C100: How Not To Accidentally Erase A Card

[bluedisk]

That is a great idea to have a separate bag for Full cards. My problem is that the clients want to avoid overtime so we usually will do one download at lunch, even in a restaurant, and the last one when we start the Abby Singer Shot. Also, unlike many of you all, I shoot for out of towners, such as today, and they have a plane to catch so the downloading must be completed right after the Martini Shot. So collecting all the Full cards in a bag is not a good protocol for me unless I am working on my own projects.

As to the idea of using the Lock or Label Up to signify what needs downloading and what's completed, that would be a recipe for disaster in my world. Often I must pass the card, in a dark studio, van, etc. to an Intelligent PA, a Grip with a GED, a Trained Monkey or God forbid: The Client (and often the client's nephews or nieces). So the Flags are a simple low tech, visually simple way of avoiding disaster.

But, to each their own!

I'm in the same boat as you. Broadcast clients fly in and out the same day with a quick turnaround of cards and downloads. This must be done in the field and the media management has to be foolproof.

My first ever tapeless shoot was a nightmare. I had 3 x 32 GB cards for my PMW350 which was 320 minutes of filming time, or the equivalent of 7 XDCAM disks worth (standard def). More than enough I thought.
The trouble was we filmed the longest interview I had ever done, about seven hours worth! It was for a British client filming a very well known survivor series, where this interview was both the research iv and the basis for the script. Fair enough.

Fortunately I had invested in a Nexto DI 2500 which sucked up each card in about seven minutes, and verified it too. I then backed up to the clients drive while rolling a subsequent card, before reformatting in the field. Nerve racking to say the least, as there is nothing so precious as the "gold" you have just shot. Formatting in the field just felt plain wrong, but I needed to if I was to continue shooting.

When I get back home I always copy the Nexto back up to a hard drive on my computer till I get the thumbs up from the client that all is good.

I'm an "old school" cameraman that started shooting on 16mm. You had to be as careful in those days with not ruining unprocessed film "rushes" with stray light leaks in the magazine or changing bag.

Copying is relatively easy, although there is always the Apple/PC formatting issue at times. I am PC and sometimes I will be faced with a hard drive that just won't be recognised by my laptop. Grrr.
Your card labelling system sounds very sensible to me.