SDHC Cards and the Panasonic AG-HMC150

For those of you shooting on our second-year camera, the Panasonic AG-HMC150, you have probably already seen these cards. Perhaps you've even pondered what "Class 6" actually means. Hopefully we can clear up some of these questions.

Firstly, the HMC150 can shoot with any SD card. However, you will only be able to take advantage of the high-quality modes with cards rated as "Class 4" or higher. We provide "Class 6" rated cards to give you some peace of mind.

SDHC Class Ratings:
Class 2: 2 MByte/s - 13x
Class 4: 4 MByte/s - 26x
Class 6: 6 MByte/s - 40x

Keep in mind that these ratings are minimum transfer speeds and that peak performance can be much faster.

Not sure how much footage your SDHC card can hold? In the highest quality (PH mode) you'll get about 6.35 minutes per gigabyte, so you can estimate card capacity by the following formula:

6.35 x (card capacity) = available time in minutes

So, some common SDHC card sizes can hold the following:
4GB ≈ 25 minutes
8GB ≈ 51 minutes
16GB ≈ 102 minutes
32GB ≈ 204 minutes

Panasonic P2 Card Reader Soon!

Rumors are swirling that Panasonic is coming out with a single slot P2 card reader in Spring 2010. Let's hope it's true. Our friends at Abel have some great pointers on Duel Adapter compatibility with Snow Leopard (it's not compatible).

If you're on a shoot, are using one of SVA's laptops, and have trouble with the Duel Adapter reading P2 cards, try the following:

1. Eject the Duel Adapter and shut down the laptop.
2. Reinsert the Duel Adapter and power up again.
3. If this fails or you get an error message, the Duel Adapter is toast (a relatively common occurance).

You can use a mini USB to USB cable to download directly from the camera or stop by Dub Room 316 where we have a Panasonic five slot P2 card reader.


http://blog.abelcine.com/2009/09/22/panasonic-single-slot-p2-drive/