SDHC cards-questions

[Noah Kadner]

Yeah unfortunately it is a workaround and no doubt one Sony has little interest in supporting as it saps away sales from SxS memory. I don’t know that there will ever be a good resolution to this. My only suggestion would be switch back to SxS or to a camera that uses SDHC cards natively such as the NX5 or Panasonic’s AVCHD cameras. Those are pretty bullet-proof in SDHC.

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook, Panasonic HVX200, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Watch Formosa- My indie movie shot with the SDX900 and finished with Final Cut Studio.

[Craig Seeman]

Sony is coming out with their own SDHC adaptor for the EX in the next few weeks. They certainly do support it and in fact the most recent firmware upgrade (1.20 for EX1 users) makes major improvements with SDHC cards. Many are now reporting full overcrank 720p24/60 on the better cards. Sandisk Extreme Class 10 seems to be the best these days but the firmware upgrade makes some of the “dicey” cards reliable too.

[Craig Seeman]

https://pro.sony.com/bbsc/ssr/micro-xdcamexsite/resource.downloads.bbsccms-assets-micro-xdcamex-downloads-XDCAMEXFirmwareUpgrade.shtml

In response to users’ requests for additional choices in recording media for XDCAM EX, this user-upgradeable firmware update offers compatibility of the current family of XDCAM EX products with the new Sony Media Adaptors: MEAD-MS01 (Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX) and MEAD-SD01 (SDHC memory card)), as well as the SxS-1 series media cards.

The Sony Media Adaptors allow the use of Memory Stick PRO-HG Duo HX and SDHC cards in XDCAM EX equipment. (Note: SDHC card Speed Class 10 is recommended for optimal use. Recording slow motion S&Q is not recommended when using SDHC media). Please note that the use of any media other than SxS Pro or SxS-1 is recommended for emergency situations only. For superb usability, maximum reliability and high speed transfer rates, SxS media remains the Sony recommended media choice for XDCAM EX.

[Noah Kadner]

OMG- really? Wow kudos to Sony. This is the first time I can remember their actually sacking one of their own proprietary formats in favor of customer requests. Good for them. Though I notice they still have to throw in that massive caveat at the end about only using SDHC in emergency shooting situations. Does “I’m too broke to afford your SxS cards” qualify for emergency status? 😉

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook, Panasonic HVX200, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Watch Formosa- My indie movie shot with the SDX900 and finished with Final Cut Studio.

[Tim Kolb]

Yes…i know that Sony doesn’t recommend I use anything I didn’t buy from them and I accept this method as a bit of a compromise.

However, I’ve shot almost all the footage I’ve acquired since buying the camera on SDHC and it works just fine for a lot of my work, and when it doesn’t I accept the liability for it as a compromise.

I’ve been around the block a time or two and I get that SxS is the recommended format…and I’m not whining about the performance, or asking why SDHC doesn’t work like SxS…they’re basically disposable.

…just checking in with those who use SDHC on what their experiences have been.

TimK,
Director, Consultant
Kolb Productions,

[Craig Seeman]

I have a hunch this would happen. It may be due in part that SxS is Sony and Sandisk. Sandisk certainly makes money from selling SDHC cards and given the mass sales it may outweigh the R&D put into SxS.

Somehow I can imagine Sandisk saying they weren’t really making all that much in the partnership with SxS and Sony doing this would help Sandisk’s bottom line.

I’m sure this is also because in most cases an SxS card purchase is a one time thing whereas people are more inclined to buy Sandisk SDHC cards and affordably add to “stock” as needed. It’s all speculative but I think Sony just helped Sandisk Extreme Class 10 card sales.

Also by allowing some of the lower class cards to perform reliably, these less expensive cards can now be given to clients after a shoot as stock and that’s going to help SDHC card sales as well.

On Sony’s side of the equation it’s going to make the EX series more competitive with AVCHD/SDHC camera as cost of ownership drops.

I think the increased sales for Sony cameras and Sandisk SDHC cards will probably make up for the probably low profits vs R&D on SxS cards.

[Noah Kadner]

Also I suspect Sony was tired of the third party SDHC adapters dipping into their business and realized if you can’t beat ’em join em.

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook, Panasonic HVX200, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Watch Formosa- My indie movie shot with the SDX900 and finished with Final Cut Studio.

[Don Greening]

[Noah Kadner] “OMG- really? Wow kudos to Sony.”

Okay I must admit that I’m shocked Noah that you didn’t know about this latest announcement from Sony. You’re usually so current on everything. With that in mind were you aware that Sony is also bringing out an economy version of the SxS Pro Cards just like the Panny P2e variant? Sony’s calling them the SxS-1. Same idea as P2e and the same 5 year (I think) life span.

– Don

[Noah Kadner]

[Don Greening] “Okay I must admit that I’m shocked Noah that you didn’t know about this latest announcement from Sony. You’re usually so current on everything. With that in mind were you aware that Sony is also bringing out an economy version of the SxS Pro Cards just like the Panny P2e variant? Sony’s calling them the SxS-1. Same idea as P2e and the same 5 year (I think) life span.”

I guess I should be flattered that you think I know everything about all cameras- but I don’t so yeah all that is news to me. But now I know and knowing is half the battle.

Noah

Check out my book: RED: The Ultimate Guide to Using the Revolutionary Camera!
Unlock the secrets of 24p, HD and Final Cut Studio with Call Box Training. Featuring the Sony EX1 Guidebook, Panasonic HVX200, Canon EOS 5D Mark II and Canon 7D.
Watch Formosa- My indie movie shot with the SDX900 and finished with Final Cut Studio.

[Will Salley]

[Noah Kadner] “Also I suspect Sony was tired of the third party SDHC adapters dipping into their business and realized if you can’t beat ’em join em.
“

Noah, You hit it on the head here!

I utilize the SDHC cards in a number of ways, mainly as a backup when going to the KiPro and triggering it with TC.

I’ve even used, with success, the Adata cards (class10), that are not yet “verified” to work in the adapters. I can reliably get about 50FPS from that card, about 42FPS on the Hoodmans (class6) and no overcrank at all on the Sandisk (class6). I have not tried the Pansaonic Class10.

My view is to use the SDHC cards in situations where I know I can re-acquire should data loss occur on-set AND in situations where I have the ability to verify and backup the data on-set. For me, that rules out about a quarter of my acquisition production. I also limit the card size to 16GB so that if data loss occurs, I haven’t lost more than one hour of footage.

To date, after about eight months of using the adapters (Hoodman, don’t have any MXR just because of availability at the time), I have not had any loss of data and only one “rebuild media” error.

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