I'm getting a message "not guaranteed media A" on boot up. (My SxS card is installed in slot A).

I have 3.0 installed and when I record high frame rates I'm getting "media error, recording halted" in the display and then the camera freezes. My hunch is a bad SxS card. Any thoughts?

Older SXS cards don't meet slo mo standards? SXS pro card required?

Yes unfortunately that appears to be right Daniel. Sony doesn't include an SxS card capable of letting you use the advanced features of the camera. Wow that is really surprising.

For HFR you can use older SXS cards but they will need to be SXS Pro cards (blue silver).

The orange/silver SXS cards are fine for the regular codecs but once you get to HFR they will not work and freeze the camera after you press record.

Well I did cough up the $800+ for the proper card and after seeing XAVC at 180 fps most is forgiven. Impressive camera so far but why do they include only the crappy first generation card with it?

Better the issue was with the card than with the camera. I almost always have to buy a bigger battery to work with a camera the way I want so I wouldn't expect Sony to include high end media when I bought a camera. I would probably have added it to the purchase if I thought I needed it.

True, but they even included a better (pro) card with my EX1r and that was four years ago. Anyway, what's done is done and yes it is better that it was the card and not the camera.

They don't include any cards in Europe.

They don't include cards in Canada either. I did manage to lock up my F55 by using a SXS Pro card a couple of days ago doing some HFR shooting.

So far so good with the pro+ at 180fps, no freezing yet.

No probs doing high-speed with my 180mbs XQD mini cards. They are very good value for $300.

I wrote a review on XQD cards published right here on DVInfo.net XQD Cards for Sony F5 and F55 at DV Info Net (http://www.dvinfo.net/article/acquisition/sonyxdcam/xqd-cards-for-sony-f5-and-f55.html)

Dennis, i read your review, it was very helpful. I see Sony has a G series card with a faster read/write speed. Would i be correct in assuming this too would work well with the F55? Is there a downside to going this route as opposed to Sony's SXS Pro + card?

thanks,

Thomas

Lots of "catches" on this topic;

The G cards are rated at 400MB/s and despite conflicting and inaccurate information that you might need these cards for HFR, the only advantage is going to be the offloading speed - which is still great but the max rate the FS7/F5/F55 can write are 600mbs (75MB/s) ie. 4K 60p. HFR on these cameras are more frames per second yes but also 4 times less resolution since only offered in 2K..

The big plus of the G cards is they come in 128GB, they are cheaper than SXS Pro+ cards, and they are twice as fast as the SXS Pro+ cards.

The downsides, well there are a few;

If you only have USB2 then you are not going to get the max offload speed that the cards are capable of.

Compared to SXS Pro + in terms of data and data integrity, Sony has said this:

"The Pro and Pro + cards use more expensive flash memory with a longer lifespan. The Pro + and XQD/S cards also have updated controllers and very sophisticated onboard buffering and garbage collection when used with supporting cameras.

The recovery process is different depending on the type/condition of the media, whether the file system is visible etc. I deal with the files and the data structure of the .mxfs while the media team in Texas deals with the physical memory"

Also the G cards will not work in the S series USB reader, so if you currently use both media series you need both USB readers. Not a big deal but you need to know about it.

Sony doesn't include an SxS card capable of letting you use the advanced features of the camera. Wow that is really surprising.
A bit "damned if they do, damned if they don't".

But the higher spec card they include, the higher the user is going to pay, one way or another. And some users may take the view they'd rather have a cheaper basic price than a more expensive included card - they may already have some cards, for instance? As others have said, in some countries they don't ship with any cards at all.

I suppose a basic card may cost Sony next to nothing - so little impact on sale price - but at least enable a buyer to get some "out of the box" result?