XDCAM is easy as SDHC for Sony EX-1&3

To be truthful I've not bought an XDCAM camera yet. But having Rob chasing around the world on the Volvo Race editing XDCAM footage in all the stopovers means I hear about it all the while. So I thought that I'd look into workflow before I actually buy a camera.

Both Sony's EX1 and EX3 are high performing cameras and the only reservations I have heard is that they create a bit of an issue when you have only a very few memory cards (they are expensive) and are trying to manage safe data handling.

The cheapest workflow has been to put the SxS card into say a MacBook Pro's SxS slot and copy the data to a hard drive. Now there's nothing wrong with that but if you only have a few cards then you have to keep doing the transfers.

But now there is a neat solution from Australia. E-Films in Australia's New South Wales have a US$35 SxS card into which you can put an £38 16Gb SDHC card. This means you can have a couple of their MxR Expresscard Readers in your EX1 or EX3 loaded up with an SDHC card from Sandisk each and a pocket full of spares for the cost of one SxS memory card.

I got a Sandisk SDHC 16Gb card the other day and with Clive Jackson shot a little footage in one of his EX1s. On returning home I put the SDHC card into a USB card reader and Sony's Clip Browser software found it immediately. It behaves just as though the camera is hooked up to a USB port.

I tried this on both Mac and PC and got the same results.

So here is the easiest way I have found for UK buyers to get the kit:

E-Films MxR reader http://e-films.com.au/how-to-order/

Sandisk 16Gb SDHC card from Total Blank Media http://www.totalblankmedia.com/sandisk-video-hd-sdhc-16gb-p-1676.html

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