RE: Formatting Menu Prompt

[Harry Clark]

RE: Formatting Menu Prompt

Just a quick suggestion to the team...
If you mount a drive or CF card that already has clips on it and attempt to reformat, the camera warns you that there are already clips and you will erase them. "Do you still want to format?" The two choices below are "format" and "cancel". "Format" is highlighted by default.
I would humbly suggest that the default highlighted choice be changed to "cancel", much like it would be if you were to attempt this in computer land. Under the pressure of the day, it's likely that someone somewhere will just click on the already highlighted "format" choice without thinking and have a really bad day...
Of course I'LL never be that guy , but since it's already a convention in the world of computers, why not conform to it here?
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Brent J. Craig]

You shouldn't be getting all the way down to the format menu unless you mean it. Nor should you be re-inserting cards with a proper on-set workflow.

 

[Aiden K.]

You shouldn't be getting all the way down to the format menu unless you mean it. Nor should you be re-inserting cards with a proper on-set workflow.

Oh, but then there are the rest of us idiots who WOULD do such a thing.

 

[Obin Olson]

GREAT idea!

 

[Harry Clark]

Crewpix, I agree. But since it's a convention for other computer disk formatting and erasing procedures, it is odd that Red does not conform.
And there's no point in making things purposely tricky just so a professional like you or I can say, "gotcha! I knew all along these indie film kids would get what they deserved!"
For instance, in the heat of battle, on an understaffed 12-camera concert with film runners going back and forth with mags and 100 decibel music preventing good communication, things can go awry even on a normally well-oiled crew. Back in the day, in this scenario, it was just as easy to pop on an exposed SR1 mag and shoot nothing for 11 minutes (no roll-out IR trigger) Obviously, it's inexcusable. But shit happens from time to time. Why would you object to a subtle layer of protection here? One little moment of distraction, the AD asking the AC a question just as he's doing the procedure, is all it takes.
Of course none of us PROFESSIONALS wold ever let that happen... but why not make it safer? Especially, as I noted above, it is a convention for other hard-drive formatting operations.
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Steen Linde]

You are so right, Harry. Actually I was about to do that ,FORMAT THING ,to some test footage, while I was a little distracted for 1 minutes.
So no reason NOT to make that extra protection of your data.

Cheers

 

[Brent J. Craig]

Crewpix, I agree. But since it's a convention for other computer disk formatting and erasing procedures, it is odd that Red does not conform.y

You are totally right. I have just found that after doing anything like this 20 or 30 times it sort of becomes automatic and the prompts lose meaning anyway.

For example, for me format is something like "system button, down, down, left, down" Looking at the prompts on the screen actually makes it more confusing.

I recommend a workflow where the download tech erases the cards before handing them back, so you should never be formatting in camera. It's too easy to screw up - which was the point of the original poster.

 

[Harry Clark]

Crewpix, agreed.
Has anyone been working this way? Can you "format" the cards or the drives from a Mac or PC? Or simply delete everything and format on the camera when reloading?
it would be great for the tech to do this because it does take a bit of time at the camera for the drives (however short)
I'll investigate today...
Cheers,
Harry

 

[Brent J. Craig]

If I remember, offhollywood talked about this in some thread. Basically you need to copy a couple of small files from a freshly formatted card to one you have erased. Not sure if you have to change any info such as reel numbers.

Would be very easy to write a script that creates the required files after a download-station format.

I can't recall how the camera reacts to a completely empty card formatted off-camera. Can an owner let us know?

 

[Stuart English]

Formatting on P.C or camera?

Formatting on P.C or camera?

If I remember, offhollywood talked about this in some thread. Would be very easy to write a script that creates the required files after a download-station format. I can't recall how the camera reacts to a completely empty card formatted off-camera. Can an owner let us know?

Its a reasonable question, but it has been set up this way for two reasons - a) formatting on-camera means that each Digital Magazine has the correct camera slate data, and b) the menu construct reflects a time on set concern.