Best P2 card reader option for unibody MBP?

Oliver Rush

Oliver Rush

Well-known member
I have a current edition 15" MBP, which as you all know does not have an express card port for an adaptor. What are good solutions for a p2 card reader? Does anyone make an external (firewire 400 or 800 preferably) pcmia reader that works with P2 cards. I only need a single slot (though 2 would be nice), and price is my main issue. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
 
Barry_Green said:
Not true, there is the PCD20, which connects via FW800.
Click to expand...

Right, but it costs almost $1900 - probably more than he spent on the entire computer. Makes it a little hard to call that a "good solution" in light of his statement that "price is the main issue".
 
I have an issue coupling the word "good" with taking my camera out of use for 5, 11, 24, 40 minutes at a time while a card transfers...

LOLx2

about the only situation where id think using the camera as a transfer device would be a logical choice is:
1. if you have a couple 32 or 64 gig cards and shoot the better part of a day and transfer afterward.
2. are a hobbyist and have no money for a cheap laptop AND nobody breathing down your neck at a shoot
 
wgzn said:
[... a client] breathing down your neck at a shoot
Click to expand...

If this is the case, you should be able to afford an appropriate reader or stock of cards.


Or perhaps look into renting a DVCPRO-HD deck (they have FireWire too) and buy yourself some DVCPRO-HD tapes. You could quote that to the client.


How about a cheap PC laptop with a PC-card slot (or a express-card + adapter) and a gigabit Ethernet port. You can get together a setup with a net-book for a couple of hundred bucks. There are even FireWire options on this route too.

- Mikko
 
If you're a Mac-only type, a G4 Powerbook will import P2 directly (I have one), and it'll run FCP6 for log and capture just fine (but not FCP7). Even the fastest of them (1.67 GHz, which is easily powerful enough to edit basic DVCPROHD stuff) are quite cheap these days - $300-400.
 
I am seriously considering the cheap laptop route for dumping, but I like having my macbook on set so I can do whatever, and having to carry ANOTHER laptop would kind of piss me off. If I don't go the firewire route, are their any PCMIA readers that work via USB? Or any internal PCMIA readers that are IDE or something that I could hook up through an external USB or Firewire enclosure? Pretty much I am looking at the cheapest way to transfer p2 cards to my macbook while keeping my camera free.

My last resort is probably going to be the cheapest PCMIA laptop I can find, but I really would like to find a way to just dump it using some kind of reader for my MBP.
 
None of those things exist.

The only cheap thing on the market right now that would work with an MBP is the Duel Adapter, if you have the ExpressCard slot.

Other than that, you can wait for the proposed "single slot reader" from Panasonic that's supposed to come out in "Spring 2010" but we don't know anything about it.
 
Thanks Barry, I guess that answers that. Gonna suck it up and find a cheap old lappy I guess. On the plus side, atleast I can find something cheap enough that I can leave in my car and not care if it gets stolen. I wonder if that 10+ year old toshiba tecra I have in the back of my closet will work, lol... Oh well, time to hit craigslist as taking the camera off line to dump is getting old REAL quick.

As for waiting for stuff to be released, if I was one to do that I would be camera-less and waiting for a scarlet... With business tools that you make money off of, I find it best to find what will best fill your needs at the best price available at the time, and make it work, or you will be passing up opportunities to make money.
 
Hey Oliver,
I recommend getting a used P2 Store. Got mine on eBay for $500 bucks. Works more reliably and seems to transfer faster than my old Duel adapter. And since you only have one 16Gig card, this gives you room to offload that one card three times in the field.

So for barely more than the cost of a second 16G E-series, you'll end up with the equivalent of four 16 gig cards (dump three on the p2 Store and fill the card again.) AND it serves as a card reader.

The P2 Store uses USB 2.0, so you'll have no problems connecting to just about anything.
I love the form factor of it too. So rugged. Uses same batteries as the camera, so my spare batts now have an extra use.

Press ONE button to offload a card. Uh, yeah I guess you could boot up a cheap laptop on set and start some software and connect a hard drive, but I dunno, I kinda prefer pressing ONE button. Plus I can teach a PA to use this thing in moments if I'm super busy. I cannot teach a PA to offload properly using a laptop quite as quickly. Ha ha.

Another nice thing I didn't realize it did: It compares the card you're telling it to copy with the cards already dumped to the P2 Store, so you don't accidentally copy one card twice.

Just wish they'd make a bigger one.
 
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