How to delete a single file from URSA Mini?

Hello everyone,

I noticed there is no way to delete a single file from URSA Mini, and I couldn't find how to in the manual either.

Did I miss anything, or there is no such feature?

If not, why?

Thanks.

No, you can not delete single files on the m Cameras, due to the file structure used, you may get file fragmenting on the media, that would affect recording/writing speeds. In camera re-formatting was only recently added. In any case, good work flow procedures usually require keeping all your takes, and evaluating them in post on a larger screen. You might delete a file today, you will want to have tomorrow!

No, you can not delete single files on the m Cameras, due to the file structure used, you may get file fragmenting on the media, that would affect recording/writing speeds. In camera re-formatting was only recently added. In any case, good work flow procedures usually require keeping all your takes, and evaluating them in post on a larger screen. You might delete a file today, you will want to have tomorrow!

Thank you for fast reply.

For an expensive cfast card, it only hold 10 to 20 minutes footage. It is inconvenient to shoot outside. Sometimes, I really want to delete some obvious NG shots to save space.

No, you can not delete single files on the m Cameras, due to the file structure used, you may get file fragmenting on the media, that would affect recording/writing speeds. In camera re-formatting was only recently added. In any case, good work flow procedures usually require keeping all your takes, and evaluating them in post on a larger screen. You might delete a file today, you will want to have tomorrow!

Do you know if there is such a thing that I can transfer files from a USB card reader to an external hard drive without using a computer?

Thanks

Do you know if there is such a thing that I can transfer files from a USB card reader to an external hard drive without using a computer?

Nexto DI has a whole range of devices.

Have a look at this.

http://www.nextodiusa.com/

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Nt ... av-Search=

Not sure if it can handle CFast cards at this time.

Do you know if there is such a thing that I can transfer files from a USB card reader to an external hard drive without using a computer?

Nexto DI has a whole range of devices.

Have a look at this.

http://www.nextodiusa.com/

http://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Nt ... av-Search=

Not sure if it can handle CFast cards at this time.

Thank you.

They are more expensive than I thought. I guess a small laptop will do the job and cheaper.

No way to delete a bad take? For real?? This is 2015. People have been shooting digital for two decades. I'm not shooting a film mag where I have to shoot the whole roll before offloading, so why should I have to do that with a digital cinema camera? Is this feature available on the Ursa or going to be implemented on the mini? The downsides of the mini are really piling up.

You need to be aware of the camera's strengths as well as it's limitations before you commit to buying it.

No way to delete a bad take? For real?? This is 2015. People have been shooting digital for two decades. I'm not shooting a film mag where I have to shoot the whole roll before offloading, so why should I have to do that with a digital cinema camera? Is this feature available on the Ursa or going to be implemented on the mini? The downsides of the mini are really piling up.

It's not unique for a RAW motion camera to not offer it. Can you delete a clip on a Red camera?

You need to be aware of the camera's strengths as well as it's limitations before you commit to buying it.

really never thought a digital camera can't delete a file, my bad. i will keep this in mind, and ask the dealer when i buy any electronics in the future.

No way to delete a bad take? For real?? This is 2015. People have been shooting digital for two decades. I'm not shooting a film mag where I have to shoot the whole roll before offloading, so why should I have to do that with a digital cinema camera? Is this feature available on the Ursa or going to be implemented on the mini? The downsides of the mini are really piling up.

Seriously think about this.
Do you really want anyone that has access to the camera in a high pressure situation to be able to delete anything at all.
The budget for pre and production is what ends up on the media card, and you feel safe with any Tom,Dick or Harry to be able to delete media.

IMO media should only be deleted after it is confirmed that all data has been duplicated several times.
Invest in more cards.
It will be less expensive in the long run than having to pay for a reshoot.

Where is it written that you have to fill the card/SSD before offloading as in shooting film as you state?
Be smart, purchase more flash media.

There is plenty to complain about where BMD is concerned, deleting media is not one of them.

I have been on too many shoots where the panic has set in because data is thought to be lost.

CYA, never delete media in the field.

and now for some moving words............................. "Drink prune juice"

No, not deleting clips is a good idea, and is the typical cine work flow. Takes are backed up, then decisions made in which to keep or toss out. It is not the camera operators decision to delete clips. You are dealing with cameras designed for professional/commerical productions, not consumer home movies.

Given the short recording times, you are going to need a laptop or other means of backing up files as you shoot, or enough CFast cards to cover the shoot you are doing anyway. Also deleting single clips is bad news for these cards due to their file structure, and can cause a drop in their performance if you did this, again, bad news.
Cheers

Why can't BMD put SSD in the URSA Mini, they put SSD in a smaller camera body.

CFAST is just too expensive right now, for me

CFast interface allows for faster data rates than the slower SSD interface, also using smaller media left more room for the required cooling systems demanded by higher frame rates. Anyway, the industry is moving towards CFast cards, which are designed for digitial cine/video acquisition, where SSDs were designed for computer file storage, not video recording in a camera.
Cheers

CFast interface allows for faster data rates than the slower SSD interface, also using smaller media left more room for the required cooling systems demanded by higher frame rates. Anyway, the industry is moving towards CFast cards, which are designed for digitial cine/video acquisition, where SSDs were designed for computer file storage, not video recording in a camera.
Cheers

thanks

I will live with it, to be "professional".

thanks

I will live with it, to be "professional".

Not sure if that was meant to be condescending or not.

CFast cards were MEANT for video capture. SSDs are NOT. This is why they are moving in this direction. With Resolution and HFR capabilities, the demand for more stable media is necessary.

I'm not trying to be rude here, but it should have been very obvious up front that this camera takes CFast media. If that cost model does not fit ur budget then the camera may have not been the best option for you.

Oftentimes people get misguided by the initial low end costs of these tools. The URSA mini is not a $3K solution, it is at least double that to get it running with lenses, batteries, media, and extras.

All that said, there was a Kickstarter campaign awhile back for a device known as the "C-box" designed to convert the CFast inputs to SSD. You can Google it.

Actually, you can, if you get something like the C-box. Since both common SSDs and Cfast cards are SATA-6Gb/s devices, this device essentially is a physical/electrical adapter that powers the SSDs and lets it talk directly to the camera. It's not for everyone, but it certainly has a lot of potential applications. Honestly, its just some simple physical and electrical parts (<$100) so I'm hoping at some point someone will build something like it and sell it at a more reasonable price, but even at this cost it will save a ton of money and potentially allow for a more efficient workflow for certain types of productions. Although it may be a bit more unwieldly than internal cfast depending on how you mount it, due to the massive cost savings over Cfast you can simply record to two at once at double the framerate and 360deg shutter to get two streams of video essentially identical to one at 180deg at your lower framerate.

It's not entirely true that Cfast is faster than even low to mid end consumer SSDs since again, they use the same interface. Almost all the decent SSDs now pretty much saturate the SATA-6Gb/s interface, with good models like the Samsung 850 Pro hit around 550/520 MB/s max read/write, while even the fastest Cfast cards claim only around 510/450 max, and much lower minimum. However, higher end SSDs (and I'd bet Redmags, AJA Paks, etc.) use variants of the PCI express interface which allow for much higher transfer rates, up to 3200/2600 MB/s read/write. Furthermore, while for run and gun there are certainly advantages to the smaller and potentially tougher Cfast form factor, I've heard plenty of reports of various bad things happening to Cfast cards in the past, e.g. corruption, files disappearing, poor write speed, complete failure, etc. while I've not heard as much of the same about good, recent SSDs like the 850 Pro--plus, since you can buy six 256GB/s 850 Pros, the gold standard in SATA-6Gb/s SSDs as far as I'm concerned, for the price of one good, and still slower 256GB CFast card due to the tremendous and ever growing economy of scale that SSDs have, you can shoot more, backup more, and worry much less about deleting anything anyway.

thanks

I will live with it, to be "professional".

Not sure if that was meant to be condescending or not.

CFast cards were MEANT for video capture. SSDs are NOT. This is why they are moving in this direction. With Resolution and HFR capabilities, the demand for more stable media is necessary.

I'm not trying to be rude here, but it should have been very obvious up front that this camera takes CFast media. If that cost model does not fit ur budget then the camera may have not been the best option for you.

Oftentimes people get misguided by the initial low end costs of these tools. The URSA mini is not a $3K solution, it is at least double that to get it running with lenses, batteries, media, and extras.

All that said, there was a Kickstarter campaign awhile back for a device known as the "C-box" designed to convert the CFast inputs to SSD. You can Google it.

I believe the engineers from BMD had a good reason to use CFAST instead of SSD. They used SSD on their previous models before, and they chose to switch to CFAST.

CFAST is good and small, at least lexar offers limited lifetime warranty on the card, I don't need to worry buying a new card every year.

I just regret that I didn't buy a second cfast card when it was on sale at amazon.

thanks

I think that the one thing that we can all agree on is that by the time that a digital product comes to market, the technology has moved on.

The product we have purchased is old hat.

Truth be told we will never be able to keep up.

We live in interesting times.

Enjoy the journey because the destination is not always that wonderful.

That's how things go in digital, though on the other hand when I'm shooting stills, my old workhorse 7Ds still do the job just fine with fast/good glass and a good kit of strobes, light mods, etc. to get the look I want, whether I'm shooting for the science/engineering magazine I work for or various jobs for independent clients. I was always looking forward to 5DIIIs and all full frame glass, but improvement in my lighting gear and skills has made so much more of a difference, along with all the other things that don't cost 4 figures.

Under ideal conditions, namely lighting, even an iPhone can take a decent shot, and great lighting can make it look pretty darn good, as opposed to even a 1DX or D4s which won't make a photo that wasn't through through with clear purpose, a photo that tells a compelling visual story, into anything better than it already is. In video, obviously things are still moving toward that point, but the Ursa Mini 4.6K truly looks like the moving image equivalent of my 7Ds for stills, if not a 5DIII/D800 even, that will be the end point where care, talent, lighting, and creative vision will be the meaningful factors in the equation. It won't be absolutely perfect, but it should well be great enough for anything I can throw at it in the next 5-10 years.