SD card advice for AF100

Being able to have two 64gb cards and not worry about changing out cards anymore is great. However $500 for a single panasonic card isn't ideal for the AF100's market.

I am looking at the three other main SDXC manufacturers. Sandisk, Kingston, and Patriot. The Sandisk says class 4 but write speed 15meg/sec, is this definitly not fast enough for variable frame rates?

What about the Kingston Technology SD6A/64GB 64GB Secure Digital Extended-Capacity Card (Class 6) 15MB/Sec. 100x Write $230
and the Patriot LX Series 64 GB SDXC Class 10 Flash Memory Card $230 cards? They are class 6, and pretty reputable brands I think. Anyone want to weigh in on using these cards with AF100 and variable frame rate?
 
90 minutes on a 16gb card is excellent.
I wouldn't recommend to go bigger than that unless absolutely necessary.
Sometimes it's safer to switch cards and at this price point very feasible. 3 x 16gb = 4,5 hours!!!

The Lexar 133x looks like a safe bargain!
 
alexdias said:
90 minutes on a 16gb card is excellent.
I wouldn't recommend to go bigger than that unless absolutely necessary.
Sometimes it's safer to switch cards and at this price point very feasible. 3 x 16gb = 4,5 hours!!!

The Lexar 133x looks like a safe bargain!
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B&H was selling 32GB Class 10 Lexar Professional SDHC cards for about $85 recently. They upped the price to $90. Still a reasonably good deal for such well-recommended cards.
 
alexdias said:
90 minutes on a 16gb card is excellent.
I wouldn't recommend to go bigger than that unless absolutely necessary.
Sometimes it's safer to switch cards and at this price point very feasible. 3 x 16gb = 4,5 hours!!!

The Lexar 133x looks like a safe bargain!
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Petros Kolyvas said:
B&H was selling 32GB Class 10 Lexar Professional SDHC cards for about $85 recently. They upped the price to $90. Still a reasonably good deal for such well-recommended cards.
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Just received 4 X 16GB Lexars from JR. Running speed and 'surface' testing using h2testw right now. The first card is maintaining a 13.4-13.5MB/s speed (effectively Class 13), or >107Mbps, well over twice (thrice?) what the AF100 needs even in VFR mode.
 
First of all I would not use any card over 16GB, that's plenty of time, plus you have 2 of them. I will not use Transcend, Lexar or any of the lower price point cards. They simply will fail you and most likely they will fail at the most critical moment. I had (so far) 3 cards fail in about 18 month- all footage lost! You will be kicking yourself for not spending a few extra $$$ on a reliable cards like Sandisc. JVC recommended Transcend, but honestly they suck. I also had Lexar fail as well- so I would not recommend them as well.
 
I've been using 4 Lexar Professional x133 16GB SD Cards with no issue so far. They work great with overcranking. Can't say the same for my Transcend 16GB cards. None have died on me yet, but I had a scare when shooting stills with one on the GH1. It was taking a long time to write a photo to the card, then when I hit the playback button, it gave me an error message and would not display any of the photos that were on the card. Taking the card out and letting it "rest" for a bit seemed to do the fix the issue. But definitely not bulletproof.
 
robertrogoz said:
First of all I would not use any card over 16GB, that's plenty of time, plus you have 2 of them. I will not use Transcend, Lexar or any of the lower price point cards. They simply will fail you and most likely they will fail at the most critical moment. I had (so far) 3 cards fail in about 18 month- all footage lost! You will be kicking yourself for not spending a few extra $$$ on a reliable cards like Sandisc. JVC recommended Transcend, but honestly they suck. I also had Lexar fail as well- so I would not recommend them as well.
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Well all card manufacturers fail, just look at reviews on B&H or Amazon. Every single one has failure reports. And I would not say Lexar is cheap, they are about $50 a piece for the 16GB vs. $25 a piece for Transcend. Not as high as SanDisk extreme, but certainly not lower end.
 
EidolonFilms said:
Well all card manufacturers fail, just look at reviews on B&H or Amazon. Every single one has failure reports. And I would not say Lexar is cheap, they are about $50 a piece for the 16GB vs. $25 a piece for Transcend. Not as high as SanDisk extreme, but certainly not lower end.
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Yes I know that, but some are more prone to failure. Transcend were $48 when they first hit the market, so they were not cheap cards by any means. If you read the reviews from B&H (I don't buy from Amazon as they suck imo, but that's a different story all thogether) even Hoodman claim of zero failures is bogus. However like I stated after shooting literally hundreds of hours tapeless for since July 2009 I pretty much stick with Sandiscs only. Also it's funny that you guys just bought 5K cameras and you are penny pinching on the least reliable part of the system- which are cards. Reminds me of the guys who will spend a lot of money on camera, but they try to save later on good sticks or mics- not a good way to go.
 
Barry_Green said:
Cheaping out on media is, IMO, profoundly foolish. I know there are folks that will say I'm "falling for marketing" but -- even if I am, I don't care. It's pennies in the grand scheme of things, whereas if it helps avoid a disaster, it's the cheapest and most valuable insurance I can think of. I would prefer P2 just for this reason alone, but since the AF100 doesn't use P2, I'm at least going to expend every effort and every necessary dollar to get the most reliable cards that I can possibly find. And so far, for me, that means Panasonic Gold, SanDisk Extreme, and Lexar Professional
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robertrogoz said:
Yes I know that, but some are more prone to failure. Transcend were $48 when they first hit the market, so they were not cheap cards by any means. If you read the reviews from B&H (I don't buy from Amazon as they suck imo, but that's a different story all thogether) even Hoodman claim of zero failures is bogus. However like I stated after shooting literally hundreds of hours tapeless for since July 2009 I pretty much stick with Sandiscs only. Also it's funny that you guys just bought 5K cameras and you are penny pinching on the least reliable part of the system- which are cards. Reminds me of the guys who will spend a lot of money on camera, but they try to save later on good sticks or mics- not a good way to go.
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If it's recommended by Barry and many pros here, it's good enough for me.
 
robertrogoz said:
Yes I know that, but some are more prone to failure. Transcend were $48 when they first hit the market, so they were not cheap cards by any means. If you read the reviews from B&H (I don't buy from Amazon as they suck imo, but that's a different story all thogether) even Hoodman claim of zero failures is bogus. However like I stated after shooting literally hundreds of hours tapeless for since July 2009 I pretty much stick with Sandiscs only. Also it's funny that you guys just bought 5K cameras and you are penny pinching on the least reliable part of the system- which are cards. Reminds me of the guys who will spend a lot of money on camera, but they try to save later on good sticks or mics- not a good way to go.
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Ok, that's fine if you have a good experience with sandisk. I went with Lexar as it was one of the brands Barry suggested. And I still wouldn't say we are cheaping out.
 
I love how everyone is wanting to try and save $10 or $20 on the cards. Am I the only one remembering paying over $500 for a 16gb P2 card? I remember finding my 3x8gb cards used for $350 and myself running to buy them in cash, and feeling like I got a hell of a deal. Frankly, in the long run whatever the card costs does not matter. I would rather pay more for the card and not end up looking like an asshole when a card fails. I am going to buy the panasonic cards for whatever they are and be happy with them. Any SD card price is a steal compared to the other media we have been using over the past 4 years, so just buy the best and have no regrets later.
 
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My transcends, 2 16Gb class 6 and 1 32Gb class 10 have been working flawlessly as well. Will probably pick up a few more 16s as spares.
 
Like someone said earlier, the 8GB Panasonic Gold Class 10 cards can be had for $35 out there. That's practically at the point where you can shoot and hand off the card to the client. I always like to copy them over for my own archival and backup. But that becomes the point where you can hand off the car as a disposable item! Considering a year ago it was $1k for a 16GB P2 card...I think SD has finally arrived in that price/cost ratio that really fits its place in the market.

Also remember, we have 2 slots on the AF100. That's 90 minutes! If i have to shoot over that WITHOUT being able to change cards, i'll know it ahead of time..
 
When I was in Nepal last year I had 100% results with both Panasonic class 10 Gold 16gb SDHC cards and SanDisc Extreme class 10 16gb SDHC cards.......but a major disaster with a Kingston Class 10 16gb SDHC card. I loaded it into the GH1 all appeared to be cool, shot about 1 hour of stuff in the game park, powered it down, went to dinner then decided to check out days shoot, alas powered it up "Card Error. Check your SD card" Have tried all sorts of rescue software, NO LUCK. I have since read somewhere on this forum maybe I should have formatted the card in camera before shooting, mind you I have never done this with any other new SDHC card before. Cards are cheap now, I'll be sticking with Pana Golds or The Sandiscs.
 
I've been using the Transcend 64GB SDXC cards with no issues on both the GH2 and AF100. Insanely low prices, check out:

$169 in the US at Amazon and Ebay...


Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...p?ie=UTF8&qid=1295495988&sr=8-1&condition=new


Ebay:


http://cgi.ebay.com/Transcend-64GB-...mory_Cards&hash=item41561a435d#ht_2032wt_1136



Yes... you could spend double to triple the cash for other brands, but why?
Transcend is getting solid reviews on Amazon and is the #1 seller of 16GB Class 10 media, plus has a lifetime warranty...

I am put off by the fact the camera companies are OK not including at least 64GB on-board memory which they should have built-in in this day for $169 !
 
J Bellari said:
I've been using the Transcend 64GB SDXC cards with no issues on both the GH2 and AF100. Insanely low prices, check out:

$169 in the US at Amazon and Ebay...


Amazon:

http://www.amazon.com/gp/offer-list...p?ie=UTF8&qid=1295495988&sr=8-1&condition=new


Ebay:


http://cgi.ebay.com/Transcend-64GB-...mory_Cards&hash=item41561a435d#ht_2032wt_1136



Yes... you could spend double to triple the cash for other brands, but why?
Transcend is getting solid reviews on Amazon and is the #1 seller of 16GB Class 10 media, plus has a lifetime warranty...

I am put off by the fact the camera companies are OK not including at least 64GB on-board memory which they should have built-in in this day for $169 !
Click to expand...

You have heard about all the counterfeit SD cards on ebay. It is a HUGE problem. No matter what card you buy, buy it from an authorized reseller. Just google counterfeit SD cards or fake SD cards, and you will find ALOT of complaints.

Also, a warranty on even a $500 dollar card means nothing when your footage from your days work dies with the card.
 
Oliver Rush said:
You have heard about all the counterfeit SD cards on ebay. It is a HUGE problem. No matter what card you buy, buy it from an authorized reseller. Just google counterfeit SD cards or fake SD cards, and you will find ALOT of complaints.

Also, a warranty on even a $500 dollar card means nothing when your footage from your days work dies with the card.
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The Transcend ones I bought at $169 are legit- simply register right away with Transcend and you'll know...

It's Always a good idea to backup frequently- no arguements from me there, whether you have footage on a cheapie $99 point and shoot or $500 card for an AF100 ... for that matter, there's no guarantee your camera will not malfunction- so I always shoot with 2 cameras or bring a backup just in case ... And I am no stranger to data recovery, it is NOT the end of the world, if your data is worth it, you'll pay a grand to get it recovered... period.

My workhorses are two Transcend 64GB SDXC cards, yet I backup between breaks anyway whether I shot 3-4 hours straight, or simply an hour ...

I notice having the 64GB allows me to always roll till the battery dies on the GH2, and I stop worrying about SPACE remaining- it fits an entire day if I need it- I now only think about battery swaps. Essentially, treat it like 64GB on-board memory...

BTW, the statistical likelihood of data failure is higher juggling four 16GB cards, than a single larger card which rarely is removed from the body except at the end of the shooting day if at all...

I know everybody has different workflows and tolerances for data management, but the 64GB SDXC cards allow me to concentrate more on shooting than disk space, and has been fine with me to date...
 
I wish we could write duplicate out to two cards, as I do understand not wanting to lose something.
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This is a great idea... I get paranoid about dependency on technology sometimes, and there are some things in life that are not repeatable... The option to write simultaneously to two slots would be a really nice menu addition...
 
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