DSandisk vs. Transcend vs. hoodman Raw SDHC cards

Bruce Rawlings · June 12th, 2009, 06:27 AM

Yes on both counts. Transcend class 6 16gb work very well.

Craig Seeman · June 12th, 2009, 09:55 AM

MxR and Hoodman adaptersa are all coming from same manufacturer so there is no difference.

Paul Frederick · June 12th, 2009, 12:21 PM

Awesome news! Thanks for the info.

Brian Chow · June 12th, 2009, 02:44 PM

I just received an MXR adaptor and then bought a 16gb Transend Class 6. I verified the serial number and it is an authentic card from the Trancend website. Problem is though is that after I record 4-5 clips (short or long) it comes up with "media needs to be restored" I then have to take it out and insert it again to restore it. Constantly happens, this is not an intermittent problem. I am not overcranking, just shooting 1080 24 HQ. Does anyone have any suggestions? BTW, I am using an EX3.

Thank-you,
Brian

Kevin Spahr · June 12th, 2009, 08:51 PM

I had posted else where here that I bought eight Transcend 16GB SDHC and one of them does exactly what you describe - no matter how many re-formats - and it will do to every time. It will also fail if I stick it in my Mac and try to copy big files to it. It is defective. I would try to return it or use Transcends "Life Time Guarantee"

Jamie Peters · June 15th, 2009, 02:41 PM

Same problem here as Brian, I have two new 16gb transcend cards one works fine but other fails after about 4 to 5 clips (restore media message). Tried restore/ reformat but still same problem. Have returned this one to supplier. Hopefully this is not going to become a common problem.

Tim Kay · June 15th, 2009, 08:15 PM

As a future EX1 owner, this little thread just saved me over $1000! Had no idea there was an alternative to the over-priced Sony cards (what from Sony isn't ).

I have some comments after reading this investigative and educational thread:

First, I didn't find Jamie's comments insulting at all. He asked a legitimate question that was based in the conversation. It might have been a tough question, but wasn't one just for reaction or ill-spirited. I thank you for asking it.

Secondly, after reading everyone's comments theres just no way that I could trust a Sandisk for Professional use. I have many Sandisk cards for my consumer point and shoot camera which i'm very happy with. Many great drunken madness pics have been captured with them. But to many people are having issues with class 4 & 6 that I wouldn't touch them on a professional shoot.

It would be great to have a representative from Transcend addressing the failure issues but without that, personally, I'm leaning heavily towards Hoodman. For $50, that piece of mind and insurance is cheap! If I lost data from a shoot, the cost in gathering a crew back, resecuring a location, bringing actors back would make me seem like dumbo for trying to save a messily $50 ( after already saving $500 by not buying an SxS card).

And thanks to those that sent emails and made calls and reported back with your findings. Greatly Appreciated!

Thats my 2 cents.

Robert Rogoz · June 17th, 2009, 10:40 AM

Nice sales pitch from Lou, but..... What I would like to see 2 things. First of all how the data on card failure was collected? Second question would be what is Hoodman's card failure ratio? All electronic equipment suffers from failure, regarding of the brand. What I am interested in, is how Hoodman can support it's claim of fail free cards?
Seems to me there was a lot of hot air blowing in this sales pitch. 25K pictures, 3% failure and so. Would be helpful to see the raw data, rather then "urban legends".
BTW all upper end Nikon and Canon (accepted by stock agencies) write to CF not SD cards. Therefor there is hardly any point of mentioning still photography as it uses different product all together.

Leonard Levy · June 17th, 2009, 01:38 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Robert Rogoz

Seems to me there was a lot of hot air blowing in this sales pitch.

First - This has already come up once before in this thread. Please refrain from this kind of language on this forum, especially when referring to comments by a dealer about his equipment. Dealers fund these forums. Their input is extremely valuable. Its wise to always take it with a grain of salt but there are respectful ways to voice your doubts.

Second - After reading of all the Transcend and Sandisk problems on this thread, I've decided to take a chance on the Hoodman combo. Time will tell whether they really are more reliable , but $50 is a small price to pay for peace of mind . Also the Hoodman Turnkey comes with a plastic holder and USB adapter which narrows the cost difference.

Lenny Levy

Andy Schocken · June 17th, 2009, 03:31 PM

I don't see the value in the hoodman cards. You can get a 32gb SxS card for $860. To match that with the hoodman, you need two 16s, at $100 ea, plus one or two adapters, at $50 ea- total of 250-300, or 1/3 the price of the SxS. Considering the risk you're taking with unsupported media, the lower performance, and loss of workflow efficiency (offloading sdhc takes forever), it just doesn't add up to me unless you're talking about bigger savings. With reliable Transcend cards at $40 ea (including a usb reader), I've been using them as backup, whenever I run out of my SxS. But if it was only a 3:1 savings, I'd buy more SxS.

Leonard Levy · June 17th, 2009, 04:02 PM

Well, it depends on how reliable the hoodman's turn out to be, how much the $ difference is to you and what your workflow is.

Its still a significant savings to me, and frankly I don't really want cards that record for 2 hours so perhaps the trade off is better on 16G.

Tim Kay · June 17th, 2009, 04:58 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Andy Schocken

I don't see the value in the hoodman cards. .

I spoke to soon. After reviewing all the info, and threads and pages I too couldn't justify Hoodmans price, 60% more then Transcend. They may have a few more hick ups but I observed that if its gonna fail, you'll know right away. And my deciscion was made easier by there website adds sales tax AND shipping one combo runs $13 ! Wow! Must be amazing quality control there too. Ended up buying a Hoodman SxS adapter from B&H (no tax, upgraded shipping was a whooping .50) and bought 2 transcend cards with free shipping from another online retailer.

Total price, including tax and shipping for 1 Sxs Adaptor, 2 16gb sdhc cards and 2 usb readers was $136.50. Really wanted to buy from Hoodman, appreciated there response here but couldn't account for their claims and thus the higher price.

Robert Rogoz · June 17th, 2009, 10:51 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

First - This has already come up once before in this thread. Please refrain from this kind of language on this forum, especially when referring to comments by a dealer about his equipment. Dealers fund these forums. Their input is extremely valuable. Its wise to always take it with a grain of salt but there are respectful ways to voice your doubts.

Leonard, first of all I find the sales pitch from Hoodman offensive. Promoting a product by putting competitor's product down, using unsupported data is not the way to promote yourself. I asked a couple of very legit questions- how the data was gathered and what is Hoodman's failure ratio? I used SanDisc for years (CF) and I never had a failure. I looked up customer's feedback on sites like B&H, newegg and a couple of others. While there are some instances of cards not working Sandisc or Transcend were rated positively by vast majority. I could not find a single customer review, outside of Hoodman's web page! I have my doubts that the company sold more then a few thousands of cards. So the claim of zero failure is rather strange.
BTW, the only reason advertisers use this site, as a lot of people read it. It's a symbiotic relationship, not one way street, as you present it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by Leonard Levy

Second - After reading of all the Transcend and Sandisk problems on this thread, I've decided to take a chance on the Hoodman combo. Time will tell whether they really are more reliable , but $50 is a small price to pay for peace of mind . Also the Hoodman Turnkey comes with a plastic holder and USB adapter which narrows the cost difference.

Lenny Levy

Good for you. Personally I think 50 bucks is a lot of money. But honestly, I would never use unsupported media in EX. That's the reason I went with JVC.

Leonard Levy · June 18th, 2009, 12:09 PM

Robert,
There are rules on this forum and I have seen posts deleted a number of times for exactly the kind of remarks you posted, (particularely for remarks about Sony that were probably deserved.) It behooves all of us to simply keep the discussion polite.

If you found Lou's statements suspect you have every right to critique them, I'm just suggesting that it should be done politely. I've often started to post something then thought better of it and re-written my comments. These forums are wonderfully valuable, but they can degenerate easily. I have seen manufacturers and knowledgeable people leave other sites because of rude personal attacks.

Re: Sandisk and Transcend failures , I've been worried by exactly what I've read here. I also scoured the web looking for other comments and didn't find too much. I called local camera stores as well and had mixed responses - though my own local store echoed what Lou said. I'm also skeptical that the Hoodman cards are failure proof but I made my own judgement.

You have every right to make yours and argue the point here if you wish. The point is just to do it without insulting people.

BTW my Hoodman card arrived this morning and it didn't have the plastic cover for the adapter card I was expecting. The person I spoke to misunderstood me. So now I have to buy a cover from the Abel Cine site. That's something Hoodman should offer.

Adam Reuter · June 18th, 2009, 12:40 PM

I just posted a user video review of the Hoodman SxSxSDHC turnkey kit. Since I am a newbie to using these workaround cards I think it will be informative for anyone thinking about heading in that direction.

Hoodman SxSxSDHC Sony EX1/EX3 Adaptor Review on Vimeo

June 12th, 2009, 12:21 PM	#48
Paul Frederick Major Player Join Date: Nov 2003 Location: WestChazy, NY Posts: 291	Awesome news! Thanks for the info. __________________ www.paulfrederickproductions.com

June 12th, 2009, 02:44 PM	#49
Brian Chow Regular Crew Join Date: Jan 2006 Location: Vancouver, B.C. Canada Posts: 105	Error Error Error I just received an MXR adaptor and then bought a 16gb Transend Class 6. I verified the serial number and it is an authentic card from the Trancend website. Problem is though is that after I record 4-5 clips (short or long) it comes up with "media needs to be restored" I then have to take it out and insert it again to restore it. Constantly happens, this is not an intermittent problem. I am not overcranking, just shooting 1080 24 HQ. Does anyone have any suggestions? BTW, I am using an EX3. Thank-you, Brian

June 15th, 2009, 08:15 PM	#52
Tim Kay Regular Crew Join Date: Jun 2004 Location: SF & LA Posts: 195	As a future EX1 owner, this little thread just saved me over $1000! Had no idea there was an alternative to the over-priced Sony cards (what from Sony isn't ). I have some comments after reading this investigative and educational thread: First, I didn't find Jamie's comments insulting at all. He asked a legitimate question that was based in the conversation. It might have been a tough question, but wasn't one just for reaction or ill-spirited. I thank you for asking it. Secondly, after reading everyone's comments theres just no way that I could trust a Sandisk for Professional use. I have many Sandisk cards for my consumer point and shoot camera which i'm very happy with. Many great drunken madness pics have been captured with them. But to many people are having issues with class 4 & 6 that I wouldn't touch them on a professional shoot. It would be great to have a representative from Transcend addressing the failure issues but without that, personally, I'm leaning heavily towards Hoodman. For $50, that piece of mind and insurance is cheap! If I lost data from a shoot, the cost in gathering a crew back, resecuring a location, bringing actors back would make me seem like dumbo for trying to save a messily $50 ( after already saving $500 by not buying an SxS card). And thanks to those that sent emails and made calls and reported back with your findings. Greatly Appreciated! Thats my 2 cents. __________________ Event Production Services \| Video Production San Francisco

June 12th, 2009, 06:27 AM	#46
Bruce Rawlings Major Player Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Cardiff, Wales, UK Posts: 410	Yes on both counts. Transcend class 6 16gb work very well.

June 12th, 2009, 09:55 AM	#47
Craig Seeman Inner Circle Join Date: Feb 2004 Location: Brooklyn, NY, USA Posts: 3,841	MxR and Hoodman adaptersa are all coming from same manufacturer so there is no difference.

June 12th, 2009, 08:51 PM	#50
Kevin Spahr Major Player Join Date: Feb 2005 Location: Carlisle, PA Posts: 451	I had posted else where here that I bought eight Transcend 16GB SDHC and one of them does exactly what you describe - no matter how many re-formats - and it will do to every time. It will also fail if I stick it in my Mac and try to copy big files to it. It is defective. I would try to return it or use Transcends "Life Time Guarantee"

June 15th, 2009, 02:41 PM	#51
Jamie Peters New Boot Join Date: Feb 2008 Location: Suffolk, UK Posts: 9	Same problem here as Brian, I have two new 16gb transcend cards one works fine but other fails after about 4 to 5 clips (restore media message). Tried restore/ reformat but still same problem. Have returned this one to supplier. Hopefully this is not going to become a common problem.

June 17th, 2009, 10:40 AM	#53
Robert Rogoz Major Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: Bellingham, WA Posts: 457	Nice sales pitch from Lou, but..... What I would like to see 2 things. First of all how the data on card failure was collected? Second question would be what is Hoodman's card failure ratio? All electronic equipment suffers from failure, regarding of the brand. What I am interested in, is how Hoodman can support it's claim of fail free cards? Seems to me there was a lot of hot air blowing in this sales pitch. 25K pictures, 3% failure and so. Would be helpful to see the raw data, rather then "urban legends". BTW all upper end Nikon and Canon (accepted by stock agencies) write to CF not SD cards. Therefor there is hardly any point of mentioning still photography as it uses different product all together.

June 17th, 2009, 03:31 PM	#55
Andy Schocken Regular Crew Join Date: Jul 2006 Location: Brooklyn, NY Posts: 54	I don't see the value in the hoodman cards. You can get a 32gb SxS card for $860. To match that with the hoodman, you need two 16s, at $100 ea, plus one or two adapters, at $50 ea- total of 250-300, or 1/3 the price of the SxS. Considering the risk you're taking with unsupported media, the lower performance, and loss of workflow efficiency (offloading sdhc takes forever), it just doesn't add up to me unless you're talking about bigger savings. With reliable Transcend cards at $40 ea (including a usb reader), I've been using them as backup, whenever I run out of my SxS. But if it was only a 3:1 savings, I'd buy more SxS.

June 17th, 2009, 04:02 PM	#56
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Well, it depends on how reliable the hoodman's turn out to be, how much the $ difference is to you and what your workflow is. Its still a significant savings to me, and frankly I don't really want cards that record for 2 hours so perhaps the trade off is better on 16G.

June 18th, 2009, 12:09 PM	#59
Leonard Levy Trustee Join Date: Feb 2006 Location: USA Posts: 1,684	Robert, There are rules on this forum and I have seen posts deleted a number of times for exactly the kind of remarks you posted, (particularely for remarks about Sony that were probably deserved.) It behooves all of us to simply keep the discussion polite. If you found Lou's statements suspect you have every right to critique them, I'm just suggesting that it should be done politely. I've often started to post something then thought better of it and re-written my comments. These forums are wonderfully valuable, but they can degenerate easily. I have seen manufacturers and knowledgeable people leave other sites because of rude personal attacks. Re: Sandisk and Transcend failures , I've been worried by exactly what I've read here. I also scoured the web looking for other comments and didn't find too much. I called local camera stores as well and had mixed responses - though my own local store echoed what Lou said. I'm also skeptical that the Hoodman cards are failure proof but I made my own judgement. You have every right to make yours and argue the point here if you wish. The point is just to do it without insulting people. BTW my Hoodman card arrived this morning and it didn't have the plastic cover for the adapter card I was expecting. The person I spoke to misunderstood me. So now I have to buy a cover from the Abel Cine site. That's something Hoodman should offer.

June 18th, 2009, 12:40 PM	#60
Adam Reuter Major Player Join Date: Nov 2006 Location: Baltimore, Maryland Posts: 234	I just posted a user video review of the Hoodman SxSxSDHC turnkey kit. Since I am a newbie to using these workaround cards I think it will be informative for anyone thinking about heading in that direction. Hoodman SxSxSDHC Sony EX1/EX3 Adaptor Review on Vimeo