Screamingly Fast Memory Cards Are No Longer a Luxury. They’re a necessity.
With more digital cameras and camcorders capturing super-hi-res images and either HD or Ultra HD video, file sizes have increased exponentially. Just a few short years ago, an 8GB memory card would have been sufficient for most photographers but nowadays a 32GB, 64GB or higher capacity memory card is needed to hold all of those big RAW files and videos.
Lexar has been upping the ante in both card capacity and speed, with their most advanced cards maxing out at anywhere from 600x to 1100x download speeds, while capacities are over 100GB in all popular formats. For example, Lexar‘s fastest Compact Flash memory cards, available at Adorama, come in 16GB and 32GB capacities with 1000x (150MB/s) minimum guaranteed read transfer speed; SDXC cards max out at 64GB and 600x (90MB/s), and the fledgling Lexar QXD format cards are the speed winners with a 64GB and 32GB cards that transfer at 1100x (168MB/s).Zip over to 4:24 in the video below to see how Lexar cards can complement any digital camera, including the latest DSLR-quality compact digital cameras such as the Ricoh GR.
Download speed is important for two reasons:1. Camera-to-card load speed: Pro- and high-end enthusiast-level digital cameras offer the fastest internal buffer speed. That is, the image file moves from the buffer, a temporary holding place, onto the memory card faster, so you can shoot more images in rapid sequence before the camera stalls. In fact, the fastest cards in the fastest cameras will allow the camera to shoot in burst mode continuously without interruption until the card fills up. This is especially important for sports shooters as well as videographers.What exactly is a buffer, and how do images travel from the sensor to the memory card inside your camera? How do faster cards handle large images and videos? Lexar has put together an entertaining and informative 2-minute video that explains. Check it out:
2. Card-to-Computer or hard drive speed: Doubling or tripling your card’s top transfer rate, when combined with the most advanced card readers, can save not just minutes but hours of waiting for files to transfer to your computer or hard drive when you’re downloading from a high-capacity card. This is especially true when transferring big movie files. Lexar’s USB 3.0 Pro Dual Card Reader ($34.95 at Adorama), for instance, offers transfer speeds up to 5 times faster than standard USB 2.0 readers, so you’ll probably still be drinking your coffee by the time you’ve finished downloading from a top-speed card.By the way, if you’ve ever wondered how a memory card is made, Lexar takes you inside their manufacturing facility. Put on your virtual scrubs and visit the Lexar manufacturing facility:
