Remove the memory chips when shooting video?

[Danny McIvor]

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I notice that when I shoot video with the camera recording on a separate recorder (Atomos) the memory chips in the camera also record the image that's going out over the HDMI cable. Is there a way to turn this off or do I need to remove the chips from the slots when using an external recorder?

[scott kirkpatrick]

I have yet to shoot video recording over HDMI in 10-bit (others on this forum have been doing this), but in the Leica manual it says that if there are cards in the camera, it will use the 8-bit codecs, regardless of whether an HDMI connection is in use.  If there are no cards the signal will go out over HDMI in 10-bit depth.  So take them out.  This makes sense to me.  I don't see how the camera would have the capacity to run both codecs simultaneously.

[Irakly Shanidze]

Not only it outputs 8-bit via HDMI when an SD card is in the camera, but also it lags when you turn the recording off using the recorder touch screen control. When there is no card in the camera, there is no lag.

 

As to your question, the answer is NO. There is no way to make the camera ignore a card except for taking it out.

[scott kirkpatrick]

This seems like a reasonable request to put on the stack for a future firmware upgrade -- option to output video in 10 bit only to HDMI, ignoring the cards.  Perhaps then still shots taken while set up for video would then be able to be captured on a card.  Can you capture and recover a still shot when HDMI and external recording is in use with present firmware?  If not that seems to defeat some pretty complex functions that Leica has tried to build into their existing firmware.  I suspect the SL doesn't really know that an HDMI connection is present, but does know when it has no cards... Kinda dumb, but fixable.

[Irakly Shanidze]

Of course SL knows when HDMI is present. You can control the camera from the recorder screen. HDMI is a two-way communication route.

 

Yes indeed, it would be cool to have a capability to have the in-camera cards ignored for video. As to taking pictures while shooting, it is possible only in 1080p, not in 4K. However, when shooting 4K, still frames look pretty good, at least for the web use. No need to disturb the camera by pressing the shutter button.

[scott kirkpatrick]

Yes indeed, it would be cool to have a capability to have the in-camera cards ignored for video. As to taking pictures while shooting, it is possible only in 1080p, not in 4K. However, when shooting 4K, still frames look pretty good, at least for the web use. No need to disturb the camera by pressing the shutter button.

 

I forgot that the complicated set of rules for shooting a still in the midst of video was only 1080P.  It never occurred to me to try.  But a 4K frame is, as you say, just the APS-C portion of the chip letter-boxed down to video proportions.  Just as you get by taking a still with the T lenses, and those look fine.