How many mini-mags?

[Derek Carlson]

I purchased 2 120gb mini-mags with the expectation that I'll be shooting and dumping about every 30 - 40 minutes on commercial/feature shoots. For weddings I'll probably just stick with ProRes 2k for the sake of saving card space (not to mention almost no brides care about getting a 5k wedding video). Anybody use this method and find it workable?

 

[Björn Benckert]

I purchased 2 120gb mini-mags with the expectation that I'll be shooting and dumping about every 30 - 40 minutes on commercial/feature shoots. For weddings I'll probably just stick with ProRes 2k for the sake of saving card space (not to mention almost no brides care about getting a 5k wedding video). Anybody use this method and find it workable?

Its the stills you can pull from those 5k files the bride care about...

We use 2k 512Gb cards but a lot of times we rent extra. I think to small cards can be a bit tight, depending what you do and what compression you want to shoot at ofcourse.

 

[Chad Lancaster]

especially if your shooting for extracts you'll want to be shooting minimum compression, I'd get 2 x 512gb cards.

 

[Jose Mojica]

Funny...I was about to ask the same question. I normally choose smaller cards, rather than large ones, because I'm afraid the media is going to fail at some point, and I'd rather not lose a lot of content. But I've been wondering if I'm better off buying fewer, but larger media. For example, you can get a 1TB card on eBay for about the cost of 2 x 240GB cards. And 1TB card should let us shoot pretty much all day. But it doesn't make me feel safe. That could be because I've mostly used SD cards before though.

Also, how accurate is the storage calculator on RED.COM?

 

[Brendan H. Banks]

Funny...I was about to ask the same question. I normally choose smaller cards, rather than large ones, because I'm afraid the media is going to fail at some point, and I'd rather not lose a lot of content. But I've been wondering if I'm better off buying fewer, but larger media. For example, you can get a 1TB card on eBay for about the cost of 2 x 240GB cards. And 1TB card should let us shoot pretty much all day. But it doesn't make me feel safe. That could be because I've mostly used SD cards before though.

Also, how accurate is the storage calculator on RED.COM?

The media is pretty darn solid, so give it a few tests before putting it on a production and you should be fine.

I always prefer the AJA Data Calc for iOS. It's really darn accurate and very helpful.