Tape vs. Memory

Tape vs memory
When deciding on a camera here are a few things you might want to know before choosing whether you want to go with a tape, flash memory or memory card type camera.

Tape Camera- Sony HDR-FX7

Tape is a media that is fast becoming yesterday’s news but there are still several reasons one might still want to use tape style cameras. The advantage would be the ability to always have a tape backup. Once you have recorded your video and you transfer it to your computer you can store that tape and have the original footage to access.

Memory Card Camera- Sony HXR-NX30U

In my opinion there are many more advantages to going with a flash memory style or memory card camera. First you can store all your footage on reusable media reducing the need to carry multiple tapes. Battery life is extended because solid state cameras don’t have tape drive motors. On tape cameras you had to deal with high humidity and head problems and those issues don’t exist with card or solid state cameras. Work flow going from camera to computer is much faster and more reliable as well.

On the flip side if you choose to go with a solid state camera there are a couple things to keep in mind. First you should always have a 2nd drive, like an external hard drive,  to keep a copy of all your files because if you have a drive go down, you can’t just go pull the tape anymore. And the other thing is to make sure you follow all steps necessary to keep the format of the cards or camera correct to prevent file corruption.

There are numerous advantages to going with a memory style camera but in the end it is completely up to the end user to decide.

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