C300: Swapping cards whilst shooting (from a C100 owner)

MattDavis

MattDavis

Well-known member
The C100 has two card slots, like the EX1, and has an A-B roll. The EX1 enables you to be shooting on card A, with a seemless switch to Card B and... wait for it... whilst recording on Card B you can remove card A, replacing it with Card *C* and then format Card C - whilst still shooting on Card B. Great for scenarios where you're suddenly doing a lot more shooting than you bargained for (happens in the conference record business). That is, after all, how it should work.

Except the C100 does NOT do this. If you open the trap door to eject a card, recording stops. It just stops. Even the FS100 (AVCHD onto SDHC) will continue to record if you open the access door.

So - C300 users - can you A/B roll on your CF cards? Can you record onto one CF card whilst changing the other card?
 
why would you need to do it? If you put 64gb SD cards in each A&B slots you could shoot for 11 hours continuously. Don't you take a lunch break on a 12 hour shoot? Take the 3 secs of that break and change the cards.
 
Can you use 128GB and 264GB (http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/produ...256ctbna600_256gb_sdhc_uhs_1_memory_card.html) cards on the C100? If so, 2 264GB cards will get you 47 hours and 20 minutes of footage at full quality, or 155 hours and 10 minutes at the lowest quality. This would be good for using the Canon C100 as a low light security camera. Unfortunately, the C100 manual states that "A single clip can be recorded continuously for up to 12 hours. After the 12 hours, the camcorder will automatically stop recording." With DSLRs we were limited with 12 minutes and now we're limited by 12 once again.
 
Thanks for the responses, chaps! Tip o' the hat to Eric for that 12 hour limitation.

In case you're doubting my sanity, here's the beef:

1) I'm looking closer at the differences between C300 and C100 - very glad of my C100, it's a keeper, but I think C300 (or C300 mk2) is on the cards.

2) Speaking of cards, a couple of scenarios: firstly, recording onto 8 GB cards hand handing them off to an editor to keep on track with a conference edit, so every 25 mins (XDCAM) you're onto a new card and the editor can ingest and start cutting the previous 25 mins. Secondly, there's no timelapse on a C100! You have to film in real-time, so yes you can stop start, but filming a build over 2 days - swap the cards every x hours.

Yes, you can put higher and higher capacities in a card, but that doesn't stop the 'eek' moment when you're set to film X, then Y happens, and you're almost full - it's a happy, happy feeling to pop another card in. Yes, things like this do happen.

The point being that it's best to find out from the get-go that you CAN'T do it in the C100, rather than buggering up your recording by 'assuming' that it works as billed. LOL.

Once more, I think Canon really missed the point with aiming the C100 at Event Videograhers: timelapse and slomo were two big omissions, the third is A/B card swaps. Inappropriate metaphor moment: for run & gun it's double barrelled shooting, not (erm) pump action.

Thanks again, folks.
 
well, I think it doesnt affect that much since C100's battery only does 4 hours approx when recording

So, when you use a 64GB SD card, you have to change battery before swapping cards

Im also wondering what kind of events that holds more than 4 hours and doesnt allow you to get close to the camera

=.=

btw C100's AC power sucks, you have to connect the camera to the Battery charger then the cord, so the charger is on the half way between camera and the wall socket. no matter how you tape it, people are gonna kick it.

and most annoying thing is you can not charge your battery while connecting it to the camera. lol that sucks
 
Shawnvfx said:
and most annoying thing is you can not charge your battery while connecting it to the camera. lol that sucks
Click to expand...

Yea, I noticed that at my last convention gig. I had AC at the camera platform but had just done some run and gun and wanted to charge up the battery while I shot main tent on AC. No dice.
 
mhood said:
Yea, I noticed that at my last convention gig. I had AC at the camera platform but had just done some run and gun and wanted to charge up the battery while I shot main tent on AC. No dice.
Click to expand...

i tried that within the first hour of opening the box as I was too impatient to wait for the battery to charge! I plugged the camera in to the AC and the battery stopped charging. That Sucks!!
 
Curnsie said:
i tried that within the first hour of opening the box as I was too impatient to wait for the battery to charge! I plugged the camera in to the AC and the battery stopped charging. That Sucks!!
Click to expand...

imagine if you could charge the battery while powering the camera by wall socket, you battery is like a soccer ball on the ground. and you can literally see it flys when someone kicks it. lol
 
Shawnvfx said:
imagine if you could charge the battery while powering the camera by wall socket, you battery is like a soccer ball on the ground. and you can literally see it flys when someone kicks it. lol
Click to expand...

I'd bet that flying battery would take someone out!! :shocked:
 
Shawnvfx said:
imagine if you could charge the battery while powering the camera by wall socket, you battery is like a soccer ball on the ground. and you can literally see it flys when someone kicks it. lol
Click to expand...

Kick my platform????? That's what the squirt gun is for. ;-)
 
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