Sd cards, what kind please....

K

Kimchoc

Member
Waiting on Mr. UPS to bring my new 40. Talked to Panny tech support the other day before purchase and he said class 6-10 cards are recommended. While waiting for the brown shirt to get here, I started to brush up on the manual. Manual says class 4 is recommended.

Would someone that has one(40) mind telling me what brand cards, what size and what class you are using? I assume you are using a couple at a time on a shoot?

I usually shoot depositions that MAY last for over an hour and another "speaker" series that is around 60 mins. Camera has to stay on for as long as the person is speaking in both cases.
I'm not outputting to Blue Ray, just good old mpg2 files to DVD's.

Thanks,
GLB
 
I use the Patriot LX series 16GB class 10 cards. Each card will fit 1hr 39min in PH and 2 hours roughly in HA/1080i mode which is comparable to HDV.
Double those times for 32GB cards.
 
Using 2 16gb Transcend class 6 cards, very happy with them. (from Amazon.com, about $40 each)

Also used a Kingston 8gb class 4 card for a while that i was borrowing while i waited for the 16gb cards to arrive in the mail. (took over a month...international shipping is a pain)

I've also used my 2 4gb class 2 cards that I have for my other camera (Panasonic SD5) and they work fine, but only in the lower 2 quality settings. If you try to record in higher quality, the HMC40 tells you that you can't.

I've had ZERO problems with any of the cards I've used.

It's true, all you need is class 4, those are plenty fast enough for the camera to record at it's highest quality setting. If my understanding is correct, all you gain out of faster cards is faster transfer to the computer.
 
Great guys thanks, some reading I've done says that faster cards help with action shots like panning for football, sports etc. Cant remember the name of the issue that happens when the camera is trying to transmit more data to the card than the card can actually store. I've read that on more than one digital forum regarding hard drive type cameras. They have a name for it and the fix was faster cards.

So safe to say a class4-6 for still subjects like I mentioned most of my work is, then maybe a class10 in case I am shooting sports? Would you guys agree with that general principle?

Thanks,
Gary
 
Kimchoc said:
Manual says class 4 is recommended.
Click to expand...
You do not believe the official operating instructions? Class 4 means 4 MB/s, that is 32 Mbit/s, way more than 24 Mbit/s this camera is capable of. Or you can buy Class 6 cards if you plan to use them in something like Canon T2i, JVC HM100 or Sony EX1.
 
Ahhh, interesting. But I did read that the sports issues were fixed with a faster card and that was confirmed when tech support recco'd them. .
Wish I could remember what they called it. I wanted to order a few cards and have them arrive about same time as camera so I can go right to work on a one hour shoot this coming sat..

Thats why I was asking here. I figured it made sense. I dont know enough yet about mbits. LOL. Quite a bit I dont know yet but I'm doing better since reading here all day.

Thanks,
GLB
 
I'm also using the Class 10 Patriot LX series cards, 16gb and 32gb.

I've used Kingston Class 4 cards in the Panny as well with no problems.
 
Just a quick heads up. got a couple 32GB Kingston's offa eBay and apparently they weren't really class 6 or probably not even Kingston's as they would record for about a minute before failing in cam. Anyway got a refund without any fuss from one of my fav sellers on eBay so no biggie. I already had plenty of good 16GB class 6 and class 10 cards.
 
Have a class 4 PNY (Wal-Mart) and a Class 6 Transcend (Amazon), both 16GB and both record soccer games at 720p60 or other stuff at 1080p24 or 1080i60 with no issues of any kind.
 
The camera will work with class 4 cards no problem. All I have is class 4.

However, if you use a higher class, it works too and the transfer spped to the computer may be faster.


Bob Diaz
 
Good answers, all of you. Good information. looks like I have nothing to fear from a class 4.

Sidenote. I'm starting to hear more and more about knock offs and clones on Ebay with equipment and products across the range. Mics especially.. I look pretty careful before I buy and pick a good seller like the poster above.

Thanks to all. Class 4 it is.

Gary
 
Hi GLB.

Been using Trancend 16 & 32 gb class 6 cards and they've been fine.

I shoot primarily in 720p60.

For me, even tho the class 4 works, I like having the higher class as I feel it gives headroom/safety margin in terms of making sure that I'm getting at least a strong "class 4" performace and reliability, as goofy as that may sound.

Maybe I'm a little paranoid but there's only one first shot. Plus right now I'm shooting a lot of event footage which there really is only one first shot.

Cheers
 
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