working with one 4gb p2?

J

jelloshotsrule

Member
how annoying would it be to work with only 1 4gb p2 card? clearly that depends on the situation, so let me give some background:

my brother and i are just going to be making some shorts, for fun and potentially festivals. we have an hvx, and have so far just used minidv or direct to computer for recording.

we've mostly been waiting for the firestore, but lately i've become more inclined to push for the p2 route, despite the obviously much bigger $/gb. we don't have a ton more money to throw at it (planning on getting more accessories over time), but we want to film our first short with it asap, and don't want to rely on minidv...

so how annoying would it be to film using 1 4gb p2? we'd probably just shoot 24pn (mostly anyways), and could have a laptop for offloading handy. most of the locations are either our own house, or my brother's office. the other stuff is limited enough that we could probably do with just one fill of the card if we plan it well enough.

so to transfer from the camera to an external hdd (through the laptop), would take roughly how long? including the formatting...

the thing i like about the p2s is that you can utilize the full functionality of the camera, and can keep adding cards as we get the money. whereas the firestore is more of an initial payout, and with some limitations (at least from what we know currently).


just wanted thoughts on your experiences, though i realize most people have a minimum of 2 cards.

oh, it also is probably important that we'll be using mostly folks we know for actors, so it's not like they're on the clock and offload time without being able to film will kill us... but still could get annoying to them

thanks in advance
 
Working with one card is kind of like running with only one leg. Yes you could probably get around, but having two makes it sooooooooooooooooo much easier, and better, and faster, and opens up options that having only one doesn't allow.

I'd much much much rather have two 4gb's than one 8gb, for example (but I'd rather have two 8gb's than two 4gb's of course!)

So -- if you're planning on doing real work with the camera, it's folly to do it with one card. If you're just doing your own little things, and trying to hold on until the Firestore comes out, then one's okay.
 
Hey Captain Barry - When do you think we will see a price drop on the 4 GB ? This is all speculation of course.. :)
 
John Rivers said:
Why would you rather have two 4GB cards than one 8GB, just outta curiosity?
Click to expand...

Same problem with having just one 4 GB although you do get longer record times with the 8 GB. With two, you can shoot continuously while someone offloads content. If you have just one card, you have to wait while the card is being offloaded so time is wasted. With two 8 GBs, you get the longer record times and you can shoot continuously.
 
Because with one card, when it's full, the whole production grinds to a halt. You have to stop everything you're doing in order to offload that one card.

With two, you shoot on one while the other one is offloading. I only have two 4gb's, and I never have to wait for a card.

It's like legs -- you can hop with one, but you can run with two.
 
great analogy barry

I really really want to buy another 4 GB card but I keep having this feeling that once I drop $650, they will come down in price by a few hundred dollars - and then I will have to buy a third - eh - 2 would be supremo and I don't even own a laptop or a p2store, however, that extra 10 minutes of 720 24Pn would be a lifesaver - a cherry lifesaver

Barry where'd you get your cards and how much did you pay?
 
so, from everyone's real world experience, would you suggest I just cancel my 8GB P2 order (which I'm still waiting for, and don't know how long I will be waiting still), and jump for two 4GB cards? :) thanks everyone.
 
First it's a cherry lifesaver and now it's gold.

You really are one silly wet poodle.
 
barry- what's your take on whether waiting for the firestore is worth it? we don't really have any "real" work as you say. hah. nothing that's super time sensitive besides just our creative juices needing to flow.

just by math alone, ~1800 for 100 gb vs. ~1200+ for 8 gb... seems like no contest. but i realize it's not that simple.

thanks for the insights.
 
Agreed, I'm interested in this as well. Moreso, what reasons would someone have to get P2 after the firestore is released?
 
P2 has a couple of advantages over the firestore.

1) You are able to shoot in 720 24PN and 30PN modes. You can't with the Firestore. The firestore only recognizes 60 frame signals so you have to use the ol' 2:3 or 2:3:3:2 cadence.

2) There are no moving parts.

With that said, I could live with #2 and the price difference sure doesn't make sense.

I'd recommend skipping the firestore and waiting for the Cineporter. It is an external hard drive but it acts as a giant P2 card so you can shoot in PN mode. Also, they will have a data mirroring option (Raid 1) so you have 2 copies within the Cineporter to ensure that your footage is safe. The base Cineporter should be 160 GB and cost around $2000. It's scheduled for June/July release. Hope that helps.

Andrew
 
thanks much presario.

so it's confirmed that the cineporter will support pn? for some reason (and admittedly i haven't read a ton about it since what i had read showed that it'd be even later than the firestore in release), i thought that it was just like the firestore... glad to hear that it's a better option (bigger hdd too!)

also- is there really any benefit to the 24/30 pn modes other than saving storage space? if not, then the fact that the firestore doesn't do it shouldn't matter a ton in the short term. i realize that saving on space over the course of using the camera will add up and allow you to back up projects more easily, etc. but is that really the only gain from that format? or is there some general benefit in the editing process/quality also?


thanks again!
 
No prob jelloshotsrule

The two biggest advantages of shooting PN mode are space, which you already mentioned, and the ability to shoot Variable Frame Rates. You can't Overcrank/Undercrank in any other mode. With that said, if you're never going to do any O/U cranking, you can safely operate at any of the other modes. If you are planning to shoot 1080P, you can't O/U crank anyway.

But you are right, the Cineporter's release is later than the Firestore. And Yes, the Cineporter will act as one big P2 card :Drogar-BigGrin(DBG)
 
well i would definitely like the ability to shoot variable rates....

that's not possible at all with the firestore? or just not with the pn mode? sorry for the ignorance on all this.

i just read the cineporter faq thread, which helped some. it seems that once done filming on the cineporter, one could transfer the data to computer via fw800? or am i missing something in the workflow?

i think we may end up getting a p2 card or two for now, and then deciding on if we need the cineporter when it's out... if so, i'm sure we can sell the p2s for a decent amount, at least enough to not feel like it's money wasted, anyways.

thanks again for all the help. apologies for being a "newbie"
 
You can shoot variable frame rates in the regular 720p mode (which includes shooting variable frame rates on the FireStore). You'd just have to "conform" the clips in post, by using something like the Apple Frame Rate Converter utility.
 
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