Do you re-use your tapes?

[Chris Barcellos]

I keep everything on tape. There have been several occasion when I have been able to go back to something I've shot, and have in archive, and use it in a new project...

[William Smyth]

I don't reuse tapes. It just seems way too risky for a very small return. But, now that we made the the move to shoot in HD, I'm more determined than ever to keep the original tapes.

Right now, we still deliver in DVD/SD. But as more and more past clients purchase HD TVs and Blue Ray players, I think past clients may call back to have their wedding reedited in HD. Even if just one client asks us to do this, it would make the saving of raw tapes worthwhile.

[Travis Cossel]

Originally Posted by Tom Hardwick

The whole point of my argument (post #2) has been circumnavigated when you say, 'I choose to err on the side of caution since the solution (purchase new tapes) is pretty inexpensive.' My claim - that a $2 or $10 tape has had no inspection whatsoever - means that using a new untested tape certainly isn't 'cautious' or a 'solution'.

As always, test all your kit before an important shoot.

tom.

No, I saw your point, but after using hundreds and hundreds of new tapes, I have yet to encounter a new tape that just didn't work right. So I guess I'm pretty confident in new tapes, but less confident on how the use of tapes over and over affects the lubrication on the tape. To me, one is a bit of an irrational fear, since logic would tell me that a new tape SHOULD be good to go, whereas logic also tells me that using something that is lubricated over and over SHOULD eventually degrade the lubricant, or the lubricant WILL pick up debris. It's all in how you look at it.

Simply put ... new tapes are designed to work right out of the box .. but they aren't necessarily designed to be used over and over and over. It would be in the best interest of tape manufacturers to make tapes that don't work as well when reused.

[Noa Put]

I never re-use, I've seen problems with re-used tape were the old recording was visible during the recording of a new one for a few seconds. As I see it once a tape is out of it's packaging it starts collecting dust and that can cause more risk for dropouts.
The price of a tape can easily be counted into our prizes and I don't even see a problem selling the raw tapes to my clients.

[Tom Hardwick]

Originally Posted by Travis Cossel

It would be in the best interest of tape manufacturers to make tapes that don't work as well when reused.

Whoooh - I 'reuse' a tape every time I come back from a shoot, as all of us do. I rewind it and then replay it into the computer, and recording and playing a tape subjects it to exactly the same stresses and strains as well as allowing dust entry and so on. Those that shuttle their tapes or black them or simply store them for another day are also quite happy to 'reuse' them.

Travis - I agree that a new tape should be good to go, but just look at the statistics. Tape is cheap because millions and millions of them are produced daily, in plants all around the world. There's no inspection, just highly automated, very expensive machinery doing the manufacture, assembly and packaging work.

Let's say that the production lines are 99.9% perfect. An impossibility I'm sure you'll agree, especially when 28 parts come together for a couple of dollars or so, tax included. So you make 1000 tapes and one of them is imperfect in some way. It's still out there on the shelf, waiting for you. You make ten thousand tapes and 10 so-so tapes await the unsuspecting.

Just a thought.

tom.

[Reuben Miller]

Never. New stock for every project.

[Dave Blackhurst]

FWIW, I've had bad tapes "out of the box", or at least ones that didn't track with a particular camera quite right (camera? tape? random gremlins?). AND I've seen "bleed through" where a portion of the earlier recording punches through because it isn't 100% recorded over.

MY feeling (when I USED tape) was load a new tape, shoot 30-40 seconds of color bars, and a brief 30-45 second clip - play it back, if all is OK, cue to the blank, and shoot from there. Typically a tape will be problematic at the very beginning or end from my information (likely due to tracking not settling in), so by a short test, I've not seen a problem in actual shooting unless the camera was failing (happened once).

Reminds me why I'm liking tapeless...

[Joel Peregrine]

Originally Posted by David Kovalev

Like its been mentioned... tape is cheap. Why not keep the used ones in a box and keep buying. I mean lets say an average of 10 tapes a wedding (2 cameras) thats not more than $30 bucks!

Multiply $30 by 40 events per year. Then use the tapes for three events. That's $2400 that can be put to better use. Back in the linear editing days I'd never put a tape back in the camera that has been put through the torture of tape-to-tape editing. These days a tape is used for a shoot (one pass) and captured (two total passes). To me that tape is still 'new'. The only reason to save originals in my opinion is if you plan on using them for a compilation demo, but it would be much more efficient to set those few outstanding shots on a dedicated 'demo' drive during the editing of their projects rather than have to search the tapes for the shots at a later date.

[Tim Harjo]

My tapes get used 3 times. I write a number on them. After I use it, I give it a month (always in the case), and then I put it back in my 'recycle shelf'. When I go to re-use it, I cross out the old number and write a new one. After 3 uses, I toss it. I could probably use it more, but that's my limit.

Some of the problems I'm reading in this thread I've only encountered with old analog tapes. I've never seen an old image bleed through on digital.

I use Sony's DVM60 tapes. I've used a LOT of them multiple times and not one drop out. Because of that, I have no reason to change my current system. I spend a 2/3 less on tapes that people who buy new ones for each event, and so far it's worked 100% of the time.

[Alan Craig]

I use Sony HD video tapes which are not cheap to buy and if you were using 10 tapes for a wedding that equates to around £50.00 per wedding for tapes unless you reuse. I personally reuse my tapes.

Alan

[Nicholas de Kock]

I buy $2 Sony miniDV tapes for all my HDV footage and to date I'm still to find a single drop out. That said I would never reuse a tape, I have had plenty of times where I reused a tape for non important shoots only to find corrupt data. Reusing a tape is risky business!

[Tom Hardwick]

Originally Posted by Nicholas de Kock

Reusing a tape is risky business!

But then using an utried, untested, very cheap, very complex mechanical component on an important shoot is even more risky. As Joel says - a tape that's been recorded and then played back is still 'new'. Furthermore I'd suggest it's actually better than new - you've proved it's dropout-free (hopefully) and burnished off the high spots in its 9000 rpm pass of the heads.

tom.

[Adam Barker]

Originally Posted by Chris Barcellos

I keep everything on tape. There have been several occasion when I have been able to go back to something I've shot, and have in archive, and use it in a new project...

Ditto. Personally, I prefer to use my tapes just once and never record over them, because I never know if and when I'm ever going to be needing them for making a demo reel and/or advertisement.

[Bruce Patterson]

To echo what many others have said here, we only use our tapes once. It's such a cheap expense for us to use new tapes at each wedding it's just not worth a) the risk of it recording on a previously used tape or b) erasing old footage - you never know when you may need to access a certain clip and for the same of $25/wedding, it never seemed like an expense worth cutting for us.