People have been using CFAST to SSD Adapters for the Ursa Mini cameras ever since the beginning, and i've used the ATOCH adapter myself. It sure comes in handy, but what I didn't like was all of the loose cabling and the extra bulk. So whenever possible I just stuck to CFASt cards. It kept my rig light and tight.
Blackmagic Design Ursa Mini Pro SSD Recorder
Now BlackMagic Design has introduced their own SSD Recorder (only for Ursa Mini Pro), that connects between the camera and the battery plate. It's much cleaner with only two wires that record from the SDI input and output, but it does have it's caveats. For one, the BM SSD Recorder only works with the 'Pro' version as it records from the SDI. When using the SSD Recorder, you can't connect the camera to an ATEM for live production. With only one SSD drive, it also can't record 4.6K Lossless RAW at 60p (only supported to 30p).
Clean Aftermarket CFAST to SSD Adapter
That's what makes this new aftermarket 'DUAL SSD Recorder' very interesting. It works very much the same as other CFAST to SSD adapters, but it's been designed to fit clean behind the battery plate (exactly like Blackmagic's design). The advantage is that because they are still using the CFAST adapters, you can record full RAW, full resolution, and all at the fastest framerates. In fact because this adapter uses (2) SSD Drives, you can even turn on 'Dual Card Mode'! And there's no bias for Ursa Mini Pro cameras, it is backwards compatible to any Ursa Mini camera - and you'll still be able to use the SDI out if you're hooking up to an ATEM.
There's not much to complain about this aftermarket Ursa Mini SSD Recorder except for the fact that you won't be able to close the LCD screen completely with the CFAST cabling running through. But that's about the only con I can think of...
CFAST to SSD Adapter Ursa Mini + Ursa Mini Pro
Cheesycam
Post author@Justin Clapper - To be fair, you can still do 60fps with the BlackMagic Design SSD Recorder. But it kind of defeats the purpose, as they want you to put a CFAST card in Slot 2 and then turn on Dual Card mode. This doesn't make sense because CFAST is still very expensive. And if you have a 1TB SSD drive and a 256GB CFAST, your limit of recording 60fps will be 256GB! Not a great solution, and I like my dual SSD reader better.
TO read SSD drives to a laptop, you can use just about anything since it's just a Sata connection. For lightweight travel I just use a USB to Sata cable like this (which comes in Type C option too):
Justin Clapper
@Cheesycam,
Thanks for the helpful video explaining the difference between SSD options. Especially about 1 drive versus 2 drives and 30 fps or 60 fps; before I watched the video I was going with Blackmagic's SSD Recorder, until i found out it's one drive and max out 4.6k raw is only 30 fps (I intend to shoot in 60).
Do you have any recommendations around a product to transfer data from the SSD cards to a laptop? Or any equipment I'll need to get the information to my computer? I'm using a MacBook Pro.
Thanks for any suggestions
Awesome videos.
Justin
Cheesycam
Post author@Peter Lara - All the files are stored on the SSD drives. If you shoot ProRes, then they are just regular video files. If you shoot RAW, they are DNG files and Davinci Resolves can open them up as normal video files. If you shoot 'Dual Card Mode', then one frame is on one drive, the other frame on another drive. But both drives have the same 'Folder Name'. You basically copy both folders to the same location and your system will ask if you want to 'merge' the files since the folders are the same name. You choose yes because each file is a different name, so there won't be any conflict. What you end up with is a folder full of files in the correct order. From there open Davinci Resolve.
Peter Lara
After recording onto dual SDD's how would you transfer the footage over to your computer? Does it record one frame onto one and the next frame onto the other one? Or does it just record onto the other until one is full?
Cheesycam
Post author@Stephen Wiley - I'm not sure who would be a reputable seller, but as far as I know there's only one CCTECH brand. Try this link: https://cheesycam.tv/SSD
Stephen Wiley
ALSO!
If you dont want yours, I'd love to buy it off you =P
Stephen Wiley
How do I buy the most original one? Do you have the seller's name written down? The link above is broken.
Also! Did you have any concerns about loosing footage on it or corrupted footage? I shoot weddings, so that's my concern.
Thanks!
Cheesycam
Post author@Miguel Salinas - Awesome. Good luck with your build. Let us know when you have that up and running. For some of us, time is money. I've paid mine off already from my first job, as i'm now able to use dual 1TB drives shooting full RAW uncompressed, full framerates, and much longer run times. I ended up buying a second one too.
Miguel Salinas
Thats right. More expensive than blackmagic SSD recorder. Better you build one and even print 3D the enclosure. Still will be cheaper than any solution as there no special skill to make it
Cheesycam
Post author@Kax Merkhoff - Didn't even think about that. Pure coincidence. I have no idea who those guys are, and have absolutely no affiliation with. 'CC' is often used in video terminology (a.k.a closed circuit), maybe that's what they were going with.
Kax Merkhoff
The CCtech SSD recorder looks incredibly promising. Out of curiosity: The link you posted is cheesycam.tv/ssd and the recorder itself is called CC-tech? In which ways are you involved with the product and if so, shouldn't you disclose this when reviewing? As I said, to me it looks clearly like the best solution. I'm just wondering, especially as I haven't seen any other independent reviews, and i'm intrigued by the product.
Mark Westcott
*V-Mount not amount.
mark w
Curious, can you still balance this combo on your came-TV Prodigy gimbal? either with the amount battery adapter or the whole rig?
Cheesycam
Post author@Carlos d - Yup, been there done that. There's certainly a price you pay for cleanliness. No loose power cables, no weird mounting.
Carlos d
These are definitely elegant solutions
But you could get a cfast to sata cable for 70 bucks. And get a cheap ssd enclosure with Usb power for 25 bucks.