C300: Formatting C300 Mark II CFast Card on Computer

Eric Coughlin

Eric Coughlin

Veteran
Is there a way to format the CFast card on your computer so that it works right away when plugged into the camera?

On the C100, or SD cards in general, I can format in the computer (from Windows Explorer), put it in the camera, and it's good to go. But with the CFast cards, when I format in the computer, and put it in the camera, it says it needs to be formatted in-camera before it's ready to go.

I generally like to format my cards at a computer so that I can verify at the same time with my hard drive that I've copied everything on the memory card. So if there's a way to format the card properly such that I don't need to format it again once it's in the camera, that will save me some time and an extra step.
 
I never format the cards in computer. I always copy the files and then put it in the camera and format. Don't want the camera to suddenly feel ignored that the card got formatted in the computer and then throw some temper tantrums. :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
I thought I posted this earlier this morning, but apparently I didn't hit Post when I got interrupted.

More than just "deleting" the contents on the card when you format it, the cameras are creating a specific file/folder structure that is necessary for the camera to write to the card and for it to be read later.

I don't see it as that big of a deal. Most of the time I'm going to format all of my cards in-camera the night before or at the beginning of the day before we start shooting. I have anywhere from five to seven cards per camera body for all of my different cameras and I can't think of a shoot off of the top of my head that I used all of the cards for a camera up and still needed more.

With all all of that being said, I believe I read a post from Doug Jenson saying that he doesn't format his cards(Sony cams) on a regular basis. He just deletes the clips out of the folders/files on the card so that the file structure stays intact on the card and it's ready to be used again. I don't want to misrepresent or misquote Doug, but I'm pretty sure I read that in the Sony forum or another message board.

My philosophy is to always format the cards in-camera.
 
My problem with formatting the cards in-camera is that you get to the shoot, you're in a hurry to setup, and now it's just one more thing to do. Particularly time consuming if you have a bunch of cameras. For event shoots I like to show up ready to shoot, not, oh, let me, I don't know, build this rig, since I don't own a bag which can fit my rigged camera, and, gee, I didn't spend time formatting my cards at home, because, I don't know, I wasn't getting paid then, so I figured I'd just format them on the shoot, and do all of my setup on the shoot instead of at home, so I can be less efficient on the shoot, but at least get paid for my inefficiency...

I do find formatting in-camera tends to make you much more likely to wait until you're actually on the shoot to format, instead of doing it while at home.

Also, the second reason to avoid formatting at the beginning of the shoot, is that often in the rush of getting ready to shoot, you forget to format, start rolling, and now you've got a mostly full card with yesterday's shoot on it, along with some of today's footage, and you don't want to format cards in the field, and maybe you don't have enough cards to make up for this one, and even if you do have enough cards, now things are more disorganized, and you need to copy more cards, including just part of this card at the end of the day, leading to a higher likelihood of not copying everything correctly.

Yeah.
 
You might have addressed this, but why don't you just format the cards the night before? And if other operators are meeting you with their own cameras, have them format their cards in advance as well?

I know that's no help, but I think you're pulling hairs here...this should be the least of your worries when I'm sure you have many other things to think about on your shoots (but I guess maybe that's why you want one less thing to think about, haha.)

If you play it safe by dual recording, continue to play it safe by formatting the cards in the cameras where they are supposed to be formatted.
 
NorBro said:
You might have addressed this, but why don't you just format the cards the night before?
Click to expand...
As I said, "I do find formatting in-camera tends to make you much more likely to wait until you're actually on the shoot to format, instead of doing it while at home."

As Run&Gun said, "Most of the time I'm going to format all of my cards in-camera the night before or at the beginning of the day before we start shooting."

I mean, do you guys never forget to format a card before you start shooting? Or, need to be shooting NOW, but still have to take time to format cards since they aren't formatted yet? I never forget, at least when I format from my computer, because the modus operandi is to not put any cards in my camera until they are formatted. And since I typically leave my computer at home when I go on shoots, it means they're always formatted at home.

I've been on a lot of shoots using other people's gear where the shoot got delayed some because we had to format cards at the beginning or in the middle of the shoot as the cards had footage on them from an unrelated shoot
 
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Have you tried this?

1. Format card in camera.
2. Copy files/directory structure from card to computer.
3. Format card in computer (make sure same filesystem as camera used, e.g. exFAT).
4. Copy files/directory structure from computer to card.
 
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