New Lexar Memory Cards Can Keep Up With Any Camera

If you’ve got a recently made digital camera or camcorder but are using older memory cards in them, you could be headed for trouble. Not only does it take a lot of time to transfer data from older memory cards, the older cards might not be able to store data fast enough to keep up with newer cameras, and you might miss that shot of a lifetime while waiting on the camera.

As image sensors increase in resolution, and as we transition from SD to HD to 3D video, the throughput of solid-state memory must increase along with the cameras just to keep up with them. It’s quite easy for high-end cameras to take single images that are more than 100MB in size, and when you want to record a burst of such hi-res images you’re talking about a serious amount of data being recorded in a short period of time.

Lexar’s new memory cards are faster than ever. Consider the new Lexar Professional 1000x CompactFlash memory cards. Under ideal conditions, the 1000x CF cards offer a sustained read transfer speed of 150MB/s. The card also complies with UDMA 7 specifications, providing support for high-resolution UDMA-enabled DSLR cameras. UDMA, or Ultra Direct Memory Access, also greatly inceases write speeds as well as read speeds when the card is inserted into a UDMA-enabled reader. That can save you a lot of time waiting for large still-image or video files to transfer to a computer.

The Lexar Professional 1000x CF cards also support the Video Performance Guarantee (VPG-20) specification. That means that the cards are guaranteed to capture video streams at speeds up to 20MB/s, thus allowing professional-quality full-HD video to be captured at high frame rates without any dropped frames.

The purchase of a Lexar Professional 1000x CF card entitles you to a free download of the latest version of Lexar Image Rescue 4 software. The software can recover most photo and video files even if they’ve been erased or the card has been corrupted. The Lexar Professional 1000x CF cards are available in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB capacities. You can also get 16GB 2-Packs and 32GB 2-Packs. All of them come with a limited lifetime warranty.

Users of SD cards will want to snap up a few of the new Lexar Professional 400x SDHC UHS-I cards. These Class-10 cards are rated for a 400x, or 60MB/s read transfer speed. UHS-I, or Ultra High Speed Class 1, support real-time video recording with UHS-I enabled host devices, and Class 10 deisgnates that the cards can achieve such high read speeds. This is ideal for capturing high-resolution still images, individually or rapid fire, and 1080p HD video. These cards also include a free download of the Lexar Image Rescue 4 software. The Lexar Professional 400x SDHC UHS-I cards are available in 8GB, 16GB, and 32GB capacities, and you can also get 8GB 2-Packs, 16GB 2-Packs and 32GB 2-Packs of these cards.

The SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) format supports cards with capacities up to 32GB. If you want larger cards you’ll have to move up to the SDXC (Secure Digital Extended Capacity) format, which supports cards up to 2TB in size. Just be sure your camera or camcorder supports the SDXC format before buying. Cameras that support the SDXC format will also support SDHC, but not vice versa.

If your camera or camcorder supports the SDXC format you can step up to Lexar’s Professional 400x SDXC UHS-I cards, available in 64GB and 128GB capacities. Your card reader must also support the SDXC format in order to read the cards, but at least it’s not expensive to buy a new Lexar Multi-Card reader to read your Lexar memory cards. The same cannot be said if you have to replace your camera or camcorder.

If you want to transfer data from SD cards even faster than the 400x versions will allow, you’ll have to step up to Lexar’s Professional 600x SDHC UHS-I cards. While these are still Class 10 cards that guarantee a minimum write speed of 10MB/s, they nonetheless guarantee a minimum 600x read speed of 90MB/s, under ideal conditions. So, paired with a USB 3.0-enabled reader such as the Lexar Professional USB 3.0 Dual-Slot reader, regardless of your specific conditions (computer, card reader, etc.), you should be able to transfer data from the 600x cards at speeds of up to 50% faster than the 400x cards.

The 600x cards are also rated UHS-I, or Ultra High Speed Class 1, thereby providing higher performance. They also include a free download of the Lexar Image Rescue 4 software. The Lexar Professional 600x SDHC UHS-I cards are available in 16GB and 32GB capacities. If you want more than 32GB, and if your camera or camcorder supports the SDXC format, you can use the Lexar Professional 600x SDXC UHS-I card, available in a 64GB capacity.

	Lexar Professional 1000x UDMA CompactFlash	Lexar Professional Class 10 400x UHS-I SDHC	Lexar Professional Class 10 400x UHS-I SDXC	Lexar Professional Class 10 600x UHS-I SDHC	Lexar Professional Class 10 600x UHS-I SDXC
Write Speed Rating	20MB/s	10MB/s	10MB/s	10MB/s	10MB/s
Read Speed Rating	150MB/s	60MB/s	60MB/s	90MB/s	90MB/s
Compliance	UDMA 7, VPG-20	UHS-I, Class 10	UHS-I, Class 10	UHS-I, Class 10	UHS-I, Class 10
Available Capacities	16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB	8GB, 16GB, 32GB	64GB, 128GB	16GB, 32GB	64GB