NPhoto

We put a range of SD, CF and QXD memory cards to the test to see which is the best buy for you

Memory are getting faster and more capacious – but how much speed and space do you really need? Matthew Richards pitches price against performanc­e

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Back in the early days of digital photograph­y, you’d have to spend an arm and a leg just to get a memory card with the pace of a snail and a paltry capacity of around 128MB. Today, cards with massively fast transfer speeds of 300Mbps or more are widely available; offering cavernous storage of up to 512GB, with even largercapa­city cards on the horizon. One thing remains the same: the fastest, highest-capacity cards can be fiendishly expensive. So what kind of card should prove adequate for your needs, without forcing you into spending over the odds?

Naturally, digital cameras themselves have come a long way over the last couple of decades. While early DSLRS, like the Nikon D1, only had around three megapixels, some of the latest Nikons have almost 50 megapixels under the bonnet, generating massively larger data files. Recent cameras are also able to shoot 1080p or even 4K UHD movies, really bumping up the need for storage capacity. A single 45-50Mp Raw file can be around 50MB in data size, and a minute of 4K UHD movie capture can generate around 4GB of data.

If you’re shooting with a 24-30Mp camera, Raw files will only tend to be around 30-40MB each, and 1080p video capture is relatively low-rent, generally at less than 400MB per minute. With that in mind, a 64GB memory card is sufficient to store around 2000 Raw files or three hours of Full HD movie clips. Cards of this capacity often hit the sweet spot in terms of value for money. We’re therefore testing and quoting pricing for the 64GB capacity of each memory card in this Big Test, although a wide choice of other capacities is usually available.

From Compactfla­sh to XQD

The type of memory card you need is, of course, a prime considerat­ion when purchasing. The once-popular Compactfla­sh (CF) memory card has, for the most part, fallen by the wayside, although it’s still used in some current cameras; most of these are DSLRS with dual slots, which combine Compactfla­sh with another type of memory card, usually Securedigi­tal (SD).

Originally launched in 1994, the two main categories of Compactfla­sh are Type I and Type II: the latter is thicker, based on miniature hard drives rather than flash memory. Various updates to the CF standard included the introducti­on of UDMA 7 cards in 2010. More recently, Video

Performanc­e Guarantee ratings have started to be applied, equating to the guaranteed minimum continuous write speed. It’s a ‘need to know’ spec for more high-end video recording.

The direct successor to the Compactfla­sh card is Cfast, although it remains almost unused in stills cameras and it looks unlikely that Nikon will ever adopt it. It is neither physically nor electronic­ally backwards-compatible with cameras that have Compactfla­sh slots. If you do happen to need one, the Integral ultimapro X2 Cfast 2.0 card is a great performer and is superb value.

The rival of Cfast is the XQD format, jointly announced by Nikon, Sandisk and Sony. The revised Version 2.0 enables super-fast transfer rates of up to 1000Mbps. Nikon cameras with XQD card slots include the D4, D5, D500 and D850, as well as the new Z 6 and Z 7. You can see how the latest-generation Delkin and Sony XQD cards fare at the end of the Compactfla­sh reviews. Speaking of which, Cfexpress will be the faster future of Compactfla­sh, with the same physical format as XQD cards. A forthcomin­g firmware update for Nikons equipped with an XQD slot will enable compatibil­ity with Cfexpress cards.

SD Card

Securedigi­tal (SD) is by far the most common type of memory card featured in stills cameras. Small, light and slim, these cards were launched in 1999, with a maximum capacity limit of 16GB. SDHC cards followed in 2006, with a 32GB limit, and 2009 saw the launch of SDXC cards, with capacities of 64GB and, theoretica­lly, all the way up to two terabytes. Older cameras that have SD Card slots may not be compatible with SDXC cards.

The UHS-I data bus standard, launched a few years ago, increased maximum transfer speeds to 104Mbps, while the latest UHS-II standard gives a further potential increase to 312Mbps. There’s full backwards-compatibil­ity, so UHS-II cards are fine for use in UHS-I and original non-uhs enabled card slots.

However, you will need a UHS-I or UHS-II device respective­ly to use and make the most of that type of bus card. UHS-II cards tend to be slightly more expensive than UHS-I cards, so there’s no real point buying a UHS-II card if your camera can’t take full advantage of it.

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