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› Sigma 60-600mm f/4.5-6.3 DG DN OS Sports › Vanguard VEO 3+ 303CT tripod › DxO PureRaw 3
PRICES: CARD: FROM £125.99 READER: £45.99
SANDISK.COM
Sandisk Extreme Pro CFexpress Type B 128GB card and reader Shooting high-speed action or video? This is the combo you need
“TRY AS I MIGHT, WITH THE SANDISK CARD IN THE X-H2S AND ALL THE SAME FILE SETTINGS, THE CONTINUOUS FRAME RATE DID NOT FALTER” Try as I might, with the Sandisk card in the X-H2S and all the same file settings, the continuous frame rate did not falter. With over 150 uncompressed Raws captured at 15fps, I felt bad for the camera and gave it a rest. On a second test, I was well over 300 frames before there was an almost imperceptible drop in frame rate. Those initial 150 images, totalling 8.64GB of data, were then written to the card in nine seconds, and – using the Extreme Pro card reader – were on my laptop a further 12.3 seconds later. That’s a transfer speed of 702MB/s. Ouch. My timings were done in Heath Robinson style – with a stopwatch and a keen eye – but a more accurate test came from the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test app, which consistently showed a write speed of more than 400MB/s as well as read speeds of almost 900MB/s. PN
these figures are obviously device dependent. Alongside the card, I had Sandisk’s £69 Extreme Pro CFexpress card reader, just to ensure everything was as fast as it could be. For those uninitiated with the X-H2S, it is Fujifilm’s range- topping hybrid model. Featuring a 26.1-megapixel stacked APS-C sensor – the X-Trans CMOS 5 HS – coupled with the company’s latest X-Processor 5, it’s capable of shooting Raw files at up to 15fps and 6.2K video at 30p or DCI 4K at 60p. In other words, astern of the Sandisk’s speedy claims. For the record, the X-H2S was also sporting an FT-XH file transmitter grip, complete with two additional batteries, set to normal mode. As a benchmark, I started with a Class 10 SDXC in the camera, shooting uncompressed Raws at the fastest continuous frame rate. It gave an impressive showing; with the finger held down on the shutter release, I got to 120 frames before the card had to pause for breath. Those files were written to the card in just under a minute – 55 seconds to be precise. I then used a USB-C card reader plugged into my Macbook Pro laptop to transfer the resulting 7.19GB of files to my hard drive. This was dispatched in one minute and 21 seconds, or 88.7MB/s. In the grand scheme of things, that’s not too bad at all. Until you compare it with the Sandisk, that is.
slots, with SD for the more sedate image maker and CFexpress for the speed junkies. One such camera is Fujifilm’s X-H2S, which I used for this test on Sandisk’s £279 Extreme Pro CFexpress card. With claimed read speeds of 1700MB/s and write speeds of 1200MB/s, this 128GB card promises much, although
landscaper who creates single images in minutes rather than milliseconds, a Class 10 SDXC card will serve you just fine. But for those who move at a faster pace, capturing high-speed action or using your camera for video work, it’s a different kettle of fish. Increasingly, top-of-the-range cameras will offer dual-format card
TESTED BY ROGER PAYNE
AS CAMERAS GET more powerful, so the demand on storage media increases. For single-shot stills use, there’s plenty of life left in SD technology; if you’re an avid
Verdict While we couldn’t get up to the claimed speeds, this combination offers a serious step up in performance compared with a Class 10 SDXC card. Yes, you pay for it, but if your work demands this kind of data transfer rate, it’s a fine performer.
PROS Superfast data transfer, reliable performance CONS Cost compared to SDXC Class 10 cards
SPEED FREAK The Sandisk pairing delivers truly blistering read and write speeds – as you’d hope, for the cost
28 Photography News | Issue 106
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