A field, mobile solution?

S

Silver 2

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Hey everyone, first time poster.

I've been reading these boards the past couple weeks and you guys (and gals) really know your stuff. Glad I found you! Now to the chase. I'm looking at purchasing an HVX (which luckily I don't need until about May), but am still quite unresolved to the storage, power and weight concerns. Here is the deal. While mountain hiking I'll be taking this new little baby up with me. At the very least I'll be up a whole day (or 2 or 3) each time up. That's hours of shooting and hours of battery power needed in rugged environment, and already carrying plenty of other equipment. So weight is also quite an issue.

So far these are the possible solutions I am aware of:
1) Get as many 8g P2's as I can get my hands on (cost effective?)
2) Firestore (is 100 gigs enough? Ug, lug up several?)
3) G-Drive min (is 160 gigs enough? Other issues?)
4) CitiDISK (is 120 gigs enough? Other issues?)
5) Cineporter (will 320 gigs really be available soon? How much?)
6) Powerbook or laptop-type solution (more to lug up?)
7) Other hard drive solutions?

Anyway, you get the drift. I need maximum storage, maximum battery life, with as little weight as possible, on top of the other obvious technical considerations of making it all work. Ah, but the beautiful footage should be worth it. Any useful suggestions would be quite appreciated, since it seems you all know more about this than I do. :--))
 
I would think for your application the P2 Store from Panasonic would be your best bet. It is more rugged then the other options and since it uses the same batteries as the camera, will limit the amount of accessories you'll need to carry. It is by no means the cheapest solution but each unit can hold 15 4 gig cards so 1 or 2 should offer you plenty of shooting in a compact, light weight, rugged package.

Happy hiking,
filmstox
 
I know that here ain't the best thread for it, but...
are there any need of having a P2 card since you go for notebook/powerbook capturing?
the camera needs to detect a card to allow the capture?
thanks!
;)
 
The P2 cards are very addictive. The workflow is so much quicker than tape. I've found that my preference is to stick them directly into a Powerbook. The P2 store works well for longer shoots.

I've found that I'm needing a whole lot more editing space. I suggest the G-Raid terabyte. You'll fill it faster than you can imagine.
 
p2 Cards are very expensive, not efficient for recording hours of footage on a hike...

Go fire store. Unless your thumb gets happy, 100gigs should be enough. Much more effective than P2. if P2 can store 6 minutes at 8 gigs, lets do some math... (adding and multiplication, guys) 75 minutes of footage with 100 gigs. Again, if you arent trigger happy, this should suit for a day of hiking.

It all depends on what you are filming. if you want to film every step of the journey, you shouldnt be shooting HVX because its impractical, but if you are selective, it is plausible.
 
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Everyone wants to talk about Firestorer does anyone knows its past product history. They never works reliably. They dont have the support if your $10000 projected stuck on a bad hard drive.
 
Yeah, having several P2 cards seems a bit pricey. So I'm looking at the Firestore and possibly the Cineporter, provided they're going to be delivered fairly soon and aren't too costly. I'm planning my first hike/climb in early to mid May. My plan is hike as several trails on the 15 14,000' mountains in CA, possibly to summit some of them, and to be selective in what I shoot. I'm not yet sure how much footage I'll be shooting, as I won't know until I'm up there and doing it. I just don't want to be short once I'm up there. I imagine I'll get a better feel for it once I've done a few hikes.
 
Has anyone actually used one of these? Just wondering if it will handle my 100gb 7200 Hitachi HD. I was going to try a Tekkeon battery to run my bigger HD in the field.
 
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