field offloaders?

[Shawn Nelson]

Are there any field offloaders, something that will take CF cards and dump them to a hdd?

Panasonic has one for P2
http://catalog2.panasonic.com/webap...logId=13051&itemId=94262&surfModel=AJ-PCS060G

It seems not that hard to make. I thought I recall seeing some overpriced units on here.

 

[Cam Crowley]

Shawn

Check out the NEXTO. Its been discussed on the boards quite a bit. I've got one - used it quite a bit and its been rock solid. Self powered, easy to use, fits on your hip or in a pocket, not expensive (i think about $200US) and offloads a 8GB card in about 3.5 mins. I don't have a 16G RED CF card so I don't know if these work with the NEXTO.

Cam

 

[rod bradley]

yes, the nexto will work with 16 gig cards

 

[Mark Pugh]

I've used Hyperdrive Colorspace successfully, but check for 16GB compatability.

 

[Andrew Walker]

This would be a great idea to have if you were unable to have a computer with you. Like if you were out shooting nature footage or something to that extent. But for narrative work I wouldn't want to rely on it. Plus to be able to check shots on set is extremely valuable. But for $200 why not have it in the kit.

 

[Hans von Sonntag]

But for narrative work I wouldn't want to rely on it. .

We use my 2 Nexto2525 since a year on many national commercials and they worked fine, never let me down. The CF - Nexto Combo is much more reliable than the drives, IMO. The clapperloader never erases CFs on set. The Nexto is entirely used for backup - backup means always two copies: The Nexto and the CFs. If we ran out of CF's (I've got 20) we rent a dozen more.

Later in post the Nexto is rather convenient. No tedious card by card copying is needed because that has all be done on set. Just plug the Nexto into the NLE and copy the footage onto the project raid. Now all footage is visually checked and a LTO copy made. Now the Cfs and Nextos can be erased and are ready for the next shoot. This is a very secure workflow.

I rarely have the time to check shots, I never had and could with 35mm. But if "experimental" shots are done I take my Macbook with me. Of course the ability to check shots is a nice feature but checking shots can eat much, much time that is surely better invested in shooting.

Hans

 

[Manuel Wenger]

Love the Nexto DI 2700. I have both a Hyperdrive SPACE and a Nexto , but i prefer the Nexto, mainly because of the eSata interface.
I´ve a mobile RAID which also connects to my Macbook via eSata (I´m using a Tempo Express 34 Card which allows two Esata Devices at the same time connected) and the transfer time for a 16GB Card from the Nexto to the Raid is less than 5 minutes.

With the Hyperdrive SPACE i´ve troubles to get the 16 GB Cards to work, but I´m in touch with Support , and they are looking into it.

Manuel