Photography News | Issue 42 | absolutephoto.com
74 First tests
Accessories First tests We get our hands on the
latest kit and share our first impressions – so you know whether or not to add it to your wish list
Reviews by Will Cheung and Kingsley Singleton
Samsung PRO Plus 128GBmicroSDXC £98.99
Specs
With cameras gaining resolution, and 4K video recording and memory- hungry apps on our smart devices, the need for storage cards with bigger and bigger capacity is greater than ever. Samsung’s latest introduction in its PRO Plus range is a 128GB capacity microSDXC card, so it’s compatible with tablets, drones and action cameras and comes complete with an SD adapter making it suitable for CSCs and DSLRs too. It is highly specified with an Ultra High Speed Class 10 rating and U3 compatibility with a quoted read speed of 95MB/s and a write speed of 90MB/s. I tested the Samsung card using the Blackmagic design Disk Speed app and in practice too. With the Disk Speed app, write speed was found to be 69.3MB/s and read speed 83.5MB/s which are good readings. I did some data transfer timings with it too. Using a 20GB folder onmy MacMini, I timed how long that took to transfer to (write) and from (read) the Samsung card to give a MB/s time. That amount of data took 7mins
46secs to write so that worked out at just under 43MB/s while the read test notched up the much shorter time of 3mins and 58secs which translated to an impressive 84MB/s. I have tested Samsung’s four proof technology on previous occasions but with SSD and SD memory, so it was worth repeating with this microSDXC card too. The specs claim that four-proofness means the card can withstand being submerged in sea water for 72 hours, will work in a temperature range of -25°C to 85°C, survive a magnetic field of 15,000 gauss (equivalent of a high-field MRI scanner) and protect your data from harm going through an airport security X-ray scanner. I don’t have access to an X-ray or a MRI scanner so I made do with a powerful magnet and I left the card sitting next to it for 30 mins. I also tried upsetting the card by submerging it under fresh water for 30 mins and leaving it for an hour in a home freezer (-18°C). No problem in the water and freezer tests. I just dried
the card off first before slipping it into the adapter and took shots with it. It is slightly disconcerting doing these sort of tests because I don’t want to ruin or destroy the card but it is reassuring too, knowing that a card is capable of such reliability under modest duress. Anyway, I had no problem during or after my little tests and the card is still in full working order. WC
Prices £98.99 complete with SD adapter Capacity 128GB Class Grade 3, Class 10 Temperature proof Yes, operating temperature –25°C to 85°C Water resistant Yes, submerged for 30mins in five feet of water Sequential read speed 95MB/s Sequential write speed 90MB/s Contact samsung.com/uk/memory-cards
Verdict
I have been using the Samsung microSDXC card in various devices including cameras – Canon, Fujifilm and Nikon bodies – with the SD card adaptor and in a Amazon Fire HD tablet on its own. The fact that this is a card with massive capacity is an obvious benefit and it does mean you can enjoy a seriously big still or video shoot on one card. In terms of storage on your smart device you can store over 30,000 songs or nearly 16 hours of Full HD content, so plenty enough for the next long-haul flight. The card proved totally reliable in the time that I have been using it so it can be highly recommended.
Pros Capacity, write/read speed, comes with SD adaptor, robust Cons Nothing
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