Is the 16Gb Card worth the extra $349?
 

Any experiences using two Sony SxS Pro 8Gb cards in camera, or one 8Gb and one 16Gb card? I'm trying to weigh cost verses convenience. For me, I feel the 16Gb would be really nice, but at $849 us dollars, I wanted to hear your experiences with the card sizes you use and possibly what you paid for them. Thanks.

~Larry

I use two 16GB cards. My 8GB cards sit idle in a drawer. Many times I have filled one 16GB card and the camera has continued recording on the second one.

So, for me anyway, the 16GB cards were worth every penny.

Thanks John,
I would love to have two 16Gb cards.
Do you feel like parting with your 8gb card? I need another card at the best price possible. Thanks!

Or save $100 or more and buy the SanDisk 16gb card for around $750

I didn't realize SanDisk made a card for the EX3. I'll google it. Thanks!

Basic EX stuff.... And it SanDisk who OEM's the cards for Sony in the first place.

Thanks Ned, that might push me into purchasing that card. It's $740 at B&H. As long as it's as reliable as the Sony brand, I'm totally cool with that.

I bought a laptop for $550 and got my free 8GB card through the rebate program. (2) 8GB cards and a laptop with an external HD backup and that's it for me until they price the cards at something resembling reasonable. In other words I will boycott the inflated price of the cards for now. If you guys think the Sandisk cards are a bargain go for it.

John

John,
I was unaware of a rebate for a free 8Gb card. My assumption was that an 8Gb card ships with the camera and that's it. If there is a rebate for a second 8Gb card, that would be really cool.

It's here:

http://www.rebate-zone.com/default.asp?PN=SY0012

Promotion Name: 080074B - PMW-EX1 SxS Memory Card Offer

John

But does that aply to the EX3? I thought that was just the EX1.

Rebate is only EX1 but there are rumblings that Sony has been considering EX3 rebate. But nothing beyond rumors.

Quality has to be the same. SanDisk makes the cards. You can pay more for the Sony label or less for the SanDisk label.

I just emailed Sony rebate zone about using the EX1 rebate code for the purchase of the EX3. I'll let you know if and what their response is.

If you use the online rebate form at the Sony site, your serial number for the EX-3 gets rejected. The EX-3 numbers are different to the EX-1 series.

It looks like there is no system in place for any rebates. I was told that even one card was originally not planned - I was surprised to see my card in the box.

So I am not holding much hope. I just bought another Sony 8G card for $400 on ebay.

Any idea if you can mix and match cards, as in a Sony 8GB card in one slot and a SanDisk 16GB in the other?

I do it all the time, no problems.

Yes
 

Ditto on the Scandisk/Sony onboard at the same time. I don't even pay attention to which is which anymore they are the same.

I like the 16gig because I rarely freak out that I have to change out cards under duress. Two 8 gig cards is like having a dv tape, time wise (at hq)

I like just not having to even think about it. I can let one card go to 0 and take my sweet time putting in a new one when I have the chance.

NOW, for the archiving to DL/DVD for nice even money transfers thats another story. I have tried but failed to do this though so I use a different back up regimen..

Are you having trouble with DL? I had lots of trouble, mostly due to media and burners. The only burners that ever did the job with zero verification errors were the BenQ IDE models. The biggest trouble was a Plextor SATA. If you really need the model numbers, I can look them up on my home computer. Media was also an issue, and Verbatim worked best for me as well as providing 4x burn rates.

I gave up
 

I shoot 95% weddings and have just about given up on archiving on optical disk right now. Those DLs here are about 2.50each and I have had to throw a few away, plus it is just super slow and I have really gotten behind on the process. I'm just buying and shelfing bare drives!!!

I've now started to tell my clients that I DO NOT ARCHIVE!!! Three months after the event there is no guarantee that there will be any record of the event in my posession, even thought there is, just on a drive that may go bad after a while on the shelf. All this to go tapeless. This is the biggest sucky part of the tapeless format.

I have ranted here about this and this is very ot so I'll stop.

I just purchased the Sandisk 16Gb for 739.00 from B&H. I didn't want to pay that much, but I guess I don't have a choice right now. It's going to be really nice when those prices drop! Archival will remain on my hard drives.

Sorry for the OT post; but just a reminder that "tapeless workflow" relies on common data-archival procedures for long time storage. And for that tape - as in LTO or (S)DLT - is still 'King'.

George/

How ironic.

Considering that one 8GB card costs $500 and one 16 GB card cost $850 I look at it as $150 off two 8 GB cards. And yes it is much more convenient to have one 16GB card as opposed to smaller 8GB cards.

Thanks everyone for the SanDisk heads up. I didn't realize they were out yet.

My Sandisk 16Gb card arrives Tuesday. I'm stoked that I can now record longer than 28 minutes!

Just wanted to put in a big shout for BluRay-R - 25 GB (an 8 & a 16 or any other multiples thereof), works great with LG drive, Mac and Toast 9. Two copies of raw footage plus the hard disk version and an archived version of the edit.

But like you, I am going to put a charge on archiving because I no longer have an income stream for ingest!

Obligatory On Topic Comment: Yes, 16 GB cards are well worth the extra. My 8 GB card is now just a little 'get out of jail free' card, always there, never used.

Just a heads up for other UK purchasers - the Sandisk 16gb card is £40 cheaper than the cheapest Sony one I could find on the internet. £379+VAT compared to the Sony at £419+VAT. Used one for the first time at the weekend - no probs.

Ian

That's funny. I just look at it as one big ripoff.

If they are price gouging (which it appears they are), I can't see how I can reason that two small screw jobs are more expensive than one big screw job and thus the big screw job is therefore a bargain.

John