I always format my SxS cards before a shoot. As stated, use Clip Browser to copy the cards to the PC and it will take care of any spanned clips automatically.

I have labeled (externally) my SxS cards, so I don't care about any software label/ID of the card. And I keep my picture profiles safely stored on my computer. From there they can be easily copied to an SxS card for reloading into the camera, should the need arise.

Please tell me how you can store and then copy your picture profiles as I need to lean that..as when I rent out my EX3...it always comes back with different settings and I have to manually re-set everything....thanks

It's in the menu under CAMERA DATA, Recall or Store. It's not just picture profiles that are stored, it's the menu settings as well.

Like Doug I like to revert to all the camera baseline settings, but I also prefer to format the cards, just a comfort level.

Before you format a card, just recall your settings to the camera, format the card, then save the camera settings to the card.

I must be missing something here!

I always reformat my cards when I put them back into the (two EX 1's) we have and have never lost the camera data information or the PPs.

As we do live events and weddings, we constantly let the cameras change cards themselves, (always had warning volume on Zero from day 1), and as has already been stated, let Clip Browser automatically rejoin the clips when capturing to the computer.

The ONLY time this has never been seamless was when I inadvertently put the B card in the computer 1st and when I proceeded to the next card (the A one) it couldn't join pt 1 to pt 2, so had to delete the downloaded files and start again, in the right order.

(Blame old age for this one, but it is a trap of beware of).

Back to original post, have always had the full minutes available with the cards with this method.

Suggest to Diana that she gets the card checked. Haven't they got a lifetime guarantee?

Cheers,

Vaughan

This is why I always copy each card to its own, separate folder - and use Clip Browser to merge those folders at a later time; this way all my split (due to the FAT32 limit) or spanned (between 2 or more cards) clips get seamlessly joined. No matter which order I copy the cards to my HDD...

Dragging this thread back to the original topic :-)

I've just had a look at a card which has had a 'Delete all clips' in the camera. According to Finder, there is the BPAV folder and in that, 2 files (CUEUP.XML and MEDIAPRO.XML) and 2 empty subfolders (CLPR and TAKR). Total space used is 64KB.

Diana - after you have done a 'delete all clips', do you see any other files or folders? If you have saved the camera settings, there will be a SONY folder too. Also, have you been marking any clips as 'OK' on the card? If you do, 'delete all clips' will not delete them and they will remain, taking up space.

N

Tom,

Good point, but that works if you only own one camera. I shoot with multiple EX1s and EX3s.

For example, if I reformat a card in the EX1, then save the camera data file back to the card, I have still lost my EX3 data file and the custom name that I have given the card.

"Delete all clips" takes only a couple of seconds longer to execute than "Reformat" so there's really no advantage for me to ever reformat my cards.

That's because reformatting a card will not cause you to lose the camera data file that is loaded into the internal memory bank of the camera. But it will wipe out those files that are saved on the card. So if you ever want to reload the file, move your settings to another camera, etc. they won't be on the card as a backup anymore.

Yes, you can save a backup file on your computer (see my training DVD and field guide), but I rarely have my computer with me on a shoot.

Admittedly, this is a pretty minor issue (or non-issue) for someone who only uses one camera and doesn't care about giving cards a custom name. All I'm saying is that, since reformatting and delelting all clips both take about the same amount of time and the same number of steps, why not just delete all clips and preserve the data stored on the card? It works for me.

Card test
 

Hi Doug,

I tried what you suggested--put in the card that switched too early to see if I could record on it if there was no other card in the camera. I couldn't.

The time was 0 and I got a message that the card was full.

This is an 8GB card. I put it into the card reader and checked "get info" and it said:

7.5 GB capacity

6.9 GB used

600 mb available

I didn't think to check after reformatting. A test for another day.

On the workflow --- I've been using the XDCAM transfer software to move my media to the hard drives. It automatically creates separate folders for each card. This is what creates the problem with the split clips.

I'll have to try the Clip Browser again. When I first got the camera, I tried the clip browser and didn't like some aspect of its functionality (can't remember why -- something to do with missing drivers I think) so when I tried the transfer software, and it worked without a glitch, I just stuck with it. Not sure what the difference is between the two.

I don't disagree. Are we sure there's no concern with fragmentation when deleting versus formatting? I quite honestly wasn't even aware that a card *could* be custom named.

I've always done the "Delete Clips" thing instead of Format mostly because I have named all the cards (4 8gig SxS cards). I named them "Card_A", "Card_B", etc. which comes in very handy when I've done shoots where I was constantly shuffling cards between the camera and my laptop. I had one assignment that ran continuously for almost 2 hours so I was transferring files to my laptop while the camera continued to run. I'm not sure if fragmentation will become an issue over time especially given the use of FAT32 file structure. And, like Doug, I don't want to have to copy my camera profiles back to the card all the time, too.

Shouldn't be. Fragmentation happens when just some of the files on the medium are deleted, leaving empty space split up by the remaining files. After 'delete all clips', the card only has 64KB on it, so is effectively empty.

It isn't obvious in this thread, but is the matter related to shooting with only one card in the camera? The message I get (always have 2 cards mounted) is "will change...", which I think useful. If I had only one card mounted, approaching the end before I get there is something I need to know.
Reformatting is preferable to deleting because the latter accumulates clutter, but reformatting at the end of a shoot is quite sufficient. Camera files should be backed up elsewhere anyway.

The difference between Clip Browser and XDCAM Transfer is actually pretty simple, and if you are a FCP owner, you need to use both of them.

You use Clip Browser to import/archive/backup copies of the original native MP4 clips and BPAV folders on a hard drive or other removalble storage medium. You can also use Clip Browser to convert to other formats, if necessary.

You use XDCAM Transfer (for FCP users only) to convert the MP4 files to MOV files that Final Cut Pro will recognize and that can actually be used for editing. XDCAM Transfer offers a lot of options for how clips are imported, where they are imported to, which clips are imported, which parts of clips are imported, etc.

I recommend that you use both programs in a typical FCP workflow.

First, make archive copies of all your footage with Clip Browser, and then use XDCAM Transfer to convert just the clips, or sub-clips, that you want to actually use for editing.

I guess there is a plug-in now that will allow FCP to edit native MP4 files, but I haven't tried it myself and I am very skeptical that I will like it when I do.

The Clip Browser and XDCAM Transfer workflow works great as far as I'm concerned.

Calibrated Software. I use it. Works great. It doesn't join clips but it works fine otherwise.
It makes import blazing fast as there's no need to wrap to MOV. Editing is just as fast as working with MOV. Open a project is a little slower but not much. It works fine with FCP EX Easy Setups. No need to change sequence settings.

What's not to like?