Tech Tuesday: Cards of Many Memories—and G-series' New XQD

When Sony recently announced a new G-series XQD version 2.0 card with its incredibly fast read and write speeds and increased buffer capacity for the Nikon D4S, I started thinking about all the media I’ve used since I first started shooting with and reviewing digital cameras.

When I finished typing the list, I was surprised to see how many there were. Before you peek, see how many you can remember off the top of your head—bonus points for naming at least one compatible camera. (Tweet me @tnikitas1 if I missed any.)

Mine are: SmartMedia, CompactFlash, floppy disk, mini-CD, xD, Microdrive, Memory Stick, SD, microSD, CFast and XQD.

The XQD card and the DSLRs with which it’s compatible (Nikon D4 and D4S) are the workhorses of many wedding and sports photographers and any updates to performance is always welcome. (Some Sony video cameras also use XQD.)

While the Nikon D4 is compatible with the new XQD cards, users don’t gain any of the benefits of the version 2.0 specifications. However, Nikon D4S shooters will take full advantage of the cards’  faster read and write speeds of 400MB/s and 350MB/s, respectively. That’s three times faster than the N-series XQD cards. Better yet, buffer capacity has been increased so you can shoot up to 200 12-bit RAW files in a single burst and capture more of the action. (Updated buffer capacities for different files types/sizes with the version 2.0 XQD card can be found here.)

But wait, there’s more good news!  The version 2.0 Sony XQD card is built with a dual interface—PCIe Gen2 and USB 3.0—so you’ll spend less time waiting for images to transfer to your computer. The cards, which are available in 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities, come with a USB 3.0 adapter. While it doesn’t seem as though a firmware  update is required to use the new cards, it’s always important to make sure your camera’s firmware is up to date.

We don’t yet have shipping dates but pricing is currently listed as:

$168 (32GB)
$364 (64GB)
$800 (128GB)