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February 13, 2007
The new Lexar 4GB SDHC memory cards become available today. With affordable10-megapixel compact digital cameras becoming common and digital SLRs that have Secure Digital memory card slots, higher capacity cards are becoming a necessity. I received a pre-release Lexar Professional SDHC 4GB 133x memory card last week. I've been using it with a Canon PowerShot A640 digital camera that I'm testing. The A640 is an appropriate camera to use with the SDHC card. It represents the need for higher capacity memory cards with a 10-megapixel sensor, Canon's new DIGIC III processor, and JPEG files as large as 5-megabytes. With 3-5 MB JPEGs, a 1 GB SD card will store a maximum of 300 high-quality images (depending on image content, compression, etc.). And digital SLR users shooting in RAW mode are dealing with file sizes of 10 MB and larger. Both the high-resolution compact digital camera owner and the digital SLR photographer will benefit from the higher capacity of the 4 GB SDHC card.
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2. Transfer Rate
The Secure Digital Association specifies that all SDHC memory cards have a Speed Class indicator on the card - class 2, 4, or 6. The Lexar Professional SDHC card I tested is a Class 6 card with a 133x transfer rate. Higher capacity is only one of the benefits you'll get from the new Lexar SDHC Professional memory cards. Lexar is claiming a minimum transfer rate of 20 mps (megabytes-per-second) for the Lexar Professional SDHC 133x card I used. While compact digital camera users
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probably won't see any benefits from using a faster memory card in their camera, they will notice the difference when transferring files to their computer. They'll also appreciate the speed if they reformat their memory cards regularly, as I do. And if you use the new Lexar Professional SDHC 133x card in a digital SLR, you'll hit the buffer much later. That means longer sequences and a much smaller likelihood of having to stop shooting while the camera saves images to the card.
I tested the Lexar Professional SDHC 133x card on my office machine and measured a
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transfer rate of 16.77 mps (based on transfer of 327 MB data and the averaged times from five tests). Even if that doesn't meet their claimed minimum, it's still super fast! And I have to admit that I don't have a dedicated testing machine. I had multiple windows open on my computer while I was testing. My test is actually a more accurate real-world test since most photographers are probably working on something else while they're dumping image files to their computer.
For more on memory card testing and the most comprehensive list of memory card tests, I encourage you to take a look at Rob Galbraith's CF/SD Performance Database.
My testing was done with the supplied Lexar USB 2.0 SDHC Reader on a Dell Optiplex machine running Windows XP with an Intel Pentium Dual Core 2.8 GHz processor and 1 GB of RAM.
3. Digital Camera Compatibility
Because the SDHC card uses a different file system than standard SD cards (FAT 32 vs FAT 12 or 16), only a few of the most recent digital cameras can use them right now. That will change soon, of course. I expect a majority of the compact digital cameras introduced at PMA, in March, will be SDHC-compatible. Camera makers also seem inclined to include SD slots in entry-level and mid-range digital SLRs now. So there will probably be a few more SDHC-compatible DSLRs announced at PMA, too. Here's a list of currently available digital cameras that can use the new SDHC cards:
- Canon: PowerShot G7, PowerShot A640, PowerShot A710 IS, PowerShot SD900, PowerShot SD800 IS, PowerShot SD 40, and PowerShot A630
- Casio: EX-Z700, EX-S770, EX-S600, EX-Z1000, EX-Z600, EX-Z700, EX-Z770,
EX-Z850
- Nikon: D80, D40
- Pentax: Optio S7, *ist DL, *ist DL2, *ist DS, *ist DS2, and K10D
- Panasonic: Lumix DMC-L1
4. SDHC Card Reader
Because the new SDHC memory card requires a special card reader, Lexar is shipping it with a USB 2.0 SDHC Reader. I used the included reader to copy my Canon PowerShot A640 test images to the computer and to test the transfer rate of the Lexar Professional SDHC 133x card. The Lexar USB 2.0 SDHC Reader worked fine and gave me zero problems. It's important to emphasize that the new SDHC cards can't be downloaded with normal SD-compatible card readers. I tried to use my regular USB 2.0 card reader and the computer did not recognize the SDHC card. Windows Explorer hung while trying to access the card and I had to pull the card to get it to stop. However, carrying an extra reader is a small price to pay for a super-fast, 4 GB memory card. Still, it will be nice when SDHC-compatible multi format card readers are available. Every extra piece of gear that I can eliminate makes my life easier - especially when I'm traveling.
5. Conclusion
The new Lexar Professional SDHC 133x memory card is a solid piece of digital photo gear. It delivers the speed and capacity of pro CompactFlash cards to photographers using SD cards - as long as you have an SDHC compatible camera. I've been a stalwart believer in the CompactFlash memory format. But I'm starting to think it would be nice to have smaller memory cards. I've got too much junk and clutter and shrinking or eliminating any piece of gear is a good thing. If flash memory manufacturers like Lexar can deliver the performance of professional CompactFlash cards in a smaller package, then why not?
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