Using the T2i, and the SDHC cards, am I always going to be limited to the FAT32 file system when using it in the camera? I've been considering working on a documentary with a rather wonderful gentleman, and he's a talker. Right now, shooting 1080p, I'm getting about 4 minutes before the file size causes the camera to stop shooting. This of course is due to the file size reaching the max limit that FAT32 can recognize. Is there a way to format the SDHC cards to NTFS and still have the camera recognize them? I did a quick format on my computer (NTFS), stuck the card in and the camera said it couldn't read the card, and needed to format (which of course, brought it back to FAT32).

You shouldn't be reaching that point till about 12 or so minutes. The limit for FAT32 is 4gig per file.

You won't be able to use any other file system on the cards. Its not supported by the camera and could cause problems with no microsoft OSs if you could get a work around. FAT32 is easily read and written to by virtually every OS out there.

you have many more options if you use magic lantern. it has an "automatically restart filming" mode and you can set constant bit rate, constant quality... check it out.

Well, I've formatted the cards in the past to NTFS to transfer some larger files. Never really had a problem with it in the past, for those sorts of reasons, but now in the camera, it's a different story. I will have to do a test to see how often it shuts off, but as I recall, it was (at 16GB card, 4 minutes worth of recording before the camera stopped to create the file. I'll check again just to be sure, but as I recall, it's 22 minutes per 16GB card. Again, at 1080p24.

How about this: is there a way to record directly to a hard drive with the T2i?

It's 12 mins per 4GB (approx) so 16GB = 4x12 = 48 mins.

If you are stopping after 4 mins then perhaps your SD card is not up to the job of handling the transfer speed and gradually it gets behind enough at approx 4 mins) to cause a buffer overflow in the camera? That stops it recording.

That might be it. I'll have to test it when I get home, just sit there and watch what happens at the 4 minute mark. Both of my cards are Class 6, and haven't had any other problems with them, but perhaps this is straw that pushes me towards a 32GB class 10 or something. I'll report back, if anything, just to indicate what was happening.

I assume then, that there are no ways to port out, record to an external drive then?

Both of my cards are Class 6, and haven't had any other problems with them, but perhaps this is straw that pushes me towards a 32GB class 10 or something. I'll report back, if anything, just to indicate what was happening.

You don't say what the brand of the cards is.

Brand makes a HUGE difference in these cameras. Canon techs when talking to individual Canon DSLR owners about problems often recommend they change to SanDisk Extreme media and the problems usually go away. The most common problem seems to be what you are experiencing.

One owner had 3 Kingston Class (6) cards that would experience buffer overrun in about 1 minute (Kingston is supposed to be a good brand, but...), the "bargain brands" are real problems with the worst seeming to be A-Data, Patriot, and Dane-Elec. Transcend does have a better record but the failures I've read on those generally involve total data loss.

You've spent a "bundle" on the camera, the media is no place to "skimp".

Go with SanDisk Extreme III Class (6) or Extreme Class (10) but be careful where you buy, SanDisk is the most counterfeited brand out there (especially on ebay). I purchase from B&H or from amazon if the order is fulfilled by amazon. 47th St Photo and Adorama are also good places.

I don't trust A-data for the simple reason I've had one completely fail to the point that neither the camera (Pentax K-x), my desktop computer, or laptop would even recognise that anything was there. Fortunately nothing important was on it at the time.

When I get a flash card, I stick it into a card reader, hook it up to my WindowsXP laptop, and run CheckFlash

How do I ... benchmark USB drives with CheckFlash? | TechRepublic (http://www.techrepublic.com/blog/window-on-windows/how-do-i-benchmark-usb-drives-with-checkflash/1037)

It provides a way to check out a card and hopefully ensure that it will work properly. It also allows you to see the real speed of the card vs. the marketing numbers.

After the failure of the A-data card I got a pair of Kingston 32 GB Class 10 SDHC cards.
A full check out with CheckFlash took 40 hours. I would describe their actual write speed as ~7+ MB/sec.
I recorded several events using them in my Canon HF-S200 camera with no problems.

I have since also gotten a pair of Transcend 32 GB Class 10 SDHC cards, initially as spares.
In every respect they tested out at twice the speed of the Kingstons.
I swapped them into the HF-S200 and have recorded several events on them without problem.

With the Transcends, operations like Initializing the cards in camera, or downloading footage to the computer from directly off the card all went much faster.