Zitay CFast to SSD adapters
Affordable way to shoot RAW on Cinema cameras?
Cinematographers and photographers around the world know that storage is the bane of their existence.
Whether it’s not having enough storage, not having FAST enough storage or having to buy each new fangled type of card or drive as technology advances.
I found myself in this quandary recently, as I bought myself a Canon C200 Cinema Camera. This operates on CFast 2.0 cards, of which I did not have, I had CFExpress cards or SD cards.
Upon looking on Amazon for the cheapest reliable options that had the speed requirements to record RAW format, I found the below card:
Silicon Power 512GB CFast 2.0 CinemaPro Card
That is the cheapest option I have found, 512GB of storage in the CFast 2.0 format, but it was £249.99.
Meaning if you want 1TB of storage (which for RAW is probably the least you’d want realistically), you’d have to buy 2 cards which would come to just under £500!
Then if you want a couple of backups, that’s just under £1000 total.
That’s a lot of money for a format that is on it’s way out, due to the growth of CFExpress cards and SSDs.
So what’s the alternative? Well that’s where ZITAY comes in to play.
They have created a plethora of conversion adapters and useful Cinematography tools that really broadens your ability without spending insane amounts of cash.
I reached out to them after I saw that they create some interesting products that enable you to adapt various types of SSD into CFast 2.0 and CFExpress.
They sent me out both the ZITAY CFast 2.0 CFast Memory Card to SATA 3.0 SSD and ZITAY CFast to MSATA SSD Adapter.
Both adapters arrived shortly after and I have to say I am impressed.
They have brilliant design and feel well made, especially the MSata adapter which is fully metal where appropriate.
Having tested both, I have to say, they do the job perfectly.
Especially with the adaptations made to the CFast 2.0 card area for the C200 version, they offset the cable so the card door fully closes.
Other adapters do not to this and means you have to cut a slit out of your card door or leave it fully open, which is not ideal!
Simply plug in either a SATA 3 SSD or MSata SSD, attach it to your camera handle or cage, then slot in the CFast card side and close the door. Works like a charm.
Now as we have seen, for 1TB of native CFast 2.0 storage, you are running atleast £500 in costs, let alone if you need backups or extras, it mounts up very quickly.
This is why I love this adapter set, let’s look at the costs of getting each SSD type respectively.
First off the SATA 3 SSD and a reader, this was the option I chose on Amazon:
BENFEI 2.5 Inch SATA to USB Enclosure
A combined cost of UNDER £65!
What an absolute saving compared to the native card.
What about the MSata option? Well here is the card and a reader:
SABRENT CFast Card Reader CR-CF20
The MSata option with the reader will cost you just under £100.
You can also use this CFast 2.0 card reader on the SATA adapter instead of the enclosure if you wish, by just plugging in the camera portion to the reader.
When you compare these costs with those of a native CFast 2.0 card, you can see why this is the go-to option for serious cinematographers when using RAW on these cameras. The costs are insurmountable otherwise and that’s investing in ‘old’ tech.
This way, you can cheaply buy fast backup SSDs and be a little bit more future-proof.
No one wants to be stuck in a situation where you have all of this storage, but the format slowly fades out and no company is making more of them.
Overall I am thoroughly impressed with the design, build and speed of these adapters and fully recommend them. Go check out ZITAY below!