Dang, Bruce, you beat me to it (grin)!
Sony does not officially support using non-PCIe cards in the SxS slot (other than the PHU-60K disk drive unit) but they “do not discourage experimentation” with USB-based options. My Sony contacts say they’ve tried both SD cards and Memory Sticks in the appropriate adapters, and had success with both, though some cherry-picking is required (read/write speeds vary even between cards from the same vendor with the same speed rating). Also, as the cards fill up and the FAT32 file system gets fragmented, read/write speeds can slow down, so it’s definitely a “try at your own risk” sort of deal.
Still: long-form documentary work, with a pocket full of SD cards instead of SxS cards? Sweet!
Convergent Design’s Mike Schell writes that, “at this rate, CF cards will drop below the price of professional HD tape sometime in the next 6 months.” Alas, CF cards are too wide to fit into an ExpressCard34 slot (so any adapter would dangle the CF cards outside the EX1 or EX3’s body), but SD cards are following a similar pricing curve. It’s starting to look like the “what do you hand the client at the end of the shoot” problem will be going away for EX cameras (as well as CF card-using HDV cameras) in the not-too-distant future: simply hand the client Memory Sticks, SD cards, or CF cards, instead of tapes!
Posted by Adam Wilt on 10/17 at 08:42 PM
Hey Bruce, can we see your review of the EX here?
Posted by on 10/18 at 07:11 AM
What is the native file system on the SxS cards EX1 and EX3? You should not be limited to formatting the SD cards with other than FAT if the camera can write to it and read from it. I format pen drives to ext3 for Linux with no problems. Maybe there is a solution to the FAT limitations.
Posted by DanConklin on 10/20 at 05:39 AM
I’ve found that you can format SD cards to NTFS, which is readable in Windows 2000 and higher, but I don’t know if it’s supported in the cameras, and I don’t currently have one to test. It’s probably not, but you never know until you try.
Posted by DanConklin on 10/20 at 07:11 AM
This can have far-reaching effects well beyond field production. IF we were willing to commit to it, I bet WPT could put its entire archive on SD cards that would train to fill a couple of shelves. 50 years of stuff! We’ll never do that, of course, for several reasons, but it is a tantalizing proposition.
BAJ
Posted by on 10/22 at 11:22 AM
I just purchased the Kensington ExpressCard Adapter and a 16G Sandisk Card. Inserted it on a MacBook Pro and it mounts as a drive. However, it seems that the camera does not recognize the media. Do I just need to update the firmware to the 1.11 version? Or will it work with previous versions? Where do I find the firmware version? I’ve looked through the entire menu… Or do I just need to format the card? If so, I have not idea how to do it on a Mac. Can anyone shed some light? Thanks!
Posted by on 10/28 at 10:47 PM
I’ll revive this old thread with this
http://e-films.com.au/
Fits in the EX1 (and EX3) and allows the door to close.
Card is $35 plus shipping.
Sandisk Ultra II 32GB costs $150 and records 116 minutes.
Transcend Class 6 16GB can be had for $30 and records 58 minutes.
So at $30/hr it’s now lower than HDCAM tape.
Posted by on 01/04 at 08:47 PM
I just really want to know if the camera accepts interchangeable lenses then what is the use of 35mm converters?
az spas
Posted by on 01/07 at 07:32 AM
alexa, increased control of depth of field - for example: film like shallow depth of field
Sandra Alex, you must have firmware 1.11 on the EX1 to use SDHC card plus adaptor. Keep in mind that NOT all adaptors or SDHC cards works.
The safe bet right now is buy the MxR adaptor $35 and either Sandisk Ultra II, Sandisk Extreme III (no advantage over Ultra) or Transcend Class 6.
Posted by on 01/07 at 09:03 AM
