Well I've done a straight record through onto both cards and it seems have worked. XDTransfer can see and play both clips.

No idea how to join them up but apart from that everything seems good with them.

I think the next stage is to see if some of the old hands can get their hands on these cards to see if in their opinion these are a viable alternative.

I've also spent the afternoon trying to repeat the errors on my two Transcends that went wrong. No matter what I try, I just can't.

I guess these are dark arts but I would have perhaps preferred it if I could have made that card from Friday go wrong at the 20 minute mark again.

They are 16gb cards. I'm using the Mac Book Pro reader as well as a USB expresscard reader plugged into a Mac Pro.

No idea about any brand other than MXR (although I believe from elsewhere on the forum that MXM and Hoodman are just the same adaptors with different labels).

Ok, thanks.

Just back from my shoot. Used both the ATP cards with no drama at all. The red to green time is consistant as well. Always 5 seconds.

One thing I have noted with my "dodgy" Transcends is that the red to green time can vary depending on how much of the card is used. One of the cards takes 10 seconds to clear at the start of the card but gets better a few minutes in. That suggests to me some kind of manufacturing inconsistency on what is already a slow card.

If I get any problems with the ATP cards I'll post again, but I'm certainly looking at ordering more on the basis of two test runs in the office and a real life run today.

With all the problems I've been reading here about Sandisks and Transcends, I wonder - Has anyone had a problem with Hoodman cards yet?
I haven't seen any posts that mention it. Perhaps that's because fewer are out there, or maybe they were right and they are worth the extra $50. A small price to pay for security - if its true.

It may be a numbers game but I'd be happy to purchase some to give them a try. My faith in the Transcend solution has been blown out the water because if you buy a card it is a lottery whereas before the Summer you could be pretty certain that you'd have a card that would be reliable.

As soon as Hoodman announce a UK supplier, I'll be buying one or two to try (providing the costs aren't silly). I'm sure I won't be the only one.

Likewise with the ATP cards we need to get others to try them in order to see if the performance is consistent. I've just ordered another one but I might have to wait for it because Amazon UK have no stock.

I'm always looking at the 32GB "picture" because I don't like changing cards during long shoots. On the other hand 16GB is good if client wants to walk with the "master."

One problem for me is that Hoodman does not have 32GB card. Hoodman 16GB are nearly as expensive as other 32GB cards so it's not quite as easy to bill the client for stock if they want to walk with it.

The odd thing about ATP is the price relationship between 16GB and 32GB. It seems in most cases 32GB is more than twice as expensive as 16GB. ATP 16GB cards though seem to be about 2/3 the price of their 32GB cards. In other words the cost per GB is generally cheaper for 16GB than 32GB but ATP is the opposite.

Transcend 16GB were so inexpensive they wouldn't be a hardship to bill the client for the master.

I'd thought I'd note the above since it does play into my thinking.

The flip side of course is that a single 32GB card means that all your eggs are in one basket.

And the Hoodman cards are still a bargain compared to SxS.

Personally I'd be inclined to dub off the higher end SD card to my laptop HD and copy the lot back onto a cheaper card. A little time consuming but cheap media should be a none issue for that use. The problems come with the writing at the time of recording, not the reading. So using a Transcend or even cheaper card for a dub shouldn't matter.

I hate to say it because I was sent a card to look at for Hoodman and it checked out fine when I tested it.

Last month I set my EX-1 to record non-stop with a 16gb Hoodman card and got a "media error" message ater 15 minutes.

I was recording 720p60 HQ.

I use Nanoflashes now as I do not trust any non-native internal recording method with these cameras. I think Sony purposefully put some barbs in the process to keep people trusting SxS.

I know a lot of folks seem to not have issues, but it does not take many instances of the camera locking up during recording for me to swear off of a method.

Thats good news Marcus, looks promising.



I was wondering about that too Leonard.

I don't buy that because by definition that would nobble their own hard disk recorder which also operates via the USB bus.

What did Hoodman have to say? As it is a premium card and they offer support they should be looking at it and analysing what went wrong.

I was told they will be in the UK early next week at a cost of £79 for a 16gb card and £40 for the reader.

I don't think this is a Hoodman card issue. I think this is a 'not intended recording method' issue from the camera.

I have not called Hoodman as I gave up on the MxR route.

These cards do not come as EX series certified. They are just memory cards.

All of the MxR'ers are out in no man's land recording with a non-sanctioned method. Sony is not going to offer support so it is a risk to use any brand of card imho.

Marcus, I'm presuming that you're using the promax 1.
ATP promax 2 is SLC, but only goes up to 8gb.

Paul.

It's all very well saying that but perhaps what would have been better was to send the card to Hoodman for analysis. They would have been able to clarify if the card was at fault or not, or even the adaptor. Anything else is speculation.

Sony will never make SDHC solutions certified. SxS is a big fat cash cow that they want to milk because people like me aren't spending £7.50 per 40 minutes of DVCAM.

Perhaps SDHC is at fault. But what about the people who have been happily shooting for months with no problems? My theory is that perhaps some of these cards aren't able to write consistently fast enough across the entire card to keep up. The EX1 has no cache so when the camera hits a slow spot on the card that is where the problem occurs.

SxS is fast enough not to need a cache so there is a design aspect in the EX1 in that respect.

So that might be the problem, simply that the EX1 has no cache and that some of these consumer grade cards have varying write speeds. The HD unit won't suffer this problem because it should be more consistent. SDHC is fast but perhaps some of these cards aren't consistent?

Only a theory and a crackpot one at that.

Presumably. They are 16GB cards but don't say if they are 1 or 2.

I guess they are 1 as "Jaws" wasn't called "Jaws 1" (if you see what I mean).

ATP promax 2 has 2 written on the card.

ATP ELECTRONICS, INC.

Paul.

I don't think it is crackpot, that is why I spent up for the Nanoflash.

It was a better investment than a lot of SxS in my book.

You are correct about sending the card to Hoodman, but I have a lot of more important stuff going on right now. I just wanted to share my experience.

Wonder what card reader would you use with these cards for the EX1/3
Would the Kensington be suitable?

You are probably better off with the MXR cards as these cards are designed specifically for the EX1/3. I'm sure the Kensington cards work but I personally wouldn't use them.

Anthony, do you mean card reader as in the card reader to get the footage into your pc ?
You could use the mxr if you have an express slot as the mxr obviously works with these cards, i bet that the kensington would work also.
I'd also bet that the transcend and sandisk sdhc>usb reader works, i can get the transcend ones for about a fiver.

Paul.

What i mean is.. at the moment I insert my 16gb transcend SDHC card into the Kensington 7-in-1 Media Reader then put that into my EX3.

What I was curious about is, would the ATP promax SDHC card also work with the Kensington 7-in-1 Media Reader for recording with the EX3.