Sony EX-1: can it use large capacity SxS card, or SD card (in adapter)?

[Boyd Ostroff]

Thanks - that's a good suggestion about presetting the gears, will have to play with that a bit. Maybe difficult to do in the context of a single camera shoot of a live performance though.

[Dave Sperling]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

Thanks - that's a good suggestion about presetting the gears, will have to play with that a bit. Maybe difficult to do in the context of a single camera shoot of a live performance though.

Yes, within the context of a live performance it's a little tricky. I often play a guessing game to figure out what my next zoom will be in advance, and if I think I'm doing standard zoom out/zoom in/zoom out/etc. sequence, then after finishing the zoom I let the zoom motor creep very slightly/slowly in the other direction, which helps minimize the gear gap for the next zoom. Every camera/rear zoom combo will be a little different (for my ex1 I have an old bebob zoe rear zoom control) so hopefully you can figure out a routine that works. I find myself using the EX1 fairly often when shooting Off-Broadway (or even Broadway) shows, usually with an F3 as a full stage lockoff. Now that shows are using fewer old-style tungsten lekos (so less IR issues between cameras) the color and gammas of the EX1 and F3 can be made to match surprisingly well using just the PP settings.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Getting back to the topic of memory cards... I'm confused about which ones will work in my old EX-1. It reports firmware version as V1.11_0531

In the printed manual that came with the EX-1 it says "Operations are not guaranteed with memory cards other than SxS Pro" and lists the only the following three compatible cards

SBP-8
SBP-16
SBP-32

I would like to get one or two 32gb card (assuming that is the max with my ancient firmware) and as expected I don't see any new "SxS Pro" cards available - just "SxS Pro+" cards in higher capacities. I see that Adorama has used SBP-32 cards in stock for a reasonable price. B&H has something different, a "Sony 32GB SxS-1 (G1B) Memory Card" (SBS32G1B/US). Would this be compatible?

I will probably just get the used cards from Adorama since they're the cheapest and I've had good luck with their used Sony gear before. But are there other options for my antique camera? :)

[Christopher Young]

Boyd

You could still get the EX1 upgraded to v1.3. If you do that then you can use, I think, the full range of the SxS cards and definitely SDHC cards with the SxS to SD card adapters.

Chris Young
Sydney

[Boyd Ostroff]

Thanks, but we discussed firmware upgrades earlier in the thread. I'm happy to work with in the limitations of the current firmware, Two 32gb cards would give me all I really need with my limited use. Updating the firmware sounds like a potential can of worms - not something I would attempt myself and not worth sending it out somewhere.

[Leslie Wand]

probably for the cost of sxs cards you could get ver1.3 installed and a few sdhc cards -)

[Boyd Ostroff]

My recollection of old threads here was that there were limitations to the SD card adapter, even with proper firmware. Like maybe you couldn't shoot at the HQ (35Mbs) mode? Or maybe it had to do with slow motion? Maybe that was that was just due to the speed limitations of SD cards back then?

I understand your point, but am just not going to "upgrade" anything on this camera. It's old and "it is what it is". I can get two 32gb cards from Adorama for $200, that will give me about 200 minutes HQ recording in the camera, plus another 75 minutes with the old cards that I have. That is more than enough for what I shoot these days. If I get more serious about video again, I'll want a newer camera anyway. :)

[Doug Jensen]

Boyd, I've got some used SxS cards for sale that I guarantee will work with an EX1.
UsedGear1

[Boyd Ostroff]

Thanks Doug - your PMW-EX1 Field Guide is always in the case with my camera, it's very handy for refreshing my memory since I don't use it very often. Amazing to see the prices of your older gear and remember how expensive it was back in the day!

So, is that 32gb SXS-1 card with the orange edges compatible with my EX-1 and its old firmware? That was what I wondered when I saw some of these used cards at B&H. What is the difference between these cards and the "SXS Pro" cards that my manual says are required.? I assume the orange ones are newer?

[Dave Sperling]

I always kept my EX1 updated on firmware, so I can only venture guesses whether the Orange cards would work with your FW version. I think I've had orange cards since 2011, and I wasn't an early adopter. So I'm guessing it's quite possible that the SxS-1 (orange) cards up to 32GB will work in your camera. It's basically a question of whether the camera FW will recognize them properly, since I don't think the really early firmware would see them as recordable options.

As I recall -

The SxS-1 (orange) cards are multi-level memory, while the Blue SxS were single level memory.

They talked about the life span of the orange cards being shorter than the blue ones - somewhere in the 1500 - 2000 use cycles range, whereas the blue ones were significantly higher. Of course mine (which get used about once or twice a week) I've had since 2011-2012, and they all show their remaining capacity at well over 90%. So before buying an orange one I'd recommend checking the remaining capacity of the card.

The transfer speed of the orange cards is actually 50% faster than it was for the original blue cards -- the Orange was rated at 1200 Mbps (150 MB/s) as opposed to the Blue at 800 Mbps (100 MB/s). Of course if you're offloading to a regular spinning hard drive this won't make much difference, since most of them really only give you a real throughput in the 70 MB/s range.

Of course as others have said, I'd recommend updating your firmware so you have all options available. I don't use my EX1 very often anymore, but it keeps chugging along and makes a nice image. It got used this week as a 3rd (B-roll) camera on a shoot. But more to the point, it sometimes gets used for clients who bring their own SD cards for me to use (with my SDHC - SxS adapter) so they can shoot and run rather than wait for transfers.

[Doug Jensen]

Boyd, I'm traveling right now but will be back home at the end of next week. I'd be happy to test the orange card in my EX1 and verify that it works, but I'm pretty certain that it does.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Thanks again Doug, but I just ordered two cards from Adorama. They have quite a lot of used 32gb SxS cards in stock with prices ranging from $74 to $104 depending on "condition". Not sure if that reflects their physical condition or the number of use cycles. But I got two that were rated as "excellent". So we'll see.... I got a used Sony deck from them a few years ago and it has been great.

Thanks for the info Dave. I also should have known to do a DVinfo search on this topic - found the thread below. I definitely want the old blue cards!

http://www.dvinfo.net/forum/sony-xdc...sxs-cards.html

Originally Posted by Alister Chapman

The original blue cards use SLC memory cells and the new orange cards use MLC. Typically SLC is good for up to 100,000 cycles while MLC is good for up to 10,000 cycles. MLC is less reliable as a single cells state can have 4 values depending on the voltage stored in the cell. As the cell ages there is more voltage leakage and eventually the ability to determine which of the 4 levels the cell is at becomes impossible. SLC on the other hand is either "on" or "off" so is more tolerant of voltage fluctuations.

I also found this Sony utility that is supposed to provide info on your cards.

https://www.sony.net/Products/memory...ition_mmu.html

Program runs fine on my Mac but doesn't recognize the SxS card in the camera when connected by USB. Maybe it needs to be in a card reader? My old MacBook Pro has an express card slot, but I don't use that anymore, have just been connecting the camera by USB.

Thanks everyone for your help, will let you know how the used cards work out.

[Jack Zhang]

Sandisk now makes 3D NAND, which is multitudes more durable than SLC and MLC flash chips. I'm not sure if SxS will be making the move to 3D NAND, and it's uncertain if Sony currently uses 3D NAND right now in their SxS cards.

[Doug Jensen]

Originally Posted by Boyd Ostroff

So, is that 32gb SXS-1 card with the orange edges compatible with my EX-1 and its old firmware?

Not that anybody cares at this point, but I finally got around to testing my EX1 with a 32GB orange card yesterday and it worked fine.

[Boyd Ostroff]

Thanks for following up Doug. But if the post I quoted above is correct, the SxS Pro cards could last 10 times longer. So with used 32gb blue cards going for $100 or less, it really doesn't make much sense to buy the orange ones.