Now, this is convenient in many ways. Mainly in that transfer of footage from camera/memory stick to computer is quick and easy. The way that these sticks are designed is that the codec used to compress the HD footage does not compromise on picture quality, and that the sound is DAT quality. Very important for filming, as digital cameras usually suck on sound.
However, they cost a fortune. A 16GB stick (which holds approx 55mins of Hi-Def PAL footage (25fps/35Mbs, 1920x1080) costs over GBP400.
That meant that all I could afford at the time of purchase was one memory stick for my camera in addition to the 'free' one that was included with the initial purchase. In total I had approx 1hr and 25mins worth of recording time.
Now that was fine when filming in my own place. During the breaks, I could head to the computer and upload the footage while everyone else was eating. It was not an elegant solution, but it was a workable solution. However, it did cut back on the amount of shooting time available, as I had simply run out of space on my camera's memory sticks.
So now in pre-prdocution this year for two new films and these are not going to be shot inside the house. I will have to go on location. Even with very careful planing, effectively limiting the amount of footage I can capture in a shooting day to 80 minutes is not feasible. But nor was paying GBP400+ for a measly hour of filming time a good answer either.
Thank goodness for the MxR adapter.
Essentially, with this little adapter, you can put a normal 16GB SD card into the camera and voila! You have exactly the same memory capacity as buying the fully branded Memory Stick from the manufacturer.
And it is a lot cheaper. The MxR adapter with a 16GB SD card cost me GBP136 on the high street (Tottenham Court Road). Three times cheaper or to put it another way, for what I was prepared to spend on one card, I can now spend on three and be ready for whatever this year's filming throws at me...
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