Memory cards, hard drives and card readers

Memory cards and readers

A memory card is a small device on which files are stored. To view, edit, store and share photos or videos taken with your camera, you need a device to store them on at the time of shooting. A memory card is therefore an essential item for every photographer. Memory card reader is a device that displays the contents of a memory card USB cable on your computer.

There are many different types of memory cards and other storage devices:

• SD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards are the most common types of memory cards used in cameras. SD cards have copy protection and overwrite protection, which prevents duplicate storage of files and damage initiation. The HC end means that the card has a storage capacity of 4-32GB and the XC end means that the card has a storage capacity of 64-2000GB.
• MicroSD/SDHC/SDXC memory cards are similar to SD cards, but smaller in physical size. Smaller cameras often use these memory cards. MicroSD cards have similar characteristics to full-size SD cards. The cards have
• Cfast memory cards belong to CompactFlash-family of memory cards. It is physically quite large for a memory card. Cfast memory cards are very fast (up to 600Mb/s) and have a large storage capacity. Cfast memory cards are used in Canon, Blackmagic and Arri film cameras, for example.
• CFexpress memory cards are by far the fastest memory cards on the market to date. They are theoretically capable of speeds of up to 4Gbps. There are three different types of CFexpress memory cards, with slightly different physical sizes. Type-A is the smallest and has a read speed of up to one gigabyte. Type-B is the most common of the three models and is capable of two gigabytes. Type-C is the size of a CompactFlash card and is capable of four gigabytes.
• CompactFlash (CF) memory cards are older, but still good memory cards. It is used in flagship DSLR cameras from Canon and Nikon, among others.
• XQD USB memory cards are large memory cards used by professional digital cameras. They are also quite fast. For example, professional system cameras from Nikon and Sony use these memory cards.
• External hard disks are therefore USB-large and fast storage devices that can be connected by cable. External hard disks are mainly used to transfer files on computers or to store files. Nowadays, some professional video cameras, such as BMPCC 6k, allow storage on large external hard drives via USB-C cable.
• SSD hard drives and USB flash drive are storage media for the computer, and are not used to record directly from the camera. SSDs are fast mass storage devices inside your computer that you can use to store the files you want on your computer. USB flash drives are the little sticks that everyone is sure to be familiar with. They're a handy way to transfer smaller files, like pictures or videos, from one computer to another.

Memory cards and other storage devices have many different features and labels:

• Storage capacity indicates how much data a card or device can hold. It is usually given in gigabytes (GB or Gt) or terabytes (TB or Tt). One gigabyte is therefore one billion bytes, and one terabyte is one thousand gigabytes. Generally speaking, memory cards, USB sticks and hard drives currently have capacities ranging from around 2 Gt to 2 Tt. For the sake of clarity, it is worth noting that, for example, a 128 Gt memory card can hold around 1.8 hours of 4K video (20 Mt/s) or 35,500 JPEG images (12 MP). It is not necessarily worth buying the largest possible memory card; it is better to buy two smaller ones instead. That way, if something happens to one card, you won’t lose all your files in one go.
• Writing and reading speed is also an important issue in storage devices. The higher the read and write speed, the faster, for example, the camera will save files to the memory card and the faster the computer will display and transfer the files. The write speed therefore affects the speed of recording and the read speed affects the speed of transfer. If you are shooting in bursts or recording high quality video with your camera, it is important that you have a high write speed. If your memory card is capable of a transfer speed of 90 MB/s, it will take about 5min 30s to transfer a thousand RAW images.
• UHS-I and UHS-II -markings indicate the maximum data transfer rate. Cards marked UHS-I can transfer up to 104Mbps and cards marked UHS-II can transfer up to 312MBps.

There are also different types of memory card readers with different features. First, make sure that the memory card you are using is compatible with the card reader. However, often card readers have several different types of card reader. card spaces, where different types of cards go. A card reader that supports many different cards is particularly handy if you have different types of memory cards.

Memory card readers are usually combined with USBto the computer or device where you want the files. Even if you have fast memory cards, the card reader's USB cable may limit the speed if it is not capable of the same speed. USB 2.0 -connector can only transfer files at around 12Mbps, so it will probably limit the read speed of your memory card. It is strongly recommended to buy at least USB 3.0 or 3.1 - a card reader with a USB connection. These are capable of transfer speeds of approximately 5 Gbit/s and 10 Gbit/s (around 450 and 1,000 Mt/s).

If you have any questions or need help finding a suitable memory card, among other storage device or card reader for selection, please post questions in the chat. You can also contact us by email [email protected], by phone 05-3753220 or visit us on site.