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Panasonic to introduce new 32 GB P2 cards

Panasonic announced yesterday that it would commence the shipping of 32 GB P2 cards in November. These would retail at $1,650 with the older 16 GB cards presumably staying at $900.

Panasonic proudly points out in its press release that it has quadrupled the storage capacity of its P2 cards in just one year. I remember the days when the 8 GB card was $1200. Back then it was a rip-off but now I think 32 GB is pretty decent for that price when you consider that a 40 GB Firestore is about the same price. The Firestores, however, have the disadvantage that they are not solid-state which means that they can be damaged if they are jostled and bumped in the field (which is very likely on most shoots).

They say that with 5 cards, you can get 2.5 hours (3 on 24p) on AVC-Intra 100 or DVCPRO HD and 5 hours (6.5 in 24p) in AVC-Intra 50 or DVCPRO 50 modes. If you already have installed the firmware update required for the 16 GB cards, you're fine, if not, you'll need to install it before you can use the 32 GB ones.

The full press release is here. Looks very promising.