This thread probably will not be that applicable to either weddings or sports….

I have been giving some thoughts to optimum use of the two storage bays in the XA20 for multi day/week nature videography in the field.

My original thinking was to put a 128 GB card in both A and B so I could either roll over from A to B, or backup daily, or both. While that seemed reasonable at the time, and perhaps is reasonable for certain situations on boats, I am now thinking this was about the worst possible strategy. The biggest problem I ran into was the boot time to power the camera back up and read the card once the first 128 GB card started filling up (>75 GB). I missed two key shots, with no further opportunities (and the shots would have been very brief) because of this.

I then switched to two 64 GB cards.

I am now thinking that, unless it is necessary to record to both cards simultaneously, that my preferred strategy will be a 16 GB card in A, and a 128 GB card in B. When it comes time to switch out the card in A, back it up to B, and then switch (if time permits, or go back and do it that evening if time does not permit).

I'd be interested to hear from others what their strategy is.

Jeff

With regard to the mention of a boat, is that something that you would be working from often? If so, is this a small boat without electricity (f.e., row boat, dingy, canoe, etc.?) or a slightly larger boat with 12-volt or 240-volt power source?

If the boat has a power source (12-volt then one can bring along a small inverter, say 400 W), what I use is a Passport drive (portable hard drive). Use the flash memory on the camera for storage of the current video files and as time is available, transfer them to the Passport drive. When you get home then copy the files to the home computer and use the portable hard drive as a backup.

If the boat doesn't have power, or if you're out in the field camping, then obviously the above won't work in that situation. I'd suggest a small portable solar panel but since you're in the UK ...... (kinda like Puget Sound).

The most likely thing to go wrong is you will lose your camera, e.g. drop it overboard. Just bring as many 32GB cards as you need, store them in something waterproof daily or as you fill them and back them up on land/back at base. Use the B slot if you run out of space on the A.