best way to delete all clips (without losing camera settings)?

[Malcolm Hamilton]

Hi there,
Still learning the ropes... and wondering what's the best way to get rid of clips on a card once I've copied them safely to two locations.

I want to delete all the clips on the card, without deleting my saved camera settings.

I can use a setting in ShotPut EXpress to 'Automatically format card after offload completes', but I don't know whether this might get rid of my camera settings.

Someone mentioned using Clip Browser to delete all clips, but I won't use Clip Browser until I get back to my office at the end of a day of shooting.

It seems to me I have three choices:
1. use ShotPut EXpress to automatically reformat card
2. open the SXS card on my desktop and drag the BPAV folder to the trash (but this might get rid of camera settings too?)
3. delete all clips after I put the SXS card back in my camera.

What's the best way?
Thanks, malcolm

Thanks,
Malcolm

[Paul Kellett]

Reformat the card via the camera menu. It doesn't erase camera settings.

Paul.

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Paul Kellett

Reformat the card via the camera menu. It doesn't erase camera settings.

Paul.

Wrong - prevents from continuous recording with slot switching/card wrangling!

[Malcolm Hamilton]

Piotr, could you elaborate please? What problem is caused by reformatting the card in the camera?
What method do you use to reformat the card (in the field)?
thanks, Malcolm

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Malcolm,

When you want the EX1 to record continuously, switching cards automatically upon filling them up - you cannot ask it to stop and re-format the card for you,, can you? Instead, you need to insert an empty, formatted card while it's recording to another slot.

Of course if you don't care for continuous recording, this reservation is irrelevant - you can use your camera to format the cards for you, if you want.

[Clark Peters]

Camera settings saved on the SxS card are a copy of what has already been saved within the camera. Reformatting the card will not lose the settings in the camera, if that is what you are worried about.

If formatting in Shotput gets rid of everything (I don't know that it does that), you can always reload a copy of your camera settings from your laptop to the SxS card if needed later.

Pete

[Malcolm Hamilton]

thank you Pete. I've now made a copy of my .SUF file onto my computer.
I've also emailed ShotPut EXpress to ask if reformatting the card deletes camera settings as well as clips.
I'll repost when I hear from them.
Cheers, Malcolm

[Malcolm Hamilton]

Hi Piotr, just saw your note.
I think I see what you mean. But if I've copied my card(s) over while on a break (i.e. I'm NOT shooting at the time), then I'm o.k. to reformat the cards before putting them back into the camera, right?
When you say that reformatting the card in the camera "prevents/ continuous recording" (because of what you call "slot switching/card wrangling"), are you talking about someone trying to empty a card while the camera is simultaneously recording to the other card?
Thanks, Malcolm

[Andrew Hollister]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Hamilton

I want to delete all the clips on the card, without deleting my saved camera settings.

2. open the SXS card on my desktop and drag the BPAV folder to the trash (but this might get rid of camera settings too?)
Malcolm

Drag the BPAV card to the trash, empty trash and eject the card.
Camera settings are in a separate folder *I think* named 'Sony'

Also, best to keep that folder with your settings on your computer or thumb drive in a safe place, on the off chance you accidentally delete and want to copy it back to the SxS card.

[Malcolm Hamilton]

thanks Andrew... that solves things nicely.
Malcolm

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Originally Posted by Malcolm Hamilton

When you say that reformatting the card in the camera "prevents/ continuous recording" (because of what you call "slot switching/card wrangling"), are you talking about someone trying to empty a card while the camera is simultaneously recording to the other card?
Thanks, Malcolm

Yes Malcolm - exactly, this is what I am talking about. Using only 2 8GB cards, I did a lot of projects where shooting continuously for several hours was involved - all this with a laptop of course (otherwise, I am a one-man business :)).

[Malcolm Hamilton]

wow... that's got to be a bit nerve-wracking. I'll be working by myself, too, so I know I'll be having to do it. I might survive, if I have a plan written out, if not actually tatooed on my forearm, so I know exactly what to do.
On that note... here's your advice (from another thread) for downloading clips that might span two cards (which I've edited slightly for my own benefit):

"Because some clips can span two cards:
1. copy first card to BPAV folder on desktop
2. when you mount your other card, copy BPAV folder to the SAME folder on desktop - - not a separate folder or subfolder!
This creates the right structure automatically, and displays any combined files as single clips.
3. then, and only then, select your clips, and export to MXF"

Have I summed things up properly? (if I do end up tatooing instructions like these onto my arm, I want to make sure it's right, because every word is going to hurt!).

Cheers,
Malcolm

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Yes Malcom, this is right - under one very important condition: that you use the Clip Browser COPY function, NOT that of Explorer or other OS tool!

[Malcolm Hamilton]

O.K. Piotr,

I'm hoping this slight tweak to this workflow is o.k.:

I'm hoping to use ShotPut EXpress to copy my card contents to my desktop (and to external fw drive, and USB flash drive, practically simultaneously). I can certainly instruct it to copy the next card to the SAME folder(s)... i.e. no separate folder, no subfolders.

Then when I get back to my office I'll copy this folder into Clip Browser, and export to MXF.

My worry about this plan is what you just said about using the Clip Browser copy function only, and not the copy function of Explorer or any "other OS tool". ShotPut EXpress is an OS tool... so are you saying don't use it?

(I'm hoping you can get to their website so you can have a look; the only flaw I've found so far - - and I realize you may about to point out a second flaw - - is that I can't use it to reformat the card after copying off the contents... this would get rid of my camera settings (.SUF) too, which would NOT be a good thing)
cheers,
Malcolm

[Piotr Wozniacki]

Malcolm
By no means do I imply that my method (which works for me) is better than what ShotPut is doing - the ability to copy to several media at the same time is a great advantage! So if I had this app, I am not certain if I wanted to change the way it's doing things - it's been probably well thought out...

Oh, and with coping each card into separate BPAV, it's NOT important which COPY functionality you're using! It's only crucial when saving all project under a single BPAV, where each take is placed into its own CLPR subdir by the Clip Browser copy.