If that's an EX1 then you really need to be on 1.20. I'm not sure what the latest version is for the EX3 but it might be 1.10.

So it really hinges on what camera you are using. If it's an EX1 you might want to try a firmware upgrade. But as I said before, I do have my reservations about certain popular brands because of variations in the manufacturing processes.

Not to mention just how many counterfeit cards are being sold. These cards look the part but are a far cry when it comes to performance. You could check the serial on the Transcend website but I'm not even sure that is a guarantee as any savvy counterfeiter would surely just produce their cards using a serials taken from a legitimate card.

As I mentioned earlier in this thread, it's all about margins. One-off anecdotal stories about cousin Fred's success with the Belchfire brand of SD chips is meaningless. If all the elements in a SD card application aren't right, there is a risk of a problem because the timing may be on the edge of not working. I still believe the combination of the latest camera firmware coupled with the Sony MEAD SD adapter and the SanDisc Extreme Class 10 cards is a very safe way to go with plenty of margin to assure proper performance. All of the stories that start off with, " I know a guy who uses ........", or "What I have been using is ........" are one-off anecdotal stories that aren't statistically valid with any indication of how repeatable the performance may be with other parts of the same brand etc. If you have a combination that works, that's great but the next guy who tries that combination might not be so lucky because the margins on the same parts might not be the same which could result in a problem.

Well, I'll tell you this much. The Sandisk Extreme Class 10 didn't exist when I bought my cards. Nor did any Class 6 cards. So I'll put my faith in the combination thatt has worked flawlessly for me for nearly two years over unproven combinations that MAY work.

I do believe that the Sandisk brand has been the most successful for people. And their Class 10 cards should provide excellent performance. I don't know about the different adapters these days. That's a mystery to me.

Best of luck to anyone trying to ply these waters now. But you may find, just like us early adopters of this solution, that you'll have to do some hard trials before relying on the cards. For what it's worth, I don't trust the SxS implicitly either as I've seen them fail as well.

adapters and cards ...
 

I've been shooting on kensington 7-in1 and M&M adapters (EX3) with sandisk ultra2 (class 4)16gb, sandisk extreme (class 10) 32gb and transcend 16gb (class 6). I had only one problem with the transcend 16gb not re-formatting via the camera after having re-formatted on my Mac. This was fixed with the software upgrade. I had not had any other problems with these SDHC cards or adapters for over the last year. They have performed very well.

My preliminary testing of the 16GB Class 6 SanDisk Extreme HD Video SDHC card (Model Number SDSDRX3-016G-A21) have been positive:

Purchased here:

Sandisk 16 GB Extreme III Secure Digital HC Memory Card (SDSDRX3-016G-A21) | BuyDig.com

1. Loaded into Kensington 7-in 1 adapter and inserted into Ex1 with firmware 1.11

2. Camera called for format. Formatted card.

3. Shot around 35 minutes with the card occasionally turning the camera off and switching the adapter from one slot to the other a few times. Turning camera on and off many times between shots varying between 10 seconds to 3 minutes or so. Recording a few times before the green "ready light" for the slot came on.

No errors.

4. Reformatted the card and repeated the process again for 40 plus minutes. No errors at all.

Will update if I run into any problems.

John

EDIT: (Note) The successful SanDisk Ultra II (class 4)16gb card is no longer made. The Ultra II designation has been changed to Ultra and the card internals have changed.

I have been using Transcend 16 gb class 6, both , green belt and 2 early red belt cards for over a year in EX1s. A couple of months ago I purchased a couple of 16gb class 10 Transcends, these class 10 cards have been used on at least a dozen occasions, none of my cards have ever missed a beat. I tried an ATP 16gb class 10 in a lockable MxM adaptor and got restore errors every time. I think it goes to show that we need to find something that works for us, and as individuals we are confident with, and stick with it.

Something sounds very wrong there. I suggest you contact MxM for advice. They are in a far better position to advise what the problem may be. It may even be something silly such as an incompatibility between an older adaptor and a new card, or firmware issues in your camera.

The problem with people finding their own solutions is that the people who have gone out and blindly purchased cards are the ones who have been bitten. There is an argument for safety in numbers. Your Transcends are fine as are many other peoples. But do you know when the cards were manufactured? The cut off point seems to have been the middle of last year. Whatever change Transcend introduced, the cards were very reliable before the change, but unreliable after. If all your cards predate this change over, then great. It may even be they used multiple factories and only one batch has the problem. We don't know. All we do know is that the problems all surfaced at the same time.

As for the class 10 Transcends, we simply haven't heard that much about them as yet, but having been burned I am naturally wary.

The problem I had with the ATP class 10 card was discussed on the forum a few months ago. MxM were apparently aware of the problem, and were looking into it. All the files were safe on the card, and could be downloaded to a PC, it was when I tried to replay the files with the card in the camera, that the restore warning appeared, it didn't exactly fill me with confidence. My red belt Transcends were purchased very early in the year. I believe the problem with Transcend cards came about when they changed from single to dual layer technology, (someone will correct me if that is not an accurate description), but it was pretty well established that the problem started when the new technology was used in manufacturing these cards. As for the class 10 Transcends, faultless, to date, I use them with confidence on any shoot.

With EX1 (1.20 fw) I use 16 gig sandisk extreme class 10 sdhc cards in hoodman adapter, absolutely flawless. Not a single problem.

And full 60fps overcranking works too, the cam fills the whole card without a problem.

I have a couple of 16 gig class 6 transcends as a spare, and generally they work fine too but they aren't able to do a full speed overcrank, I get a media error after few mins if recording

hey Zoran,

are you talking about his Sandisk card:



As I have a slow-mo shoot next month and was going to buy, at a higher cost, a normal SxS 16GB Sony card from B&H Video out of New York.

thanks

A while back I emailed MxM about a different matter and they also included this information about the ATP cards in their reply to me.

"There was an incident a while ago when they released 16GB class 10 which a small hiccup…media would play on the camera with an occasional error, but the footage was fine and it recorded without errors. However, ATP got on board and quickly released an upgraded firmware for this memory card, to make sure this was corrected and fully rectified and compatible with Sony’s cameras"..

Well, actually I remember how so many just like you describe experimented for all of us in the early days of the quest for SDHC compatible media and reported back to us regarding their success or failure. They must have shelled out quite a bit in that endeavor in addition to a whole bunch of returns sometimes at cost to them. Hat's off to them all.
Some of those cards are no longer available so by all means experiment with some of the new ones and help us all out here. That is what I am trying to do with my reports on the Transcend 16GB Class 10 and the 16 GB SanDisk Extreme HD Video cards that I reported on.

Mention the camera, adapter, and the firmware. And show a link to exactly what you bought and where because some of the vendors show a different picture than the actual item they send as well as mistaken labels (such as "Extreme III" when it is actually just "Extreme" these days or "Ultra II" when it is now only "Ultra").The date of purchase is obvious from then post. Should help people I feel.

John

Yes, that's the card. Fully overcranked (25 to 60) without a problem.

The Media Restore message is nothing to worry about. The camera does this often even with SxS cards.

thanks...you just saved me alot of money.........

Bill

The Media Restore message is nothing to worry about. The camera does this often even with SxS cards.

It was frequent, consistent, and interrupted the camera while shooting. I say that is cause for worry. Has not happened to me with my other media. Of course, as I stated I was using a Kensington adapter in an EX1 with firmware 1.11 and the media was purchased in early July, 2010.

John

I'd suggest it was possible a combination of a Kensington adaptor and old firmware. I haven't tested the Kensington but given the design strides that the EX1 adaptor producers have made must mean that the performance can only be in line with the first bespoke EX1 adaptors.

But the real killer is probably the firmware. We've moved up a class and the controllers on the cards have changed. From memory my Class 10 did exhibit a problem on playback on first testing, but this vanished as I did the firmware update before the serious testing commenced. I can't make the card produce any restore errors now.

Finally it's good to hear that ATP are actually aware of the EX1 and ironed out the problems with their early Class 10 cards due to feedback. If true this is pretty amazing and it would mean that they would be the only manufacturer other than Sony (that we know of) that has tested their cards in our cameras,

Good to know. Thanks for testing it for us.

John

I have heard that the new firmware has increased compatibility for some. Haven't decided to update mine yet from 1.11

John

And I'm afraid here lies the problem. The information about the new firmware has been widely available on this forum for months now and it is far more than just "increased compatibility for some". It is an important update for SDHC users. If you are going to insist on sticking with out of date firmware then you'd be better off using the existing tested Class 6 cards from Sandisk and ATP (although you may find they are now hard to get hold of).

But I'm afraid you really need to update your firmware. Certainly if the previous post is to anything to go by, you might be expecting to fully overcrank using the old firmware which won't work.

I can confirm it from both my own experience, and from my consulting Marek at MxM.

The class 6 cards (in my case, ATP Pro 32GB) has been tested, and works flawlessly, with both the 1.11 and the newest 1.20 firmware.

While the class 10 works absolutely great with the 1.20 firmware, it *might* require occasional "Restore Media" with the previous firmware version.

Piotr,

How do you deal with the camera interruption when you get a "restore media" message? Happened to me only with the Transcend Class 10 cards, but it interrupted the camera with that message and when I restored media it issued it again and again within a minute of each other until I gave up. It was truly incompatible with the EX1 and firmware 1.11 in a Kensington adapter. I bought two of them a few weeks ago. Both exhibited the exact same problem. It was not occasional. It was consistent and unless I wanted not to shoot I removed them and replaced them with my other cards that never do that.

John

But I'm afraid you really need to update your firmware. Certainly if the previous post is to anything to go by, you might be expecting to fully overcrank using the old firmware which won't work.

I thanked him for testing it for us. In terms of what the new firmware does that I would be interested in it seems that increased compatibility would be the only thing. I absolutely detest the look of over and undercranking mostly because 80% of the EX1/3 videos over at Vimeo use either over or undercranking and to me it looks very uncreative. I am at the point where I can't even appreciate the majority of them anymore because I am expecting to see people and objects zipping all over the screen at high speed within a minute or less. Yuck.

John

It's not just the increased compatibility, but also the fact you now can't accidentally press record again before the camera is ready (which would have caused a media restore previously). Now I had become very good at being able to wait, but I must admit it is a relief to no longer even need to think about it.

John,

It only happened once to me; the camera put the message on the LCD and automatically switched slots, continuing the recording. Of course, I was lucky that other slot contained an empty card....

But to be on the safe side, I will be upgrading my firmware soon.

The great unknown here is the Kensington adaptor. It's an older design than the current bespoke adaptors so almost certainly has a chipset that is unable to match their transfer speed. So how it reacts with faster cards I have no idea.

Piotr, recording on nanoflash at the same time - and taking the ex-cards just as a "backup" seems the safest way to me. Do you use your nanoflash like that? Have you experienced any problems with that combination?

See, I never experienced that problem. Again that is with the Kensington adapter, firmware 1.11, and an EX1. Tested over and over again with the Transcend Class 6 (16GB) Both Red Stripe and Blue Stripe, the Sandisk Ultra II (16GB), and now with the newer Sandisk Extreme HD Video 16GB. With all three I intentionally hit record many many times before the ready light came on and never had an error. Same with the 8GB SxS cards that came with the camera. Not even once. Of course I don't claim that others haven't had a problem doing it. It just never happened to me.

John

Follow-up. I am unable to edit my original post so I quoted it above. On the third shoot with the card it exhibited repeated Restore Media errors. Not only that, the card when reformatted would only show 56 minutes instead of 58 minutes no matter how many times I reformatted it. Again, that is with a Kensington adapter on an EX1 with firmware 1.11

So yet another card is now going back to the vendor.

John

Of course, users not insisting on using out of date firmware with elderly adaptors might well find the cards are perfectly fine. There is probably nothing wrong with the card at all.

All SDHC users are advised to use firmware 1.20 and to consider purchasing the newer and faster bespoke SDHC adaptors from MxM and MxR.

All SDHC users are advised to use firmware 1.20 and to consider purchasing the newer and faster bespoke SDHC adaptors from MxM and MxR.

I am wondering if the cards I am using now (Transcend Class 6 and SanDisk Class 4) will still work if I upgrade to firmware 1.20. And weren't the MxM adapters designed shortly after the Kensington adapters became popular here? In other words they weren't intentionally designed to handle newer cards. They were designed to allow the door on the EX1 to fully close as I recall. I have six Kensington adapters and six card that work. I simply wanted to have a few extra cards, thus these experiments.

John

They were intentionally designed to work in the EX1, and as has been previously stated have also had updated designs since their original release. This makes them quite a different proposition from the Kensington adaptors which are now 2 generations older.

Nobody has reported their Class 6 cards failing to work on the new firmware as far as I recall. Others will be able to advise but all my cards were fine.

I have two Transcend 16gig class 6 cards (red band) which worked with 1.13 (with an occasional media restore) and they work with 1.20 too. Since I updated the fw I haven't had any media errors, unless I provoked it by ejecting the card while the red light was still on.

I strongly suggest that you update ASAP because it does increase the reliability of the SDHC cards and it's a painless process, just follow the instructions.

Done. Updated to 1.20

John

I use SanDisk 32 gb class 10 SDHC with Hoodman adapter, and I got restore media errors every time before I updated to 1.2 firmware.
Now I tested a few times recording full capacity, and no problems..

Just tested the SanDisk 16GB Ultra card (SDSDRH-016G-A11) with firmware 1.20

The EX1 issued a "Media Error" after first few seconds and refused to record. Complete failure with firmware 1.20 Only formats to 54 minutes. But will not record.

This media has the exact same Mfg part number as the Ultra II did which worked flawlessly. I called SanDisk and they insisted that they did not change the card at all internally and that is why they kept the same part number as the Ultra II. They are wrong. Don't buy the card.

John

John, thanks for heads-up.

Out of curiosity: which make & version of ExpressCard adapters did you test the Ultra cards?

Sorry Piotr. I usually include that with every post. I am still using the Kensington adapters for all my cards. Some feel that those are the issue. I am not so sure, but it should be noted each time someone tests another card.
Again, in this case we are not talking about a "media restore" error. This is a "Media error" which means media "failure". You can't "restore" it and keep recording.

John

I have tested the Patriot LX 32GB SDHC Class 10 card (model PSF32GSDHC10) on my PMW EX1 with Kensington adapter and firmware 1.20

Newegg.com - Patriot LX 32GB Secure Digital High-Capacity (SDHC) Flash Card Model PSF32GSDHC10. With the $10 rebate my final cost will be $75. Very inexpensive.

After three times shooting for 112 minutes the card has issued no errors. I even tried to trip an error by pressing record before the green ready light came on. So far so good. Will update if problems occur.

John