Suggestions on buying a P2 card...

DavidBeier

DavidBeier

Veteran
I'm shooting my first short film in two years and the shoot is soon approaching. I've had my HVX200 for two years now as well (got it right after I finished my last film) but have always just used 2 4 gig cards with laptop offloads for all the corporate video work I've done. I'm tempted to do so again here and save money but it's going to be a tight shoot and, while we will have a laptop for offload, I do think it might behoove use to have a 16 gig card for when things get hectic (plus, I've been thinking of grabbing one for a while).

I've heard talk that the price may drop soon but havn't seen much of anything. I've seen some pretty tempting offers on E-bay as well as Able Cine giving a pretty nice price $835.

My shoot is going to be the 30th so I'll be wanting to card to get to me by the 28th at least. Can anyone tell me if it's worth waiting to see if the price drops and, if not, where a good place to go shopping for a card is?
 
Well paraphrasing Barry he said something like this regarding P2 cards and prices... wait as long as you can, but buy them when you need them. This makes a lot of sense since memory tends to go lower in price, so don't get it before you need it. But equally true, certainly get it if you need it ... wouldn't be fun to miss a shot because you were waiting for prices to drop.

I recently upgraded to 2 32 gig cards at NAB. It was about the most unexciting thing I could think of to get at NAB. All these great new cameras, great dolly systems, etc. and I got more memory WHOO HOO!. However, last week I had a shoot and that extra memory just made the shoot so relaxing, I knew I had enough media and didn't have to think about when to download etc.

By the way, if the schedule really is going to be hectic, I'm not sure how well one 16G card would work with 2 4G's. Depending on what format you're shooting I could see a case where you're offloading the 16G while shooting on the 2 4G's... will the 16G be done offloading before the 2 4G's fill up?

Spec comm currently has 16GB for $800 even.
 
capt chuck said:
Well paraphrasing Barry he said something like this regarding P2 cards and prices... wait as long as you can, but buy them when you need them. This makes a lot of sense since memory tends to go lower in price, so don't get it before you need it.
Click to expand...

I guess the thing is that, if everything goes smoothly, then I won't absolutely NEED it. But things never go absolutely smoothly on a film set!!! It's right at the cusp between being something which will just make life easier and being a neccessity.

By the way, if the schedule really is going to be hectic, I'm not sure how well one 16G card would work with 2 4G's. Depending on what format you're shooting I could see a case where you're offloading the 16G while shooting on the 2 4G's... will the 16G be done offloading before the 2 4G's fill up?
Click to expand...

Well, in some ways, the 16 gig is kind of like my super backup. It'll give me 40 minutes of 720p. I'm more thinking of mainly using the 4 gigers and hot swapping but, if things get hectic or something, I've got a 40 minute card to keep me at ease. Also, there's a lot of out-door stuff and I don't know if we'll have a power source to recharge the laptop which can barely hold a charge.

Spec comm currently has 16GB for $800 even.
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Thanks, they don't give a DVXUser discount do they? ;)
 
DavidBeier said:
I guess the thing is that, if everything goes smoothly, then I won't absolutely NEED it. But things never go absolutely smoothly on a film set!!! It's right at the cusp between being something which will just make life easier and being a neccessity.
Click to expand...

I always prepare for the worst and am thankful when it really is needed. I know there is a balance, but if it makes your life easier and protects your client/project, go in a little over prepared.
Best of luck!
 
Have you thought of renting cards? There are a couple of renal houses where I live that rent 1 16gb card for I think $40 a day. Try typing p2 card rentals on google and there are a few places that will ship you cards to rent, either by the day or week. I just bought my HVX200 and that's what I plan do.
 
I think though that if you are shooting a film. You'll have plenty of time to offload during your set-ups and such. I think you might be better served in buying one or more 4 gig or 8 gig cards. Archiving these is so much easier and you'll have the ability to maybe only spend 500 bucks and have the abilty to possibly leave the footage on the cards till you get home if you get enough of them. I recently had a buddy buy 4 x4 gig cards and got them all for 750 bucks. I think there's something to be said about haveing more cards.. quicker offloads and having them be so cheap.


just my .02 and if you buy one more card for say 200, that would free up 600 bucks for something else... Like feeding the crew or maybe another light, etc.
 
JustinWardVX said:
Have you thought of renting cards? There are a couple of renal houses where I live that rent 1 16gb card for I think $40 a day. Try typing p2 card rentals on google and there are a few places that will ship you cards to rent, either by the day or week. I just bought my HVX200 and that's what I plan do.
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The places that came up on google weren't encouraging. I'm in Shreveport Louisiana and there are no rental places nearbye. Online, one offered $160 for a three days (you get the week rate after 2) but they didn't seem to have their act together on the phone and didn't fill me with confidence. The more professional one offered $240 for three days (you don't get the week rate untill three days) plus their shipping was another $70. The idea of paying $310 to rent when I could buy for $800 seems a bit silly, especially if we need to include a second weekend.

I've got a line on a guy who may be able to lone me some 16 gigers for a week and that will probably be the best option.

I guess I've been wanting a 16 gig card for a while now to also make some of my corporate video stuff move a bit faster. I'm thrilled at how fast the price is now dropping but, with the Scarlet around the corner, I also don't know if I wanna invest more money into P2 if this new sucker becomes my main camera later down the line.

If only the HVX200 could just use something like CF cards, I'd be a very happy man.
 
Just a thought if its in your budget:

I recently also needed to upgrade from 4 gig to 16 gig cards for a job. I elected to sell my HVX200 and purchase a HVX200A package from Specialized Communications that came with 2 - 16 gig cards. Accounting for the cost of the 16 gig cards and sale of my 200, the camera upgrade ended up costing under $1000. A good deal for my money given the much cleaner image of the 200A.

Drew Harty
 
I know it sounds weird but i almost like the safety of offloading regularly than using the 16 GB. I have 3 8GB and might be in the market one one more. I usually shoot 1080i at 24p.

With some of the directors that I work with they are fine, but one director who i finished working with never liked calling cut so we would have to do offloads every 20 minutes.
 
dharty said:
Just a thought if its in your budget:

I recently also needed to upgrade from 4 gig to 16 gig cards for a job. I elected to sell my HVX200 and purchase a HVX200A package from Specialized Communications that came with 2 - 16 gig cards. Accounting for the cost of the 16 gig cards and sale of my 200, the camera upgrade ended up costing under $1000. A good deal for my money given the much cleaner image of the 200A.

Drew Harty
Click to expand...

Hey, I don't know if you mind, but would you be willing to give me the specifics or your deal. I may be interested in doing the same thing myself. What did you sell for how much and what package did you buy for how much?
 
capt chuck said:
I could see a case where you're offloading the 16G while shooting on the 2 4G's... will the 16G be done offloading before the 2 4G's fill up?
Click to expand...

I've got a Sony Vaio sz300 laptop, which is pretty fast. When I use to have 4GB cards it unloaded them in about 3 minutes. I would say, on average, it takes about 1 minute for every GB you transfer. So, yes you will be waiting on the 16gb to transfer for about 4 or so minutes after the 4gb fills up (that's if you're shooting 720p).

General rule: 1GB = 1min transfer.

Jeremy
 
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