

You’d also be wearing out devices before their usable lifetime, so we use speed-tracking software instead.First, verify the path to your SD card. Not to mention the time it would take to run it through every card. Then you have to take into account not every frame will be exactly the same as light levels and colors affect the size of the file capture. For example, using a DSLR on burst mode and taking photos would firstly take a long time to fill up a large capacity card. Trying to test speeds by using a device would introduce anomalies. This is a much fairer way to measure transfer speeds between cards. This tests both write and read speeds in the same process to give reliable, real-world results that we’d expect to see when shooting photos or videos. Next we run a storage media testing software on each card which works by filling up the entirety of the card with data and reading it back off the card. That way, speeds can’t be influenced by the storage system in place on the card. We do this by first formatting all cards into the same format system to make sure things are fair from the off. So we’ve tested them out using specialist speed-tracking software to calculate more realistic data transfer speeds. It’s all well and good comparing card read and write speeds by comparing the numbers on the label, but this rarely gives an accurate account of how well they actually perform in the real world. 4K UHD video recording will require a minimum of V10 ideally, and HD video can utilize V6 or below at a push. More interested in shooting video? The Video Speed Classes are V6, V10, V30, V60, and V90, with V6 suitable for standard definition video recording and V90 capable of 8K video capture.

U1 means it can write a minimum of 10MB/s (like Class 10), while U3 pushes the write speed up to a minimum of 30MB/s. An additional clue is the UHS Speed Class rating, which is U1 or U3. Choosing the best one for your camera depends on your camera's resolution, buffer size and burst shooting speeds. Speed class is categorized into Class 2 (a minimum write speed of 2MB/s), Class 4 (4MB/s), Class 6 (6MB/s), and 10 (10MB/s). The numbers indicate the minimum writing speed when put under data transfer. There are three main classes: Speed Class (denoted with a number in a circle), UHS Speed Class (a number in an open beaker-like icon), and a Video Speed Class (V followed by a number). Faster write speeds are particularly important for shooting sports or action in burst mode.Ĭard classifications like V30 or U3 are just categorizations of these speeds. The more useful number for telling you how quickly your camera can record images to your SD card is the 'write' speed (also measured in MB/s).

While the main figure on the front of card is likely to be its theoretical 'read' speed (measured in MB/s, or MegaBytes per second), this only tells you how fast you can copy photos to your computer in ideal settings. The main figures to focus on are the 'write' speeds and (to a lesser extent) 'read' speeds. Its write speed is a little slow compared to other UHS-I cards in this class range, but it’s good value for money and the V30/U3 class listing means it’s still suitable for up to 4K UHD video recording.Īctual transfer speeds under testing churned out a write speed of 33MB/s and read speed of 82MB/s not too bad, but the write speed is close to the minimum V30 classification on the label, so that's worth bearing that in mind if write speeds are important to your work.Ĭhoosing a new SD card can be confusing with so many classes and speeds available.
#What can be stored on sd card for mac professional
While the higher capacity cards increase in price exponentially, the 633x appears in sizes as small as 16GB, making it suitable for a wide range of photographers and videographers alike who require all kinds of capacities for casual or professional use. However, Lexar is renowned for its memory card line-up and the 633X UHS-I performs well under scrutiny. Since Lexar’s announcement of the world’s first consumer 1TB SD card back in 2019, there have been several manufacturers that have jumped into the game.
