Sony SxS Cards VS. SxS-SDHC Adaptors

[Tom Laughlin]

Ian & Michael,

You both gave me a lot to think about and coincidentally, many others whom I’ve talked to are all in the same choir, and I think I’ve been over-whelmed at how many are actually against this risky usage of alternative media and why.

I guess now, my question is, how to go about upgrading my PMW-EX1’s firmware, which I checked, and my version is V1.02. So, my guess is, this camera us pretty old, but still a great camera, and what is the best way to update this camera to use the more current cards? I also asked around, and it appears that not only can I NOT use (yet) the SxS-1 cards, but I cannot use the SxS Pro 32GB cards either, only the 8’s and 16’s. I guess this is not a huge problem, but it’s nice to have enough cards right now to get me by rather than just a few 8’s.

eBay?

Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com

[Ian Cook]

you should update. you are at too low a version to do it yourself so it would have to go to Sony. afterwards you’ll be able to install updates on your own.

[Tom Laughlin]

Ian, who do I send it to, how long will it take, and how much?

Tom Laughlin
Producer/Editor
Digital Chop House
Salt Lake City, Utah
http://www.digitalchophouse.com

[Ian Cook]

Sony Pro in CA. They’ll charge 2 hrs labor (135 x 2 = 270) and will do a lens alignment and function check afterwards. Call it in to support or email me and we’ll get you the paperwork. 800 883 6817. Turnaround time is a few days, less if you have an urgent ETA in which case we can schedule you.

[Clint Fleckenstein]

Foreword: I know this is a polarizing issue, almost religious at times. So if you think I’m full of it, please just disregard.

I’m of the same mindset as Michael. If you’re going to buy a $7,000-9,000 camera, which is dirt cheap compared to what many of us started out with, what’s the problem with spending a couple grand on reliable media? Otherwise, do what the kids are doing: grab a couple of DSLRs, tell yourself they’re camcorders, and buy all the cheap media you want.

The one appealing thing about using SD cards is that they’re cheap enough to assign permanently to a project or even deliver to a customer down the road. You can still copy footage to SD cards later. But when it comes to acquisition, I guess I’m on the side that doesn’t see the risk vs. reward equation coming out on a positive.

Cf

[Mike Cohen]

While plenty of people have had no issues, most video work is too important to risk having a problem. Using SD cards with a camera which has a native SD slot is one thing, but using an adapter is basically putting a square block into a round hole.

I read an article about Anthony Bourdain’s travel the world shows. The crew uses Sony F3 or F5 cameras, and some smaller Sonys as needed, and treat their SxS cards like tapes. Shoot, fill a card, and pack it away until they get back to New York. Granted we don’t all have the budget to buy 50 SxS cards!

Mike Cohen

[Brent Dunn]

I’m still using my older SD cards that I’ve had for a few years. I also have one 32G SxS card. The SxS cards are workhorses and have saved me from loosing data when a battery ran out on a shoot mid recording. I had that happen on an SD card and lost everything on the card. That’s the big difference.

I would suggest having at least one 32 SxS card.

Brent Dunn
Owner / Director / Editor
DunnRight Films
DunnRight Video.com
Video Marketing Toolbox.net

Sony EX-1,
Canon 5D Mark II
Canon 7D
Mac Pro
with Final Cut Studio Adobe CS6 Production

[Don Greening]

What Ian, Clint, Mike and Michael said……….

When SD cards and adapters first became available for these cameras even Philip Bloom said “They’re too risky.” The savings of using cheaper SDHC cards are not worth losing customers and your reputation over in MHO. I practice safe SxS.

– Don

Don Greening
A Vancouver Video Production Company
Reeltime Videoworks
http://www.reeltimevideoworks.com

[Pushpanatha De silva]

For firmware upgrades(from V1.02)better to handover Sony Authorised dealer for upgrade upto V1.31. They have special jig to do that. Don’t try to upgrade the f/w if u have v1.2 for urself and it will be end up in a brick version n may have to spend over $1000 to fix the hardware problems. TakeCare..

Dell Workstation Precision T7500
Dell Workstation Laptop Precision M6600
Dell HD Monitors
Sony PMW EX1
Panasonic MX3300

[Pushpanatha De silva]

In Australia they took 2days and cost me A$280 upgraded to V1.31

Dell Workstation Precision T7500
Dell Workstation Laptop Precision M6600
Dell HD Monitors
Sony PMW EX1
Panasonic MX3300