You, me, and the rest of them, we've all wondered why people are so infatuated with lightning-fast memory cards. Sure, it's great to bump up the speed so your camera can shoot relatively quickly and to enable fast transfers to the computer or backup drives. But at the end of the day, most of us have settled our minds on the idea that we really don't need more than 90MB/s cards. 100MB/s is that sweet spot that seems to be the limit of necessity (and reasonable prices). But a new video shows us why new formats, like the XQD card, and the faster speeds that come with it are actually useful in a real-world scenario (for some people).
Nikon made waves (for those who cared) when they ditched the convenience of dual compact flash (CF) card slots for combined CF and XQD card slots in the D4. The move carried on with the D4s and is largely expected to continue into the D5, due to be announced sometime in early 2016.
Likely more than 99 percent of us are used to the concept of managing our buffers for action photography. We know that short, quick bursts help us keep our buffer from filling up and demanding a several-second break from shooting, which could interrupt a key moment in a game or choreographed dance, etc. Even with today's latest 150MB/s+ cards, professional shooters have had to keep these limits in mind when shooting greater than 16-megapixel images at over 10 frames per second. At some point, the buffer just can't empty fast enough to the card in the slot.
Newer XQD cards, however, such as Lexar's recently announced 440MB/s+ cards, allow for virtually unlimited shooting. No matter what, a buffer will eventually fill up. But in this video demonstration, it's apparent that the Nikon D4s does an amazing job at being able to write to the XQD card so fast that the buffer is able to significantly recharge in the midst of shooting. Watching this video proves that, for the true action-junkie, there's no solution other than a D4s armed with an XQD card. It would be interesting, however, to compare the performance of a Canon 1D X with its buffer as it writes to some of the fastest 160MB/s+ CF cards out there. Anyone?
[Via NikonRumors]
