New 60d advise

[Colin Rowe]

Totally agree regarding class 6 cards, have been using Transcend class 6 in EX1s for nearly 2 years, never missed a beat. But just as well buy class 10, here in the UK they are the same price as class 6.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Thanks everyone..

[Steve Bleasdale]

Really getting to grips, but still intrigued how others use their dslr..

1. Is it possible to hold the camera like a camcorder with a flash bracket handle to the left and camera hand grip to the right or visa versa, or will there be to much shake, does anyone not use a shoulder rig and mono pod??

2. Having practiced a couple of days, is there a way of saving in settings that you have filmed earlier on, so say guests arriving and filmed and looks good, then go inside then have to change all wb, and iso, and apeture leaving shutter as 50 in my case, then go back outside to previous filming, can i just key in a preset to take me to where i was before or do i have to just make a note in my mind what i did previously then adjust settings to that??

3. When you set your shutter speed in my case 1/50, then i have sorted my wb, if i then start with say iso 160 or 200 in the good light, then i have to only now move the scroll wheel to finalise my apeture, how do i know i have the apeture right or is it just knowing what it will turn out like on the computor monitor or do you all have a certain setting in mind, say for good light, (shutter 1/50, iso 200, set white balance, apeture at say 5.6 or do you all set to the metering mode at the middle stop?? When i turn the scroll wheel to change apeture obviously the camera screen goes either lighter or darker, how do you guys know when its right???

4. For the morning prep do you guys use the monopod or shoulder rig because most homes i go to are tight rooms and hence why i ask the question no 1 above.??

5. Having filmed all auto this morning the footage looked crisp clear and fantastic and i made a note of the settings, then when i went full manual i did the same settings as auto and all was fine, then when i moved the wheel and started to change apeture and iso, the footage did not look as crisp?? is that just me?? steve

[Bruce Foreman]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

Colin your a bloody star...... i forgot about transend and concentrated on sandisk???? steve

Steve, do yourself a favor, and if you can make yourself afford it stay with SanDisk. While Transcends do seem to have a much better record than the other "bargain brands", the reports I've seen on Transcend problems have mostly involved TOTAL data loss.

SanDisk and Hoodman RAW have had the fewest problem complaints, most of the few I've seen on SanDisk have involved operator...?failure?...Such as failure to initially format in the camera followed by constant "erasure" of individual files while allowing still and video files to accumulate on the card, allowing the card to "fill up" (sooner or later you will risk FAT corruption), and similar.

Transcends have been reported to start showing buffer problems in Canon DSLRs if not reformatted before each new video project, SanDisk should still be reformatted before new video projects but generally don't show buffering problems this way.

I just picked up one of these:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/733801-REG/SanDisk_SDSDXP1_016G_A75_16GB_Extreme_Pro_SDHC.html

Faster and LOWER PRICED than the EXTREME Class (10)! While the 60D will function just fine on a 20Mbps Class (6) and doesn't need the extra speed of this one, maybe it's a bit of future proofing as I tend to keep my media longer than the cameras (although of late I've kept the last two cams when I purchased the 60D). Plus being waterproof and shockproof.

[Colin Rowe]

I have always advised people to find something they find reliable, and stick with it. I most definately have never thought of Transcend cards as "bargain brand", anything but". Bruce finds Sandisk and Hoodman reliable, I dont doubt for one minute the merits of these cards, it is simply that I have used Transcends in EX1s for nearly 2 years, and more lately in my 550D and Sony Nex-5. None of the cards have ever missed a beat, in any of the cameras. I dont really know where all the reports of malfunction come from regarding Transcend cards, I have seen no more reports regarding faults with them, than with any other well known brand. I have never had a problem with buffering with the 550D, my "personal video" card has been slowly filling up for the last 6 weeks, it has not been reformatted at all during this time, no problems whatsoever. I have no reason to doubt the reliability of the cards I use. It is really a matter of finding something reliable, and sticking with it.

[Bruce Foreman]

Colin,

Not trying to start an argument here, and I have no doubt Transcend cards are giving you good service. Their performance over the last few years has been head and shoulders above others like A-Data, Patriot, Lexar, Dane-Elec, and even Kingston (a supposedly well reputed brand).

For the last few years I've followed media problem reports in several forums and while the trouble reports on Transcend are far fewer than the other brands mentioned, I still see just enough to make me wary of depending on that brand. I haven't kept statistics on it but the Transcend failure reports I've seen are over 7 times those of SanDisk.

If I were doing weddings (the "ton" of those I've done were all in the "film" days) I would somehow opt to use only the utmost reliable brand card out there. Right now that looks to be Hoodman RAW, SanDisk comes in next. As to why I class Transcend as a "bargain" brand, I just checked B&H in NYC and Transcend prices on Class (10) 16GB SDHC run under half the price of SanDisk.

I'm not a "brand snob", and Transcend is obviously serving you well. But my advice to Steve remains the same, he's doing weddings and I wouldn't take the slightest chance I didn't have to. I'm retired from pro photography and most of my work is personal or for video "challenges" but I still ask myself the question, "How am I going to take it if the video I just shot isn't there when I get home?".

Here's a thread you participated in on buffering problems. Started out with Kingston media but couple of guys chimed in with the same problem with Transcend and with Patriot:

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/canon-eo...y-message.html

[Steve Bleasdale]

Whilst i always listen to every advice from people that know more than me, i generally then have to make my mind up at some point. i have just received two transends from amazon and twice yesterday the message came up stopped recording automatically??? then after a 2 second pressing the record button again, the cam started to record again?? the other day with the 8gb sandisk from amazon not one problem, also with the transend i had some artifacts on the monitor like glitches then i had blu screen, when i restarted the computor all was fine?? now i dont know wether that was the transends but i better be carefull, as bruce says, when introducing the 60d to the weddings in a couple weeks time i can ill afford any corruption. steve

[Dave Haynie]

Originally Posted by Steve Bleasdale

Colin your a bloody star...... i forgot about transend and concentrated on sandisk???? steve

I've used lots of Transcend cards, on camcorders, DSLRs, and more recently my 60D with the 32GB class 10. You do only need class 6, but the faster the better once you hook things up to the PC. Faster cards also work for you if you're shooting burst stills.

People like to recommend SanDisk because they make their own flash memory, and they're not a wrong choice. But Transcend's been around a long time (founded in 1988 in Taiwan) and, at least in my experience, they make a quality card for a good price. I have also used their ATA flash drives to replace old HDDs in 80's vintage logic analyzers (20-year-old $50,000 gear still has some value at $500 today).

[Dave Haynie]

Originally Posted by Bruce Foreman

While the 60D will function just fine on a 20Mbps Class (6) and doesn't need the extra speed of this one, maybe it's a bit of future proofing as I tend to keep my media longer than the cameras (although of late I've kept the last two cams when I purchased the 60D).

Check you math there.. 20Mb/s would not support the 60D.. the peak video write speed is about 44Mb/s (just looked that up, I thought it was a bit less). And it wouldn't be class 6. Class 6 means a minimum guaranteed burst write speed of 6MB/s = 48Mb/s. Class 4, not surprisingly, means a minimum 4MB/s write speed = 32Mb/s.

There's no standard for read speeds... so lots of memory card makers post higher read speeds, which are usually peak speeds. Your camera doesn't care, but certainly, faster reads mean you have faster transfers to your computer.

[Bruce Foreman]

I'm not real good at math. Maybe I got Mb/s and MB/s mixed up. Here's one card I got recently that works well in my 60D (no buffer bar and overflow), and an 8GB version of the same card has worked the same in a T1i I used to own, and also works well in my T2i.

It is plainly marked 20MB/s and Class (6). The SanDisk Exteme III Class (6) all were originally 20MB/s until the 30MB/s "edition" started showing up. Then shortly after that we started seeing Extreme Class (10) 30MB/s cards.

Here's a link to one I ordered a few weeks ago:

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/677598-REG/SanDisk_SDSDRX3_016G_A21_16GB_Extreme_SDHC_Memory.html

Now I'm using these mostly with the older cards as extras to have along.

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/733801-REG/SanDisk_SDSDXP1_016G_A75_16GB_Extreme_Pro_SDHC.html

[Dave Haynie]

I have a degree in math, and in electrical engineering... not that it matters. There are many different ways to measure the performance of a memory card. The one that really makes a difference for video, and at least sets the performance floor for anything else, is the sustained write speed... how fast am I guaranteed to always be able to write to the card. The SD Card Association understands as well that that's the critical factor, so that IS what the "Class" value means. A Class 6 card guarantees 6MB/s = 48Mb/s of write performance.

Of course, that's a problem for card markers trying to convince you that they make a somehow better card than anyone else. But the simple fact is, if any SD card can guarantee better write performance, you know the manufacturer will raise the "Class" rating.

There are other specs, of course. Read speed is always faster than write speed. Some card makers still use the "x" rating system for read speed -- how many times faster is your memory card than a 1x CD. So you could find a 100x Class 6 card and a 133c Class 6 card... they both guarantee a 6MB/s write, but they latter will likely read faster than the former. Of course, there's also no standards organization enforcing that "x" rating... do they mean guaranteed, average, or peak?

A card maker might also tell you about their average or peak write speeds. For video, all I care about is minimum write speed... if it's not met, my video will get trashed. But for still photos, I might be happier with a Class 6 card that averages 15MB/s writes than a Class 6 card that only says "Class 6"... maybe the former card gives me better typical performance. I don't know, but the SanDisk or Patriot marketing people know you'll THINK they have a better item there.

In the particular case of the SanDisk Extreme® HD Video SDHC™ card you pointed out at B&H, if you read the details, they claim " Up to 20 MB/sec read and write speed. Based on SanDisk internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device. 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes." So they're telling you the peak speed, the fastest it will ever go. And based on the nature of flash, read is always faster than write.. this is like specifying "up to 120mphs, forward and reverse speed" for your car. Chances are, you aren't getting anywhere near that peak in reverse.

Not that faster read speeds aren't useful... they just aren't much use in-camera. Once I get to transferring video and photos to my PC, I love a card that's as fast as possible there.

[Steve Bleasdale]

Ok so 2 60d weddings down the line... love it, love it, love it,, but.....i have a few gliches when played back, like artifacts?? only on a small amount of the footage, is this the transend cards? the computor is i7 2tb 6 gig ram nividia graphics, or is it the adobe prem 8 wont take the mov? then again from the raw footage i get the artifacts so? will i have to upgrade to cs5 or just use a transcoder like cineform or mpeg streamclip? if i use a transcoder will it keep the full hd footage? ive noticed also that the glitches are around a certain time i have moved the camera ?? steve

[Steve Bleasdale]

anyone know what this is? transend sd card, monitor, software? camera, steve

[Mark Hovater]

Let's solve all this issues of doubt and go back to digital to tape. It works so well for me...mark

[Charles Newcomb]

Tape? Ewwwww. I'd rather eat worms.