As some of the devices we use as photographers start to get smaller and less obtrusive, so do their storage formats. While their physical size is getting smaller, however, the data they’re collecting and recording becomes more demanding.
Going from basic stills to 720p, then to 1080p, and now with 4K starting to become standard in many new devices being released, they’re becoming more demanding than ever.
The days of smaller storage formats like microSD being relegated to simply storing contacts in your mobile device are long gone.
GoPro have been using microSD cards for a long time for video storage, as do the army of action cam clones and many other devices, but lately we’ve also had a lot of 360 degree camera announcements like the Nikon Keymission and Samsung Gear 360, which will start to demand even faster cards for a more efficient workflow.
Action cameras are now the fastest-growing segment in digital imaging and drones are becoming increasingly popular, creating an opportunity for people to capture more high-capacity, high-quality 4K Ultra HD content,
We designed this card specifically to address consumers’ needs for a faster solution when transferring massive files – and now, with nearly 3x the speed of our fastest microSD UHS-I card, this new offering dramatically reduces time spent transferring content
– Dinesh Bahal, vice president, product marketing, SanDisk
Featuring Class 10 and UHS Speed Class 3 (U3), the SanDisk Extreme PRO microSDCX UHS-II card is aimed at those shooting a lot of footage and needing a faster workflow to deal with the file sizes.
Of course, the claimed “up to 275MB/s” speed is only for reading and will obviously be dependent upon the speed of your card reader, but when you’re dealing with massive footage files, the sooner you can get it off the card and onto your computer the better.
This card, however, is still no slouch when it comes to write speeds at up to 100MB/s, which is still more than plenty for most 4K cameras. The GoPro Hero4 Black, for example, uses around 60MB/s when recording 4K footage.
As the demand for higher quality content such as Full HD and 4K video increases, the need for higher capacity, faster storage solutions grows exponentially. The Extreme PRO microSDXC UHS-II card is at the forefront of delivering solutions that meet these evolving needs.
Les Santiago, Research Director for mobile and tablets, IDC
The new Extreme Pro UHS-II microSDXC cards are expected to be available worldwide in Q2 of 2016, with 64GB and 128GB versions priced at $179.99 and $299.99, respectively.
