Welcome to our community

Be a part of something great, join today!

Log in
  • Hey all, just changed over the backend after 15 years I figured time to give it a bit of an update, its probably gonna be a bit weird for most of you and i am sure there is a few bugs to work out but it should kinda work the same as before... hopefully :)

Which CF card reader for RED?

jimhare

jimhare

Well-known member
Joined
Sep 5, 2007
Messages
3,768
Reaction score
0
Points
0
Age
59
Location
Sydney Australia
There seems to be a lot of forum traffic about card readers giving unexpected results. Things like "USB card readers will often fail" and "don't use FW400 readers" etc.

So looking pretty clear, use a FW800 card reader. So which ones are giving the best results?

Any to avoid?

Thanks!

Jim Hare
Sydney
 
The Lexar Pro FireWire 800 RW034. I'm taking some of the online Red courses at FXPHD and this is the reader they recommend.

I just got it so I don't have too much experience with it, but it is fast (transfered 1gb in a little over twenty seconds), small, and it feels solid enough.

My one gripe would be the eject button. If it fails then your card is stuck. I would much prefer to be able to take it out manually.

I was using a SanDisk multi-card ImageMate usb reader before and for the most part it worked fine on both Mac and PC, though my Mac wouldn't recognize it on one occasion.

But when it comes down to it I think the Lexar, especially in a pro environment, is the best bet for now.
 
Good stuff. Hey Pablano, how is the FXPHD course? Good? I met Mike Seymour at the FOX day here in Australia and they were just announcing it at the time.

Sounds like useful information.

Cheers,

Jim
 
The best one I have actually used is called a Hama firewire 800 reader.. but I had to smuggle it in from the UK. it mounts cards super fast and is on the top of the speed tests.

Sandisk and Lexar both make badass firewire 800 readers though. I agree with pablano's comment about the lexar eject button.. which is why i prefered the sandisk untill i found the hama.
 
i've found the Lexar to be a bit average - we might have a slightly faulty unit - but you have to insert the card, eject it, then insert it again for the reader to recognise it. the FW800 connectors aren't the strongest.

it also seems to be a fairly flimsy design. i think i'll be ordering a hama unit very soon after that recommendation.

as for the fxphd.com courses - i'm on my second term and i've found them to be invaluable. it was great to be able to get inside knowledge even before the camera arrived. the episodes are really thorough and varied.
 
- WARNING -

- I used 3 of the LEXAR readers daisy chained together on a shoot like LEXAR say you can - and started to notice corrupt frames - DO NOT DAISY CHAIN THEM! -
 
Oh, and watch those pins on the Lexar's FW800 port. One sprung a little loose when I inserted the cable and it bent in and across the other pins. And shorted the whole thing out. Not pleased about that. I just bought another one last week and will RMA this fried one.
 
jimhare- I like the FXPHD courses. Mike Seymour's great and the courses have been very helpful overall. Should you sign up just for the Red Courses? It's hard to say, especially since there are places (like this forum) you can get help and info for free, plus you have to sign up for three courses at a minimum and there are only two on the Red. But as a sort of one-stop "here's what you need to know about the camera in a working environment" it's hard to beat. Plus the site is definitely worth checking out in general.

Jarred- You weren't kidding about smuggling in the Hama. I only found a handful of stores that sell it online and none of those ship it to the U.S. (It looks like Hama has some kind of partnership with SanDisk which I guess is the reason it can't be sold over here). I even checked on Ebay, but no luck.
 
pablano said:
Jarred- You weren't kidding about smuggling in the Hama. I only found a handful of stores that sell it online and none of those ship it to the U.S. (It looks like Hama has some kind of partnership with SanDisk which I guess is the reason it can't be sold over here). I even checked on Ebay, but no luck.
Click to expand...

Yeah.. it took me 4 weeks to get them but it was well worth the wait..
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top