PCMCIA Reader help

J

Johnny Bueno

Active member
Hey all,

Just need to know what the best options are for a PCMCIA card reader adapter. I currently have a MacBook Pro 15" with MAC OSX and I have absolutely no way to dump footage off of my P2 cards. What are my options of adapters that are compatible with MACS? As of right now I am aware of only these 2 that i have found in this forum so far:

http://www.duel-systemsadapters.com/?productid=DP-0001

http://www.addonics.com/products/host_controller/adexc34cb.asp

Are these compatible with my mac and would either of these be the best option for dumping my P2 cards in terms of adapters. Thanks for any help.

Johnny
 
If you've got a camera, you have a free option -- the camera can be connected via USB and used as a card reader.

The Addonics will not work with your computer, the only ExpressCard adapter that works with an MBP is the Duel.

There is also a USB adapter coming from Panasonic, should arrive around April.
 
The problem is that I will be shooting a wedding event and need to dump footage while the camera is still recording. But you helped me with what i needed to know. That the duel adapter will indeed work. Thanks Barry. Much appreciated.
 
If you are running Snow Leopard, you should be aware that, unless things have changed since I last checked, the Duel does not work with Snow Leopard and may never work on Snow Leopard, according to Duel tech support.
 
Hi Johnny,

Test your transfer method "Before" your gig, better safe than sorry, Personally, I'd suggest getting more P2 cards to shoot the event, You only have to buy them "Once", then download of files is not an issue, and you can concentrate on your shooting, not having to dump files in the times you will need to take a breather. I suppose that is a legacy of the old days of taking enough Tape to shoot the job, we can all remember running out of tape at some time.
I have 3x32 1x16 & 2x8 cards, that gives me plenty to shoot a big full day wedding at DVCPro50 SD, with some to spare, shooting tight is the key in my opinion, shooting in anticipation across the day will waste your card space, and waste edit time. I suppose that comes with experience.

I always try to "Shoot to Edit". a skill gained from shooting news overmany years into small under 15min packages for Network feeds..

Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
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Thanks for the advice Tom. I agree that buying more cards would be helpful, but unfortunately not sure if it will be within my budget for this wedding. Also, I will be shooting HD 720 in Native mode and I only have 1x32gb and 1x16gb. So Im not sure if that will be enough to shoot a wedding without having to dump the footage at some point. At least the ceremony part. All I hope is that my two cards are enough to shoot the entire ceremony portion without having to dump footage within. Maybe I'll rent an extra card to be safe?
 
Hi Johnny,

"Bite The Bullet" and jsut get yourself a 62g E series, they are so much less than the R series I bought years ago, you will not regret it, trying to do shoots on the cheap in my experience is always problematic, a fast road to grief.
anyway it's your call.

Goodluck

Cheers
TomK
olinevideo.com.au
 
thanks for the link tom. I noticed the price difference between the A series and E series but I didnt see anything on the R series. what are the R series? I have 2 P2 cards that I got with my camera back when I bought it. They are the R series. Are those the oldest models?
 
Plenty good threads on the difference, basically, R series are top grade, E series are made to a price and have a max "use by" read/write total. But, I would buy E series If I needed more cards for sure.
Cheers
Tom K
olinevideo.com.au
 
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