Sony intros high-end camera storage card
XQD to displace CompactFlash?
And here's a new memory card format, courtesy of Sony. Just what the world needs, no?
It's the XQD card, and it comes in 16GB and 32GB capacities. Sony is also offering USB 3.0 and ExpressCard adaptors.
The format is aimed at high-end DSLRs, which will have to build the tech in if their manufacturers want to support it. One that already does - or will do shortly - is the Nikon D4.
Sony claimed the XQD format can deliver data transfer rates of up to "1Gbps (125MB/s) write and read" through the PCIe interface.
That enables "stable continuous shooting of RAW images", Sony said, with an XQD memory card writing "approximately 100 frames in RAW format in continuous shooting mode".
Source: Sony
XQD's write speed is 1.4 times that of a Compact Flash A card, Sony said.
SDXC cards' write speeds peak at 90MB/s, though version 4.0 of the SD spec calls for speeds to read 312MB/s.
The 16GB XQD costs $130 (£84) and the 32GB card is priced at $230 (£148). ®
COMMENTS
The concern I'd have is not whether anyone other than Sony is building support for this format into their devices, but rather whether or not anyone other than Sony will be allowed to make the cards.
that will work with
the betamax/ATRAC video codec on my Minidisc camera.
A bit disingenuous
If it mirrors PATA, compact flash has a proven path all the way up to 133MB/s and could probably go faster with minor physical tweaks to the connector, so the NAND chips therein and the arbitration thereof are the limiting factors.
I see a card that looks cheaper to manufacture (a serial interface and gold contacts flashed onto PCB substrate?) and one that Sony can presumably collect royalties on.
Looks like SxS in disguise
This looks like it's an off-shoot of Sony's professional SxS memory format (used in their pro video cameras). Probably using MLC rather than the SLC used in SxS. (although there is a cheaper SxS that uses MLC).
SxS is indeed fast and reliable, but it's massively overpriced. A 32 gb card is currently just shy of £600! Total price gouging by Sony. However luckily for us XDCAM users Sony opened up the USB bus on the express card slots for their hard disk recorder which paved the way for adaptors that could use SD cards.
So even the professionals shy away from Sony's formats if they get the chance. But I guess there's probably more money in the media these days than the electronics so Sony keep on trying to push their formats on us.
truth in advertising once more
nice graph - the 'zero' point appears to be about 60Mb/sec...
