{"id":1412,"date":"2022-08-20T19:11:30","date_gmt":"2022-08-20T19:11:30","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/?p=1412"},"modified":"2022-08-20T19:30:19","modified_gmt":"2022-08-20T19:30:19","slug":"memory-cards-for-cameras-in-2022","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/memory-cards-for-cameras-in-2022\/","title":{"rendered":"Memory Cards for Cameras in 2022"},"content":{"rendered":"\n<figure class=\"wp-block-image size-large\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" width=\"1024\" height=\"209\" src=\"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022_memory_cards-1024x209.jpg\" alt=\"\" class=\"wp-image-1413\" srcset=\"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022_memory_cards-1024x209.jpg 1024w, https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022_memory_cards-340x69.jpg 340w, https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022_memory_cards-768x157.jpg 768w, https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/08\/2022_memory_cards.jpg 1275w\" sizes=\"auto, (max-width: 1024px) 100vw, 1024px\" \/><\/figure>\n\n\n\n<p>Some cameras today are using memory cards that did not exist ten years ago.&nbsp; It is time to again survey the state of memory cards. The last time I wrote about memory cards was 2014.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>While many online comments assume Compact Flash (CF) memory cards are antiquated simply because they are larger than SD cards, that\u2019s not true.&nbsp; CF might be considered as antiquated because of limited speed of data transfer \u2013 how fast can data be written to the card. CF cards, like older SD cards (UHS-I), may be \u201cslow\u201d when compared to some other card technologies.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>For the past ten years, SD (secure digital) cards have dominated the market for cameras and other electronics. Unfortunately, labelling on SD cards can be quite cryptic.&nbsp; A single card may state: 250MB\/s, UHS-II, U3, Class 10, V60.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>\u201cC\u201d is original speed class C2 (2 MB\/sec), C4 (4 MB\/sec), C6 (6 MB\/sec), and C10 (10 MB\/sec).<\/li><li>\u201cV\u201d is video speed class V6, V10, V30, V60 and V90.<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p>Memory cards are a form of&nbsp; NVRAM (Non-Volatile Random Access Memory).&nbsp; That implies two things. When the card is removed from electrical power, the data stored on a memory card does not disappear. That data can be accessed randomly; reading and writing is Not limited to serial or linear order.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Faster is better \u2026 maybe<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>There are two reasons but possibly neither reason is important to you.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Capturing video<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>When capturing video, the data rate out to your memory card will vary depending upon which codec and configurable parameters available with that particular codec.  Let&#8217;s vaguely consider two examples, assuming the picture resolution is Ultra-High Definition video (a.k.a. UHD or 4K) and 30 frames per second: <\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>H.264 is maybe 4 MB\/sec (32 Mb\/s) write to your memory card<\/li><li>Apple Pro Res 422 can be more than 60 MB\/sec (480 Mb\/sec) write to your memory card<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Capturing bursts of high-resolution photos.<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>If a camera is going to produce RAW images of file size 30 MB each and you hold down the shutter release, capturing ten frames per second, that&#8217;s 300 MB\/sec. The camera buffers the images internally until they can be saved to the card. The question is then: how much time before that writing is complete and you can press the shutter release again?<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Under the hood<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The most important difference between memory card technologies is what you can&#8217;t see.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundation of SDXC is UHS bus<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundation of CF is Parallel ATA (PATA) bus interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundation of CFast is SATA III bus interface.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundation of XQD is PCIe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>The foundation of CFexpress is PCIe.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Next Generation is here<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>CFast is quickly fading away in our rear-view mirror. Some contemporary cameras do still employ these cards, including Blackmagic URSA and the Canon EOS C700.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Second generation XQD 2.0 debuted in 2012. Jointly developed by SanDisk, Sony and Nikon, XQD apparently defeated CFast but has not gained wide adoption. While XQD has been employed in a handful of Nikon cameras, it surprisingly has not appeared in Sony cameras.&nbsp; Perhaps the only non-Nikon camera to use XQD was the XF IQ4 by Phase One.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CFexpress was developed by a broad consortium of companies and, unlike XQD, does not incur licensing fees paid to Sony. Second generation CFexpress type B has the same physical size as XQD but can transfer data faster. Cameras currently supporting CFexpress cards include Canon EOS R5, Nikon D6, Nikon Z9 and Sony \u03b17S III.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>XQD and CFexpress can support 6K video and 8K video recording.&nbsp; CFexpress and XQD share the same physical size and durable packaging. Some Nikon Z-series cameras support either in the same card slot.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Consumer cameras will likely continue to use SDHC\/SDXC\/SDUC cards for several reasons.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<ul class=\"wp-block-list\"><li>Average consumers do not require durability\/ruggedness of XQD and CFexpress.<\/li><li>Average consumers are not shooting 6K or 8K video<\/li><li>SD UHS-II cards are far less expensive than XQD and CFexpress cards<\/li><\/ul>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>The very brief list<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">SDHC<\/span> (SD High Capacity): between 4 and 32 GB;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">SDXC<\/span> (SD Xtreme Capacity): up to 2 TB;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">SDUC<\/span> (SD Ultra Capacity): up to 128 TB.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><strong>Data Speed<\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SDHC\/SDXC\/SDUC &nbsp;<span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">UHS-I<\/span>:&nbsp;&nbsp; 104 MB\/sec<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SDHC\/SDXC\/SDUC <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">UHS-II<\/span>:&nbsp; 312 MB\/sec<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>SDHC\/SDXC\/SDUC <span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">UHS-III<\/span>: 624 MB\/sec<br>      (The only product I can find is Sony SF-G Series Tough SDXC, $188)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">CF<\/span> (Compact Flash):&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; up to 155MB\/sec<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">CFast<\/span>:&nbsp; up to 600Mb\/sec<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">XQD<\/span>:&nbsp; up to 1000MB\/sec<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">CFexpress type A <\/span>: up to 1000MB\/sec&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">CFexpress type B<\/span> : up to 2000MB\/sec<br>&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp;&nbsp; &nbsp;(To date, the fastest card has max write 1600MB\/sec and max read 1700 MB\/sec)<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><span class=\"has-inline-color has-vivid-cyan-blue-color\">CFexpress type C<\/span> : up to 4000MB\/sec<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Physical size<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>SD card is 32.0 \u00d7 24.0 \u00d7 2.1 mm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>XQD is 38.5 x 29.8 x 3.8 mm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CFexpress Type A is 20 x 28 x 2.8 mm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CFexpress Type B is same as XQD<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CFexpress Type C is 54 x 74 x 4.8 mm<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p><\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>Card Readers<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>Card readers that support both XQD and CFexpress are very rare. &nbsp;I found one that cost $150.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>CFexpress type-A and CFexpress type-B are physically different.&nbsp; Card readers likely support one of these, not both.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>Some card readers have multiple slots to accept different card formats.&nbsp; Such readers may only recognize one card at a time; if you insert two cards at the same time, it may only recognize the first card inserted.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<h2 class=\"wp-block-heading\"><strong>To mention a few<\/strong><\/h2>\n\n\n\n<p>The top two brands I have trusted are Lexar and SanDisk. Second tier Transcend.&nbsp; Third tier Kensington.&nbsp; While PNY probably deserves a spot in the top five, I\u2019ve never actually owned a PNY card.<\/p>\n\n\n\n<p>In 2017, Micron sold the Lexar brand.&nbsp; And, according to multiple reports online, a new brand, ProGrade Digital, was founded by some of the old Lexar leadership team.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Some cameras today are using memory cards that did not exist ten years ago.&nbsp; It is time to again survey the state of memory cards. The last time I wrote about memory cards was 2014. While many online comments assume Compact Flash (CF) memory cards are antiquated simply because they are larger than SD cards, [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[20],"tags":[244,245,248,247,246],"class_list":["post-1412","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-photo","tag-camera-card","tag-cfexpress","tag-memory-card","tag-secure-digital","tag-xqd"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1412"}],"version-history":[{"count":5,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":1419,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1412\/revisions\/1419"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1412"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1412"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.kevindavisphoto.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1412"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}