-
Sony SxS Cards VS. SxS-SDHC Adaptors
Hey everyone, yes, I am posting a question that many have already dealt with from severals years ago, to present, even as new Sony cameras are released, media cards are still being used and some cheaper than others. I am just asking the general question:
“What alternative adaptors for SxS do you use?”, and
“What SDHC cards have you shot and have had pretty good years worth of success with?”I know Sony spokespeople like Doug Johnson are highly against using alternative media for Sony cameras, but not everyone can SHELL out that kind of money for 8, 16, and 32GB Sony SxS cards, I mean come on! I’ve ready people are using e-Films, MxR, Sonnet, and Digigear Adaptors, and Digigear being one of the cheapest at $24 on Amazon.
Transcend has recently released a new 64 and 128GB SDHC Class 10 cards (Sandisk as well I think), that is not very much $, so I’m curious as to your comments, and the amount of cards you use, how many of each, what brands, and what adaptors you use for PAID work, Reality TV, Docs, Films, TV channels like Discovery, History, Animal Planet, whatever, just want to know about what are you using, as far as “off-brand cards” with your Sony EX1s and EX3s?
Thanks!
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
26 Replies
-
The failure rate on even the best SD cards is several times that of the cheapest SxS card. Also if you have a problem there is much less we can do for you with non-SxS media. If you have to use SD cards please use the Sony SD02 adaptor.
-
Thanks Ian. Anyone else use various SxS adaptors and SDHC cards? Please share.
Thanks,
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
Ian, one question, after reading up on the “Sony SD02 adaptor”, what the mechanical difference between this card vs any other card, other than the brand being Sony. Does Sony manufactures Sony SD02 adaptors a certain way, or could they be any card under the hood, but with Sony’s brand mark on them, which makes them $134, that’s pretty high, even for the adaptors on the market.
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
very little to speak if as far as ‘mechanical differences’ but we use quality components and we control the manufacturing and specification.
-
I have YEARS using my EX3 with both SxS and MxR adapters with sandisk 16 gig cards… recently I got a Sonnet adapter with a sandisk extreme 32 gig card (newer) that seems to perform some operations “faster” in the camera (like erasing all clips)… absolutely ZERO problems.. just take a little more care when using adapters……
regards
Enrique Orozco R.
iDEA DigitalVideoStudio -
Enrique,
Do have have any comment on the usage of some of the cheaper adapters like he ones made by Digigear or Sonnet, the ones under $30-40? Also, the sandisk extreme cards you use, are they the sandisk sdhc Or Sdxc cards, can you send me an amazon.com link?
Thanks,
Tom
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
I’m glad you have avoided any issues but it’s not simply a matter of ‘taking care with the cards’. SDHC cards fail in the EXs with much higher frequency than SxS cards. The math doesn’t lie. Also they tend to be made with cheaper memory and lack any kind of buffer management. Some users go years with no issues, others call me in a panic at 10 pm on a weekend with ‘Media Cannot be Restored’ errors or missing clips. If the cards were totally unsafe or unreliable we wouldn’t let you use them so I’m not trying to scare anyone off of them. But you are taking a risk.
-
Ian, what is the failure rate of these off brand adapters vs the “Sony SD02 adaptor”? If it’s virtually the same thing? Just curious…
Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com -
the adaptors rarely fail; it’s the cards we have to watch
-
It’s the same as the old days, who then would not use the very best film available to shoot? You only have one chance with original material, seems crazy to me that anyone would consider taking any risks. If money is a very big problem, use a cheaper camera, rather than cheaper cards (film / tape).
Michael Slowe
Reply to this Discussion! Login or Sign Up