View Full Version : XF-200 recording issue


Scott Brooks
October 4th, 2014, 02:07 PM
Last night a theatre group that I am friends with allowed me to record a performance. I told them I had a new camera and wanted to check out some of the features and settings. This was NOT a paid job so, none of the problems are an issue for a paid job; however, I do have some paying ones coming up and I need to get this figured out.

I was recording in manual mode.
MXF 50 Mbps
1920x1080
59.94i

I was taping to a Transcend Compact Flash
UDMA 7 1000x
64 GB

Three times the camera stopped recording. I absolutely no warning the first two times. The third time I believe it said "buffer overload." I'm not certain because it came and went so fast.

A week ago I recorded the same program with no issues. I used 35 Mbps 1920x10.

Are these cards not capable of keeping up at the higher settings?

Any idea what could have gone wrong?

Thanks -

Josh Morgan
October 4th, 2014, 03:17 PM
I use a 600x Transcend car and everything works out fine for me...Maybe it is a defective card...I have had cases like that before.

Craig Chartier
October 4th, 2014, 04:21 PM
How old is the card? and where did you buy it? There are lots of fake cards on the market to that's why I ask.

Scott Brooks
October 4th, 2014, 04:29 PM
It's about two to three weeks old, first time used, purchased from B&H.

David Dixon
October 4th, 2014, 06:52 PM
I have the XF100 - for that camera Canon was very picky about what cards were recommended for it. Transcend was not on the list. Is there a similar list now for the XF200?

Scott Brooks
October 4th, 2014, 07:37 PM
I have the XF100 - for that camera Canon was very picky about what cards were recommended for it. Transcend was not on the list. Is there a similar list now for the XF200?

None that I've been able to find. Transcend has always been a reliable card for me in the past. I'm going to turn the camera on and let it run for a couple of hours and see if it does it again, but right now my confidence is shot.

Graham Bernard
October 5th, 2014, 02:29 AM
I've got the XF300. I've taken the Canon CF card list from the get-go and only use Sandisk. I'm using 60mbs ExtremePros. I'm needing to purchase some more tomorrow and they're going to be 90mbs - period. Canon had a firmware update to give me bigger recording rates, 90mbs are definitely going to be my minimum from now on - period!

Grazie

Jay Massengill
October 5th, 2014, 06:27 AM
Was the card formatted in that camera before use?

Al Bergstein
October 5th, 2014, 09:39 AM
Scott. I started with a couple of Transend's a couple of years ago, both cards failed in what can only be called premature failures. I switched to Sandisk Extreme Pros and have used a variety of them over the last few years, none have ever failed, amazingly. I would venture a guess that the QC process for Transcend is not of the same rigor as Sandisk. But that's only a guess based on my limited experience.

By the way, why 59i? Why would you want to shoot interlaced with this camera for a freebie that could be shot progressive? Just curious, as I would never choose that setting normally. I've never shot interlaced in, oh the last 5 years? Not sure why I would.

Scott Brooks
October 5th, 2014, 10:19 AM
By the way, why 59i? Why would you want to shoot interlaced with this camera for a freebie that could be shot progressive? Just curious, as I would never choose that setting normally. I've never shot interlaced in, oh the last 5 years? Not sure why I would.

Fair enough. First of all I'm not well-versed on the i vs p, but my understanding is that if you're shooting a lot of action that I should be shooting interlaced. I no longer do weddings ... only dace and stage events where there is usually fast action. Everything I shoot goes to DVD.

This particular show would not have made a difference, but I shot it in the format that I thought I would need in the dance recital environment.

Last night I set the camera to the 35 Mbps using the same card, turned it on and let it run ... no problems. I'm going to do the same thing today at 50Mbps and see what happens.

The only variable other than the setting is that I was using a L remote tripod control. I'm not sure why that would matter, though.

Scott Brooks
October 5th, 2014, 02:42 PM
Update:

I tried one more time just letting the camera run at 50 Mbps. It stopped recording after 15 minutes. So at this point I'm thinking its the card. It runs forever at 35 Mbps, but not 50.

So ... I used my second card (new, 64gb Transcend) and ran it in the same slot at 50 Mbps. It made it 80+ minutes before it shut down.

All of these have been in the "B" slot. I'm going to duplicate the tests in the "A" Slot to make sure the problem isn't there. I doubt that it is, but looking at everything I can.

And I was asked earlier about a list of preferred cards. I don't believe that I've seen one.

David Dixon
October 5th, 2014, 03:42 PM
Here's the recommended list that came out with the XF100:

Canon U.S.A. : Professional Imaging Products : XF100 (http://usa.canon.com/cusa/professional/products/professional_cameras/hd_video_cameras/xf100#Specifications)

There is not a similar list on the XF200 page. I was mistaken, Transcend *is* on the list, but only for certain shooting modes. I just use SanDisk - they always work. I'm replacing my older ones with this now:

SanDisk 32 GB Extreme CompactFlash Memory Card SDCFXS-032G-A46

I've never used anything larger than a 32GB card.

Hope this helps.