Digital Hits with 10bit Recorders

[snuforeo]

I have the PIX 240 and the AJA Ki Pro Mini. I notice I get digital hits on both recorders... more often than not... which tends to be a problem when I use S-Log and have to grade an important shot (inevitably) off the in-camera SxS cards.

I come out of the port A - I've changed SDI cables to see if that was an issue. I've changed CF cards (from the fastest out there) - still get dropouts.

Any one else have this issue?

btw - used the Nano for a few years with the EX-3 and I think I had (1) hit with a lot of shoot hours.

Is this a 10bit issue?

[alisterchapman]

I doubt it is a 10 bit issue as such. But compared to a NanoFlash your probably now using a much higher data rate, maybe 185 to 220 Mb/s so you will be pushing the CF cards to their very limit and possibly beyond and this may be the cause of your problems. I would use an SSD myself.

[snuforeo]

Alister,
What is your feeling about the Gemini 4:4:4... I know you wrote a review a while back... now that you've had a bit more time - do you feel like there is enough of a difference from 4:2:2 to justify $7k or so (and the workflow headache)? We do use the F3 for some spot work - but mostly corporate. I feel like the Gemini might be overkill for our work. Unfortunately, I also feel like we've hit the ceiling with the range on the F3 in 4:2:2...

[alisterchapman]

444 10 bit uncompressed is as good as it gets. I can grade and push 444 from the Gemini more than I can 422 from my Samurai, but the Gemini uncompressed workflow is a bear. The files are huge so archive and backup is time consuming.
Is it worth the headaches? Well that depends on what you wish to achieve. When I'm doing a commercial or other project for big screen presentation then the Gemini is what I will use. For most normal TV and video applications then 422 is often adequate.