if Sandisk makes the Sony SxS media,why is BH PHOTO showing Sony 8g cards
as discontinued.The fact is Sandisk does not show any SxS media on their website.
They do not have any 16g cards for sale and they never released 32g cards.Someone should confirm with Sandisk if they are still committed to support SxS media.

Regards

I have 2 x 8GB SxS and 2 x 16GB SxS cards. If I were you I would now buy 32GB SxS cards. That was not an option when I bought my 16GB cards. And since then, Sony have dropped the price too.

As for off loading in the field. I agree with what has been said. Too much potential for problems and should be avoided if at all possible.

If I were you I would now buy 32GB SxS cards.

Thanks again for all the advice, it really is very helpful.

I think I might go for the 32gb card, it works out cheaper than two 16gb cards, this will give me 3hrs of recording time with SxS cards and that is enough to cover all or most of my wedding and finish the rest out, if needed, with SDHC cards.

Even when I offload to the PC HDrive and in turn back it up again I will think it strange to reuse the cards before I even get a chance to work on the project. That will seam strange and somehow not right but thats the way it has to be,...after 28yrs+ of being able to keep the master tape until the bride and groom have collected their tape/DVD.

Thanks all.

Sometimes you just have to trust in the technology, it can be nerve wrecking but it just has to be done sometimes. The biggest worry is that you fowl something up yourself so the best thing to do is figure out a workflow whereby you have the confidence to reuse the cards.

Some of the events I do require me to be shooting 16 hrs a day for 3 - 5 days. I'm obviously not recording constantly but I like to have enough SxS media to see me through each day without the need to erase anything in the field. I currently have enough capacity for 5 hrs of footage which so far has always been enough to last a day.

At the end of each day my workflow is to check how many clips are on each card (using the camera info) and then offload them using the expresscard slot in my macbook pro. I create a separate folder for each card and then copy them using Sony clip browser with error checking enabled. Once I've offloaded all of the cards I've used I then make a copy of all of those folders to an external drive (just using finder drag n drop).

You can of course combine multiple cards into a single BPAV folder, but I like the reassurance of seeing a folder for each card and knowing that each one has a unique set of clips in it. I often combine them once I'm at the editing stage where I copy the clips onto my main archive drives.

Once i have each folder on two drives I then have a browse through the clips in clip browser to check that the clip numbers are sequential and that nothing obvious is missing. I also compare the number of clips in each BPAV to the number of clips on each card. I also select a few of the clips that I know are the better ones and play them back to make sure the data on the drive is good.

This may all sound obsessive, but it's easy to make a mistake after doing 16hr days and I sleep much better knowing that I've gone through a fixed process that proves the data from each card is stored on two hard drives before going to that nasty 'delete all clips' option in the menu!

And by the way, there's absolutely no way I'd use anything but proper SxS cards.

Thanks for those tips Paul. I will have to get a workflow sorted and yours looks as good as any. I also copy each SDHC card to its own folder, Card 1 Card 2 and so on.
I could have 6 sub folders all with in the one folder.

So once the SxS cards are copied to their own folders in the HD with Clip Browser its just a copy and paste to another folder after that, no need for CB this time.

I wouldn't buy any extra cards at this time if you already have at least two.
I'd wait for the PXU-MS240 in November.

Sony | Product Catalog - Recordable Media (http://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/cat-recmedia/resource.solutions.bbsccms-assets-mkt-recmedia-solutions-mobilestorageunit.shtml)


SYPHA - Sony announces the PXU-MS240 mobile storage unit for use with XDCAM EX camcorders and decks (http://www.syphaonline.com/SYPHAnewsitems2009/SYPHAnews20090424-05.html)

I'm told it will be around $1400 with one cartridge, but who knows what it will really cost when it FINALLY comes out.

Bloody expensive HDD, and that, at the end of the day is all it is, with Sony pricing of course.

I disagree. It is much more than an ordinary HDD.
It is more like getting a 240GB SxS card for only $1400.

10x transfer speed
Data/error checking
Battery operation
No computer needed
eSata and USB connectivity for offloading to a computer

Most importantly, it's an affordable way to work without buying a lot of cards or risking the the dangers of using SD cards.

Only SxS cards for me. It just is not worth the risk to loose shots due to a 'media error' with SDHC. I have also never (knock on wood) had a problem with SxS.
But going to SxS is not a no-risk situation as I said before. You're simply changing the risk, and IMO probably increasing it overall. Look at this thread: http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdcam-ex-cinealta/433233-recovering-files-form-formatted-sxs-am-i-right-there-no-hope.html and the alternative problems you can get if you're forced to download/format to free up card space.
"Recovering files *from* formatted SxS - am I right that there is no hope?" is actually what I had hoped to write!

Stupidly formatted a card having mistakenly thought that it had been downloaded.
Believe me, it's not the only case I know of something similar happening, and with P2 as well as SxS. Not done it myself, (yet) but it's why I favour tried and trusted SDHC cards. Everyone seems to think "but I'd never do that!" - until they do it!

Mostly you are talking about human error as the prime cause for data loss. In that case NO MEDIA will be problem free.

However, the MxR/SDHC solution is not a wise choice if the footage you are recording is important to you. There are just too many variables that are unknown, especially when it comes to how the SDHC cards perform.

No thanks, I will stick with SxS.

As for that Sony SxS card reader.... A very pricey hard disk transfer solution. A laptop would not only be better, but cheaper and certainly as fast.

Mostly you are talking about human error as the prime cause for data loss. In that case NO MEDIA will be problem free.

However, the MxR/SDHC solution is not a wise choice if the footage you are recording is important to you. There are just too many variables that are unknown, especially when it comes to how the SDHC cards perform.

No thanks, I will stick with SxS.

As for that Sony SxS card reader.... A very pricey hard disk transfer solution. A laptop would not only be better, but cheaper and certainly as fast.

If you have a laptop ;-)

I mentioned this in another thread, but I just don't understand something.

It seems to me, that the biggest risk involved here is not getting something recorded in a reliable way and for a reasonable cost. ALL of the mentioned solutions leave a single point of failure. Whether that failure occurs on SxS or SDHC. Or during a transfer from card to latptop, etc.

I have to record unrepeatable events on occasion, and under NO circumstance would I leave it to a single point of failure. So to that end, I record to my Firestore and to SDHC.

If I were basing my business on doing this type of event recording, it would seem that I would choose 1 of 2 paths.

1. Purchase a Firestore product that records either to HD or CF. The cost of these units is about the same as a single 32GB SxS card.

2. Purchase a Convergent-Designs Nanoflash, and use that MUCH higher quality recording as the primary, and the SDHC in the camera as a live backup.

Option 1 is of course far cheaper, but does limit recording to HDV. Since most people seem to be delivering SD to their clients, this doesn't seem like much of an impediment. OPtion 2 moves the recording capability up to high end broadcast standards and allows recording onto fairly inexpensive CF cards. If desired, 2 CF cards can be written to have a backup of the high quality recording, and then a lower quality recording in the camera on SxS.

Maybe I am just out of touch here, but any of this seems FAR preferable to trusting an unrepeatable event to a single recording mechanism, whether that's tape, CF, SDHC, HDD or SxS.

Obvioulsy, everyone has to do whatever they have to do to have peace of mind. But I'll suggest another option:

3. Shoot on REAL SXS cards and forget all the other recording devices.

I've been shooting with SxS cards for over two years now and have never experienced a single bad clip, corrupted card, or any problem at all. In my opinion, it is rock solid. I have no qualms about shooting once-in-a-lifetime events on SxS cards without any other backup. And that is totally different than my days of shooting Betacam where I could never relax 100% during any shoot.

With option #1 you're giving the client inferior quality video. You have to spend a lot more money to buy the hardware, and you have to put up with the hassle of mounting the Firestore.

With option #2 you're spending $3k for the NanoFlash and now have the hassle of adding another piece of gear to your camera rig. The NanoFlash is great device, and I have one myself on order right now, but not because I feel I need backup for the SxS cards.

Everyone has to find their own comfort zone, but that's just my point of view. SxS is safe.

I agree with Doug that for peace of mind use SxS. I have shot Digibeta, SX and SP since the 80s and there was no way of having back up you just trusted your kit. Card costs are coming down so peace of mind is getting cheaper. I have used SDHC cards since last January (Transcend/MxR) and have had no problems at all but I would not use them on a paying job.

I'm with David Heath on this issue.

If you can afford 2 or better, 3 32GB SxS than go for it. If you can't, I think the in SDHC is better than smaller SxS cards IF you'd have to offload in the field during a shoot with the smaller SxS cards. That point of failure (transfer in the field) looms so huge that I'd avoid that at all costs.

I've been using SDHC since January and they've been rock solid reliable. You simply need to do a thorough test before using in the field, and the results have to be 100% or the card is returned. If SDHC were so unreliable than the JVC HM series would not be viable in the pro market.

SDHC allows the option of handing the card to a client and billing as "tape stock" if the clients want to leave with the shoot material. SDHC means that I can now use the current 13" or 15" MacBookPro if I need to do an offload AFTER the shoot when I'm not going right back to the office.

Thanks again for the helpful advice. I have now bought a 32gb SxS card giving me a total of almost 3hrs recording. I feel a lot happier now going out to record a wedding with the sxs cards,... having said that, the SDHC cards haven't giving me any bother at all.

So what guarantee comes with these sxs cards, is it a lifetime one?
As well as using the camera, what other way is there of offloading the sxs cards to the PC?

Doug thank you for posting this info and more importantly those links. The devil is in the details. Below I have pastebombed the press release from Sony. It is worth pouring over. The optional eSata connection should have people a twitter.


NEWS

Sony announces the PXU-MS240 mobile storage unit for use with XDCAM EX camcorders and decks (24/4/2009)

New Unit and Hard Disk Drive Cartridges Provide Increased Versatility for HD Video Professionals

Sony is expanding its line of professional media options with the new PXU-MS240 mobile storage unit. Designed for use with XDCAM EX camcorders and decks, the device can be used to transfer data from SxS PRO(tm) memory cards to the unit for nearly continuous back-up or off-load of video clips.

The unit stores content on a removable hard disk drive (HDD) cartridge, model PXU-HC240, (included with purchase) that can store up to 240 GB of data. Each cartridge offers a maximum record time of more than 13 hours in high-quality (HQ) mode and 17 hours in standard-play (SP) mode.

"Whether you're in the field hot-swapping media cards or in the editing room uploading content to an NLE, these new products offer HD video professionals virtually unlimited options," said James Cito, business manager in Sony Electronics' Professional Media Business Unit. "The ability to easily store data onto an HDD cartridge so that media cards can be re-used enables multi-camera operations in the field and provides added flexibility and cost-savings when deploying HD cameras on a shoot."

The HDD cartridges can support data transfer rates of up to 600 Mbps, and can upload a full 16 GB SxS Memory PRO card in about five minutes.

For even faster data transfer rates of up to 800 Mbps when off-loading video from a card, users can connect the mobile storage unit to their PC using the optional e-SATA (external serial advanced technology attachment) interface.

The mobile storage unit is also equipped with a one-touch copy and verifying function that displays a message confirming that data has been copied and verifies the completion of all transfers.

The mobile storage unit is powered by a long-lasting battery, model BP-U30. This same battery can be used with all EX series camcorders and the PHU-60K HDD recording unit.

The mobile storage unit and HDD cartridges are both planned to be available this fall, with suggested list pricing to be announced.

This opens up huge workflow improvements in my mind particularly if you do a lot of long form video shooting.

I have been dreaming about a day when a card comes out that I can slam in my MacPro that allows lightening fast data aquistition from SxS cards. This is certainly a good step in that direction and I applaud them for doing it. To me it is a win-win for both Sony and the consumer (us). Yes a premium but the benefits for many are huge.

I hope they continue to do innovative stuff like this that makes our lives easier so we can spend more time shooting than injesting.

Now if they would provide a quick way to get XDCAM to conform in most/all NLR then another sore spot in the workflow process would be removed.

-Andrew

It's funny how people get so "up in arms" when it comes to SxS vs SDHC (or whatever type) but I'd be willing to bet that VERY few ever have a second camera on hand when they go on a shoot! In almost 20 years of shooting I've always taken a backup camera. Only had to use it once because of a failure but that one time saved me a big client! It just means that all electronics will fail at some time and you just plan for it to happen and be ready with a backup plan.

Offloading SxS cards (or SDHC) is just another area to watch out for but just a couple of simple things will keep you safe. There are a lot of options to make copies of your cards, some inexpensive and some very expensive. Pick the workflow that suits you best and gives you the security you need.

Copy the ENTIRE SxS card to it's OWN folder on a PC/Mac. A simple drag n' drop works fine but just remember to copy everything. Some people say to always use XDCAM Transfer to offload your cards. If you feel you need that level of security then use that method.

Copy to more than one device. If you've got a laptop, copy to an internal drive and an external drive. Now you have two copies with much less chance of losing both. Shotput works well to copy to multiple devices simultaneously.

If you're using 16 or 32GB cards, once you've copied them over, split them into smaller folders using XDCAM Transfer. Then copy to DL DVDs. Now you've got even further redundancy. Do this only on your working copy. That way if something goes wrong you still have another "original" copy. (I've never had it fail though)

Use some of the devices suggested in other threads like the NanoFlash, Sony PXU, AJA Ki, etc., if you want to record to both SxS and some other media.

Basically just figure out what YOU need to feel that you've got your bases covered, test it out and stick with it until you find something you like better!

Personally I prefer to offload when I get back to the studio. I've offloaded on site occasionally but only when we had multicam shoots with limited SxS cards. I've yet to have a problem either way but if I do, I always have a backup!

So what guarantee comes with these sxs cards, is it a lifetime one?

Guarantees dont make any odds Tony. If they go wrong, Sony can replace the card, but not the lost footage. Remember the 3M Scotch video tape ads of the mid 80s

Your right there Colin and yes, I do remember those ads as well.

Guarantees dont make any odds Tony. If they go wrong, Sony can replace the card, but not the lost footage. Remember the 3M Scotch video tape ads of the mid 80s

Do Sony not offer any recovery service on the SxS cards? At those prices?

When minidisc (a Sony format) first made inroads into the broadcast market, one radio station I knew hit problems with a disc. Like with our cameras, minidisc would write a TOC after recording. If something went wrong when the TOC was being written, you waved bye to all of your audio. The audio was on the disc, but the player couldn't see it without a valid TOC.

So they had a crucial interview on a minidisc that suddenly wouldn't play. They contacted Sony for help who then recovered the audio. This was on a £5 minidisc.

Are we seriously suggesting that Sony won't even look at a £500 card and try to recover the data if the card is at fault? What on earth are we paying for other than supposed piece of mind?

Obvioulsy, everyone has to do whatever they have to do to have peace of mind. But I'll suggest another option:

3. Shoot on REAL SXS cards and forget all the other recording devices.

I've been shooting with SxS cards for over two years now .........In my opinion, it is rock solid. SxS is safe.
Don't get me wrong - I'd prefer to shoot on SxS than SDHC IF ALL ELSE WAS EQUAL. If I had enough memory to shoot, transfer, then not format the cards until the edit was over, then no quibbling - use SxS. In no way am I doubting the intrinsic reliability of SxS (or P2 for that matter.)

But that's missing the point. For many people all else is not equal, and the advantages of SDHC IMO are when it saves field downloading, and the possibilities of human error that involves. SxS is safe - humans downloading from it aren't, as the other thread proves.

Perrone makes a good point about recording on two separate devices, but even that doesn't completely take all risk away. What about a camera or battery failure? And the extra complexity may take the mind off other features. The beauty of SDHC is that it adds no extra complexity, cables, or external devices to the operation.

Do Sony not offer any recovery service on the SxS cards..

Thats what I thought, I could be mistaken but I thought I read somewhere, that Sony would take the card and try and recover the footage, if something should happen.

I just cashed out for 256GB of SxS. I feel dizzy...

Worth reminding people that, what with the cost of SxS cards, check your insurance policy covers the loss of media.

Also worth checking what your policy limits are as carrying around a lot of SxS cards could easily nudge you over the limit.

But that's missing the point. For many people all else is not equal, and the advantages of SDHC IMO are when it saves field downloading, and the possibilities of human error that involves. SxS is safe - humans downloading from it aren't, as the other thread proves.

David, I understand the point you are making, but if these are my two choices:

1) Shoot on SxS cards and download in the field to a computer, Nexto, or PXU-MS240

or

2) Shoot with SD cards so no downloading in the field is necessary.


I'd prefer to go with #1. No question about it. I trust myself not to make a mistake more than I trust non-SxS cards not to screw me over. I probably delete 50% of everything I shoot immediately; some of my takes are very short; I playback clips frequently; and I don't want to have to watch little indicator lights go on and off to give me the all-clear every time I want to start rolling again. I never have to think about anything technical when I'm using SxS. I can get into my "zone" and forget about all the technical stuff that is going on.

Using the SDHCcards we have had 4 errors called "Media needs to be restored" during the actual shoot only in one of those cases we lost the actual clip. The documentary director was very uptight and I had to rent 64GB of SxS cards to keep my customer happy. For me in the future only the originals unless we shoot just for fun!!!

Jan,

You're going to see that "Media Needs to be Restored" message occassionally even with genuine SxS cards so don't let it freak you out when it happens again. It will happen again.

As I unserstand it, it's really just a housekeeping function of the XML files and other information on the card and has nothing to do with the video clips themselves. I've seen it pop up several times over the past 2 years and I have never lost a clip or had any issues with letting the camera restore the media. But it is a little scary when you see it the first couple of times. When I see it now (which is very rare) I don't even give it a second thought. I just say "OK" and move on.

You say that you lost clips with the SD cards, but I'll bet THAT is what caused the "restore" message to appear, and not the other way around.

Just as a note of caution, on one occasion I had my EX1 demand to do a media restore on a write protected card I knew had been fine just an hour previously. I turned the camera off and turned it back on again and it was fine. Never asked to do another restore.

Do I have to test record this new 32gb sxs card before I use it or can I just insert it and start recording.

If I had an SxS card in one slot and an SDHC card in the other will it change from the sxs to the SDHC card without problems.

You would be wise to test it before any paying shoot but I probably won't just because I'm a lazy bum. Just switch slots before the current card is full so if there is a problem you have time to correct it.

Switching from SxS to SDHC and vice versa isn't a problem as long as you've covered all the usual pitfalls such as having the SDHC card locked.