Simultaneous recording

Camerapilot

Active member
I saw that the new Panasonic AVCCAM's can record simultaneously to both cards. Is that something that could be addressed in a future firmware update?
I only buy SD cards from BH but even so I had issues with one card where I could see the footage in camera but couldn't transfer it to a computer. It would be nice to generate instant back-up.
 
Panasonic has said no, it's not possible on the AF100.

Hard to believe really.

It is possible to record to a card and an external device simultaneously allegedly ...so why noty both cards in camera?

As someone that had a card fail on a days shoot that cost NZD $75000 ..I am seriously freaked by Panasonics response!

BTW- I saved my days shoot by my back up procedure to an external drive during the shoot. Nonetheless....the SD card failed me . It was binned just a couple of days ago after I re formatted it and retried recording to it. It was a brand new and tested card when I shot to it first time.
 
Does the AF100 trigger external recorder recording and the same time records into its SD card? If so then its another way of doing simultaneous recording. Anyone know which external recorder support this?
 
I saw that the new Panasonic AVCCAM's can record simultaneously to both cards. Is that something that could be addressed in a future firmware update?I only buy SD cards from BH but even so I had issues with one card where I could see the footage in camera but couldn't transfer it to a computer. It would be nice to generate instant back-up.

The camera does not have the internal architecture to do this. Sorry. And buying cards from B & H does not mean you won't have problems because you can buy really cheap and unreliable cards from them as well. Put your money on cards like Panasonic or Sandisk and your issues will be even fewer.
 
Bummer. Love the camera, but I feel that to be completely reliant on it, I need now to buy an external recorder now...
 
Well if you buy good quality cards, you should have to do that. Keep in mind that there are over 35,000 AVCHD cameras that are in the world with Panasonic on the side and they all record to one card. If it were a huge problem I don't think there would be such silence on the boards. The funny thing is that this is the same board that argued for the use of SD cards saying the P2 was overkill and over priced. I will say as I have said before, don't buy the cheapest cards.

Best,

Jan
 
Point well taken on the cheapest cards, I agree.
But since the new AVCCAM cameras can record to 2 cards simultaneously, it must be a desired feature...
Don't get me wrong, I love my AF100, it's groundbreaking, but some areas can still improve and I have a feeling that if future versions of this camera are still using SD and not P2, they will have this feature.
I'm still learning how to deal with SD workflow. I have been in the business for 15 years, and have been a film guy until very recently. Times change, technology evolves and so, do we need to do as well. I'm just feeling some growing pains.
 
The funny thing is that this is the same board that argued for the use of SD cards saying the P2 was overkill and over priced

However, some, myself included, commented regularly that the reliability of P2 cards, and the resultant lack of sleepless nights, was/is well worth the price. I have not had a problem with SD cards, but I've only been shooting with them for a few weeks. I buy the best available, but I still worry - because I know a photojournalist who has had some problems with them.

This may sound silly, but even a very small, relatively inexpensive external SD recorder (similar to the card readers) would be a nice accessory for backup only. Or, an external P2 recorder (I know, "over priced").. now that would be something worth having for those of us with the cards.
 
But since the new AVCCAM cameras can record to 2 cards simultaneously, it must be a desired feature...
Of course it's a desired feature. It was my #1 request for them to implement. It wasn't possible on the AF100.

Don't get me wrong, I love my AF100, it's groundbreaking, but some areas can still improve and I have a feeling that if future versions of this camera are still using SD and not P2, they will have this feature.
Agreed. Now that they can do it in the new cameras, any future version of the AF100 would likely have it, and I would certainly expect it.
 
However, some, myself included, commented regularly that the reliability of P2 cards, and the resultant lack of sleepless nights, was/is well worth the price. I have not had a problem with SD cards, but I've only been shooting with them for a few weeks. I buy the best available, but I still worry - because I know a photojournalist who has had some problems with them.
There's been an explosion of interest in external recorders, and obviously one of those would go a long way towards resolving any worries. I've got a Nano that I use on mission-critical stuff where a card failure would be disastrous. I also only use the very best cards I can possibly get, regardless of those who say "they're all the same" and "you're just wasting money" -- I don't care, I want only the best and I think cards are so cheap that it's really indefensible to cheap out on cards. That said, I do wish that they would have introduced a bigger-brother P2 version of the AF100, as I think that would be quite a success.

This may sound silly, but even a very small, relatively inexpensive external SD recorder (similar to the card readers) would be a nice accessory for backup only. Or, an external P2 recorder (I know, "over priced").. now that would be something worth having for those of us with the cards.
They make an external SD recorder, the HMR10, but it's $2500 (I think). The smallest external P2 recorder is the HPG20, at $4500.

The most intriguing of the new crop of external recorders, to me, is the Sound Devices PIX 240 and the Atomos Samurai. Not only because they're relatively affordable ($2600 and $1500 respectively) but also because they are monitors which may offer pixel-to-pixel, and in the case of the SD it's also a high-quality audio recorder with timecode, and a multi-format recorder (DNxHD and ProRes) and a muti-media recorder (can record to SSD, eSATA, or CF). So it's not just a recorder, it's a whole workflow extension, which may make it worthwhile as an overall improvement to everything you do.
 
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