Best CF Card Reader for XF100 and MBP, FCP 7

[Greg Huber]

I recently purchased a Canon XF100 and looking forward to it arriving this week. I am using a Macbook Pro (2011, 17" version) along with Final Cut Pro 7.

I was wondering if there are any recommendations out there for those in a similar set up to me. I would like to make sure I have a good and speedy set up for transferring video from my camera to the MBP. I will be using the SanDisk Extreme cards (not Pro) and they are 60 MB/s, which is faster than the USB 2.0 standard of up to 35 MB/s. USB 3.0 can go up to 625 MB/s in theory, which should be more than adequate.

My MBP does not have USB 3.0 on it, only Thunderbolt and Firewire. I could go the route of buying an expresscard 34 and getting USB 3.0, and then a USB 3.0 card reader but I'm not sure how well this would work. It also seems a little bit of a hack vs. doing something more supported. Unfortunately, I don't see anything out there for a native Thunderbolt CF card reader.

I also have a desktop PC that I could relegate to doing the import work (and then copy the files to my MBP via gigabit ethernet) so I could go USB 3.0 a little easier that way, but I'd like to do everything directly on the Mac if possible.

Any recommendations would be much appreciated! Am I stuck with USB 2.0 / or the PC for now or has someone else figured this out?

PS I know I probably could have posted this question elsewhere, but wanted to check specifically for anyone using my camera first in case there are any nuances I might not be aware of.

Thanks,
Greg

[Alan McCormick]

Hi Greg, it all depends how important the transfer time is to you. I use a bulk standard USB 2 card reader and a full-ish 32GB card takes 18 minutes to transfer to my 2008 MBP. I thought about getting the a Sonnet Pro Dual Compact Flash 886x ExpressCard34 to seed things up but decided to spend the money on another 32GB card instead. In my case having the extra cards was more important as I did not want to rush and download a card to re-use it (mistakes are bound to happen).

At the end of a gig I download all CF cards as a backup to my MBP as I am packing away all my other kit and always have sufficient time.

Of course your circumstances may be different....

[Greg Huber]

Originally Posted by Alan McCormick

Hi Greg, it all depends how important the transfer time is to you. I use a bulk standard USB 2 card reader and a full-ish 32GB card takes 18 minutes to transfer to my 2008 MBP. I thought about getting the a Sonnet Pro Dual Compact Flash 886x ExpressCard34 to seed things up but decided to spend the money on another 32GB card instead. In my case having the extra cards was more important as I did not want to rush and download a card to re-use it (mistakes are bound to happen).

At the end of a gig I download all CF cards as a backup to my MBP as I am packing away all my other kit and always have sufficient time.

Of course your circumstances may be different....

Alan, thanks for the recommendation, and duration info on the 32gb transfer. That does look like a very good option.

In my scenario, the speed of the transfer is more of an irritation than anything. The minute I start transferring I usually have a lot of ideas rolling around in my head, I feel like I lose some momentum with the creative juices while I'm waiting (with my current usb 2.0 option and existing cam) but it's really nothing more than that. Considering all the time spent in FCP editing and rendering (compared to the transfer), it's really quite small in the grand scheme of things.

I think I'll wait a few weeks and give it time to see how everything works, and if it seems too slow I may give the Sonnet a shot! I also have a new fluid head monopod on the wish list, which may be a higher priority right now... Thanks again.

[Mark Andersson]

I bout this FW800 Card Reader from eBay works great:
NEW Gold Flash FireWire 800 FW800 CF UDMA Compact Flash Card Reader IEEE-1394 | eBay

[Greg Huber]

Originally Posted by Mark Andersson

I bout this FW800 Card Reader from eBay works great:
NEW Gold Flash FireWire 800 FW800 CF UDMA Compact Flash Card Reader IEEE-1394 | eBay

Thanks Mark! I love the pictures in the ebay listing... :)