Sony SxS cards versus SDHC Class 6 cards

[Dean Sensui]

Originally Posted by Tyler Smith

correction: the card that failed on me was a Sandisk Class 4.

And whilst the nanoflash is appealing, it feels like more of a hassle to carry around an extra piece of gear on my camera.

I haven't heard of any reliability issues with SxS cards, does anyone know of any problems?

I've never had a problem with an SxS card. In that respect they're worth the price.

I do have MxR adapters but hold them in reserve if I should run out of capacity with the SxS cards. So far that hasn't happened.

As for recording to an external device, it's OK if you're in a controlled environment. But if you're out in the field, literally, and are running around with the camera handheld, you run the risk of dislodging the cable between the camera and recorder at the worst possible time.

Also, there's yet another device that requires battery power, and one more piece of equipment, in addition to audio gear, to be concerned about.

[Ilya Spektor]

Originally Posted by Marcus Durham

Now here's something interesting....

At the weekend I ordered up some MXM cards. They arrived today and after some quick tests on the face of it they appear to be faster than the MXR's.

Put a new ATP card into the MXM, overcrank to 50fps and you'll get 3 minutes of recording (90 seconds real time) before the camera bombs out. Try that with the same card in an MXR and the camera quits after 22 seconds (12 seconds real time).

Faster chips in the adaptor? Either way it looks like there is more headroom.

Marcus,

Are these MxM adapters their new lockable ones? Did you buy them separately or as a kit - adapter with ATP card in it? I hope, they test the assembly before shipping...

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Ilya Spektor

Marcus,

Are these MxM adapters their new lockable ones? Did you buy them separately or as a kit - adapter with ATP card in it? I hope, they test the assembly before shipping...

The cards are MxM lockable. I bought 2 adaptor cards and 1 ATP.

The ATP card was not pre-installed and came in the same packaging as my Amazon card.

I'd much rather test myself than put blind faith in someone else testing for me. Many of our cameras are running different versions of the firmware. I recall reading that some people have even found speed inconsistancies between Slot A and B. Test the cards and adaptors with your own cameras so you know how they will react in the real world.

[Ilya Spektor]

Originally Posted by Marcus Durham

I'd much rather test myself than put blind faith in someone else testing for me. Many of our cameras are running different versions of the firmware. I recall reading that some people have even found speed inconsistancies between Slot A and B. Test the cards and adaptors with your own cameras so you know how they will react in the real world.

Makes sense!..

[John Harbor]

I just received my MxM lockable adaptors and fitted them up with 32gig Sandisk Extreme 30MB/s class 10 SDHC cards.
They so far seem to go like a rocket !!
Will give them a full test this weekend

harb

[Chris van der Zaan]

I don't have the EX1 (r) yet, but recognize the same problem with Transcend cards.
I use the 16gb ones for a photocamera. Once in a while the file system of the disk will just corrupt out of the blue. Resulting in 'unknown media'. Solution is to format and repartition in windows. I learned it usually happens after the first 0-30 photo's. After that it seems safe to continue. (never had it fail on me after that point, knock knock)

But it seems Transcend sdhc cards are not really consistent.

Here's a nice simular story: Please help - Transcend SD card shows up empty after expensive shoot : Sony EX Series XDCAM

But i wonder why that guy goes cheap for a thousands of dollars production. :-)))

[Duncan Craig]

Many of us have never had any kind of issue using SD cards in EX camera. Personally I have 8 x 16GB Transcend and they've been faultless.

The all appear to be a similar type of card from the outside at least, all check out OK on the serial number checker too.

[Craig Seeman]

I think the issue is that the cards have a spec target wider than the EX handles. This means you have to test the cards individually. If the card tests good, it's good and vice versa. It seems a few cards may go bad though but that seems rare.

There are several things to do to test but the first step for me is but two matching cards in the two slots and record straight through without stopping. You should have NO MEDIA ERRORS. If there's an error, return the card.

You want FLAWLESS, not mostly works.

[Tyler Smith]

test as much as you like, my card was working "flawlessly" for at least three months before it corrupted completely.

as a professional I suppose I'm just risk averse - I won't be using SD for any critical shooting.

[Dave Morrison]

Same here. I'd had my Transcend/MxR's for a few months and they had tested perfectly. Then, prepping for a shoot one day and making sure the cards were empty, one of them took a dirt nap and was not recognized by the camera no matter what I did. It's back at Transcend now and they are replacing it, but I'll never trust either of them on a paying job.

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Dave Morrison

Same here. I'd had my Transcend/MxR's for a few months and they had tested perfectly. Then, prepping for a shoot one day and making sure the cards were empty, one of them took a dirt nap and was not recognized by the camera no matter what I did. It's back at Transcend now and they are replacing it, but I'll never trust either of them on a paying job.

As has been pointed out, the Transcend cards are not to be trusted. It's probably not the SDHC solution at fault here, but a change in the Transcend manufacturing process earlier in the year.

All my Transcend cards have been put to one side and I'm now shooting only on ATP Pro cards.

[Paul Kellett]

Marcus, are you shooting on Promax or Promax 2 cards ?
The Promax 2 cards are SLC, which is better.
Where do you get your ATP cards from ?
I'm also thinking about the new Sony memory stick adaptor but i'm wondering if that'll work without a further firmware upgrade.
I'm shooting at the moment with the Transcend and MXR's, no problems so far but sometimes i worry about it.

Thanks.
Paul.

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by Paul Kellett

Marcus, are you shooting on Promax or Promax 2 cards ?
The Promax 2 cards are SLC, which is better.
Where do you get your ATP cards from ?
I'm also thinking about the new Sony memory stick adaptor but i'm wondering if that'll work without a further firmware upgrade.
I'm shooting at the moment with the Transcend and MXR's, no problems so far but sometimes i worry about it.

Thanks.
Paul.

I'm shooting onto the standard Promax. The last time I looked the Promax 2 only went up to 8gb.

Amazon UK stock the Promax cards but they hiked the price up recently.

You are now better off going to the MxM website as they sell both the 16gb and 32gb versions of the cards. Also take a look at their new lockable adaptor cards. On first impressions the cards appear to be faster than my MxR's which can only be a good thing (see further up this thread).

I ordered my cards last weekend and they turned up Wednesday. From Australia! The only thing to watch out for is the courier will sting you for import duty and VAT (in my case £24 which was for 2 adaptors and 1 16gb card although I can claim the VAT portion back).

[Paul Kellett]

Is there any difference now between the MXR and MXM adaptor ?
I've read somewhere that there's an actual size difference.
I have 2 of the early MXR readers, i've never had any problems.

How are EX users getting on with the Hoodman cards ? Are they still deemed reliable ?
Thanks, Paul.

[William Griffin]

I own 2 Hoodman cards...which I got 2 months ago. Well, last month one of them failed on me and I called Hoodman and they replaced it free of charge.

Since then, I have had no problems and I use the Kennington SxK adapter. But I also use the Transend red strip 16gb cards...and so far no problems, but I have noticed that the red to green time is a little longer....like 7 to 10 seconds.

HTH