E-films announces compatibility with Sandisk 64GB SDXC

[Ross Herewini]

Efilms announced today support for Sandisk 64GB SDXC in existing MxR and e-LCR Expresscard Adapters.

After thorough testing of the new Sandisk 64GB SDXC card, we can confirm that the MxR and e-LCR can now record up to 224mins of Full HD on one card. Efilms adapters are the only ones on the market that can achieve this.

No other card can access the full 224 mins of Full HD recording on the Sandisk SDXC card, other cards can only achieve 104mins.


SDXC – Compatibility information.

• Efilms has now completed testing of the new Sandisk 64GB SDXC card, and it works perfectly in the current models of MxR, (second generation has a Purple Label), and the e-LCR.

• No other card on the market can access the full 224 minutes available on the SDXC card.

• You can now record for up to 3hrs 45mins of Full HD per card.

• Two 64GB cards, will give you 7hrs and 30mins recording before you have to change cards, enough to cover a complete days shooting.

• If you are recording in SP mode each card can record 308 mins (5 hrs 8 mins) each. With two cards that is over 10 hours of footage before changing a card!

• The Sandisk 64GB SDXC card has proved very stable in testing, which has included filling the card with full over-cranked footage of 60fps, as well as actual usage of over 300hrs, without error.

• We also tested download speed of the card to computer, and even though it is rated as a Class 4 card, it is as fast as any of the cards we have ever tested, downloading at over 20MB/s.

• Testing has already started on Panasonic, and will be continuing on other brands of SDXC as manufacturers make them available to us.

For more details please go to the Efillms website at E-Films Video Productions

[Marcus Durham]

Certainly an interesting development, although it does appear to be early days. The cards are expensive and 64gb represents an awful lot of eggs (or data if you will) in one basket.

It's been stated a few times both on here and other forums that SDXC use was out of the question because it required the card to be formatted using a new file system not supported by the EX1.

So presumably the recent firmware update added this formatting system? Or is it the case the camera would just force format it to FAT32?

Having just looked at the official SDXC website (Using SDXC - SD Association), they give amusingly vague warnings about formatting in non SDXC devices (they keep on saying don't do it, but don't state what damage it does). However the distinct impression I get is that formatting an SDXC card as FAT32 is something they don't want you to do.

As FAT32 isn't within the SDXC spec as far as I can see, would formatting the card in an EX camera invalidate the warranty on the card? Given the current prices, they aren't exactly the throwaway items that SDHC cards are.


[edit] Ironically the new file system used by SDXC is called exFAT! Made me chuckle.

[John Peterson]

Class 4?

I don't know. Not at those prices anyway.

John

[Ross Herewini]

The Sony EX series cameras currently only use, and will only format to FAT32 under the USB interface.

As I understand it the limitation of FAT32 was never 32GB for SDHC, it was just that the manufacturers decided adhere to the SD2.0 standard of a maximum of 32GB. SDXC is able to record beyond 32GB, to 2TB.

We have formatted the Sandisk cards we have been testing repeatedly as FAT32, and then back again to EXFAT using the new SD Formatting Program V3. It works seemlessly.

The only note is that the Sandisk card, like all of their bigger range of cards needs to be formatted in Slot B on your camera first.

As far as size is concerned, 32GB was thought to be too big at one stage, but now that is considered a normal size to shoot with. I did read that Sony are releasing a 64GB SxS, so it going to happen anyway.

We are not saying dump all of your SDHC memory, but we wanted to let all of our existing users who are looking for more recording time without changing cards, or using SSD, that they can purchase Sandisk memory and away they go.

This functionality is built into either the e-LCR, or the MxR (with the purple lable), which were both released about a year ago.

As far as warranty is concerned, I spoke with our distributor in Australia, and they are adamant that letting the camera re-format the memory card to FAT32 would not affect warranty.

[Ross Herewini]

Originally Posted by John Peterson

Class 4?

I don't know. Not at those prices anyway.

John

There is one thing to remember here, the Class 4 designation is not the same as the designation for SDHC.

Our speed tests of the card put it at the highest speeds of any card available, faster than Sandisk's Extreme range.

When the first Sandisk Ultra 32GB came out they were Class 4 too, but actually worked faster than any of the other manufacturers Class 6 cards. From experience, we don't believe any manufacturers claims about the speed of their card. Only testing proves it one way or the other.

Thankfully for us all the new firmware release by Sony has meant that many more memory cards can work successfully with the cameras than ever before.

As far as price is concerned, it does appear high for now, although I have noticed the price has dropped in the last month, so perhaps the uptake is meaning they have lower costs or production. I did notice on a leading online site that the Extreme 32GB was around $175, and the 64GB SDXC was $211.

[John Peterson]

Thankfully for us all the new firmware release by Sony has meant that many more memory cards can work successfully with the cameras than ever before.

That I have noticed Ross. (Firmware 1.20). The Patriot LX 32GB SDHC Class 10 card (model PSF32GSDHC10) has been working fine on my EX1 with that firmware and it only cost me $75. I doubt that it would have worked with firmware 1.11.

John

[Marcus Durham]

Originally Posted by John Peterson

Thankfully for us all the new firmware release by Sony has meant that many more memory cards can work successfully with the cameras than ever before.

That I have noticed Ross. (Firmware 1.20). The Patriot LX 32GB SDHC Class 10 card (model PSF32GSDHC10) has been working fine on my EX1 with that firmware and it only cost me $75. I doubt that it would have worked with firmware 1.11.

John

While cheaper cards do now work, I'd still strongly encourage users to consider the more expensive media. Memory is not born equal, the same way tape is not born equal. And while cheap DV tape might have just resulted in the occasional dropped frame, with SD cards you could just as easily have an entire clip (or worse) corrupted.

That said I have seen the Patriot cards mentioned in several places as having tested fine. Personally I just prefer the ATP or Sandisk cards. If you assume a card can be used 100 times or more, suddenly $20 difference is nothing at all.

[John Peterson]

Actually, if you despise the look of over and under cranking as I do, shooting "normal" with the less expensive card is fine. All one has to do is go over to Vimeo and look at the vast majority of EX series videos that contain people and objects zipping all over the screen to be turned off by it's overuse. It is no longer "creative" when virtually every video has it. But that's just my opinion. Obviously it's a minority view judging from the sheer volume of it.

John

[Marcus Durham]

The artistic merit of overcranking is down to individual taste but I have had client request for slow motion shooting to show a process, or in one case to show muscle movement on an animal. The only other way to achieve the effect would have been to slow down in post which really isn't the same thing. It's good to have the feature at your fingertips even if you only use it once a year.

But you are making the mistake of assuming that speed is the only factor on these cards. Its not. Its the whole manufacturing process and the quality of the memory.

One of the benefits of the ATP cards is that they are claimed to be static proof. As anyone who's worked with computer parts can testify, static is a real and invisible danger. I'm pretty convinced I've had a problem with a Transcend card that was down to static.

Yes higher cost does often mean faster memory, but that is just one factor.