Re: How to read P2 cards faster (and cheaply)

Ah, the Achilles heel of Panasonic: A small, fast and reasonably priced P2 card reader that works with a variety of standard computer interfaces. (Note to Panasonic: Micro P2 should have UHS-II interface for fast offload! Or faster... if there is something more future proof by next year. And in the meantime release a PCD3 with USB3 interface!.)

Anyway, here are some more workarounds for today:

Use multiple readers. My MacBook Pro has two separate USB busses. Mac Pros have a lot more. So PCD2 in one and camera in the other and you half your offload time. Your computer's CPU and your Runner Drives would have to be able to keep up, of course. If you use slow hard drives, there's not much point in this method.

A PCD35 or PCD30 will probably be faster than this, though.

BTW. I've been told that the larger Panasonic readers (PCD35 & PCD30) use custom PC-card chips (not standard PCMCIA chips), hence the higher speed (and probably price).

Also: Stay away from ShotPut Pro version 4.1.3 (downgrade to 4.1.2 or upgrade to 4.1.4) as I've found that version glacially slow for P2 offloads.

Aasulv Wolf Austad, fnf
Director of Photography
Los Angeles based