Basic P2 card question: Hot-swapping

[David Cavallo]

I've used the HVX a fair amount, but strange as it may sound, only with the Firestore, and never with the P2 cards. A very basic question, then--which I can't find answered in the manual, Barry's book, or here, probably because it's so simple:

If I'm in a "run and gun" situation, with an AC dumping cards into a lap-top as we go, do I need to format each P2 card each time I put it back into the camera?

Better yet, can someone give me a "dumbed-down," step by step explanation of how I hot swap the cards (we'll have 3) if I want to shoot continuously? I'll have virtually zero prep time with the camera this weekend, and want to get to the location ready to go.

Thanks so much for any assistance!

Regards,
David

 

[Barry_Green]

Yes you have to format or erase the cards. On a PC you can do that easily; just right-click the card and choose "format". On the Mac it's not so easy, they don't allow formatting and they make the files read-only to boot, so that's one reason P2 Genie came about -- it's a one-stop, automated offloading program that greatly simplifies the process on a Mac.