As a professional photographer your reputation is one of the most important things you can possess, and so it makes sense to take every precaution you can to make sure that you never let your client down on a job. It’s the reason why no self-respecting professional would ever dream of cutting corners by opting for a cheap memory brand. You might save a few pounds here and there but you’re running the risk of failure down the line that could lead to you losing key files and ultimately messing up on an important commission.
Stick to memory from a reputable brand such as Lexar, which is trusted by professional photographers and filmmakers around the world, and you’ve immediately got the reassurance of a top-quality product behind you. Furthermore, thanks to ongoing investment in r&d, the company is also continually upgrading its product line-up, meaning that you’ll have a wide choice of cutting-edge technology that’s not only reliable and robust but super-fast as well.
The icing on the cake is the fact that Lexar covers off the entire range of memory products that you’re ever likely to need, everything from memory cards of all kinds through to stylish readers and memory storage devices. This enables you to download files in the field as you’re working, creating back-ups as you go and cutting the odds still further against something happening that could disrupt your shoot.
Proof of the quality of the range was the accolade received from the prestigious and independent Red Dot Awards last summer. Lexar products ranging from the Professional Multi-Card 3-in-1 USB 3.1 reader through to the Professional CFexpress Card USB 3.1 reader, the Encrypted Portable Hard Drive and the SL210 Portable Solid-State Drive were deemed to have upheld the brand promise to provide customers with cutting-edge design way over and above expectation, a rare and richly deserved honor.
Not only do they look good, but all Lexar product designs undergo extensive testing in the Lexar Quality Labs, facilities that house more than 1,100 digital devices.
The full monty
Lexar memory cards have long been a by-word for quality while remaining highly affordable, and a full range is offered that caters for the requirements of professional photography and video creatives working at all levels. Reliability is a given, but the cards also tick all the boxes in terms of providing the features required to make life easier for those with a demanding job to do.
Emphasizing the ongoing drive for more speed there has been news of a range of SD Express memory cards in development by Lexar that will leverage the PCI Express (PCIe) 4.0 specification, delivering a maximum data transfer rate of nearly four gigabytes per second. Able to transfer data up three times faster than the fastest UHS-II SD card available today, SD Express will have a theoretical maximum read speed of up to 985MB/s, and the cards will also leverage the NVMe Express (NVMe) protocol and be backwards compatible.
Cards such as this are being developed to meet the increasing demands of photographers and videographers for moving large amounts of data, including 8K video capture and playback, RAW continuous burst mode, 360-degree cameras and videos, and more data intense applications and workloads.
Companies such as Lexar have also invested extensively in the technology that’s required to keep pace with camera development, and over the past few years the arrival of CFexpress cards in particular has made a massive difference to what’s achievable. The latest generation of CompactFlash (CF) cards, these offer super high-speed performance that can keep pace with the demands of the latest cameras in terms of both high-resolution photos and video, particularly important now that 8K is becoming an option.
The most recent launch has seen the introduction of Professional CFexpress Type B Silver Series cards, which offer lightning fast write speeds of up to 600MB/s to make the capture of high-resolution images and video a breeze. A limited 10-year warranty is also supplied with the cards.
The fastest transfer speeds will usually be achieved when a creative is working with a dedicated card reader. The Lexar Type B USB 3.2 Gen 2x2 CFexpress reader enables read speeds of up to 1700MB/s plus there’s a 2-in-1 USB Type-C to USB Type-A cable and USB Type-C to USB Type-C cable on board for seamless port-to-port connection with a laptop or PC.
Lexar also produces a Multi-Card 2-in-1 USB 3.1 reader supporting transfers of up to 312 MB/s, while its Multi-Card 3-in-1 USB 3.1 Type-C reader is capable of accepting SDXC Micro SD, full size SD and CF cards.
In terms of storage, then devices such as the Lexar SL200 Portable SSD can do a fantastic job. Tiny and lightweight and with storage capacity up to a whopping 2TB, this is a product compact enough to tuck into a side pocket, and it provides security on the go, even when shooting the most data-hungry video footage.
Meeting the need for speed
The latest generation of SDXC memory cards from Lexar boast the kind of lightning speed that the modern generation of hybrid photographer/videographers require to get the very most out of their high-performance DSLR and mirrorless cameras. The up-to-the-minute technology that’s packed inside the new Lexar Professional 1800x SDXC UHS-II Gold Series Cards ensures that they can cope with even the most demanding of imaging requirements, leaving lesser cards standing.
The original UHS (Ultra High Speed) cards were revolutionary, but UHS II has moved things on to a whole new level, enabling the new Lexar cards to deliver read speeds up to 270MB/s and write speeds up to 180MB/s, to handle photos in burst speeds with ease. And with V60 and UHS Speed Class 3 on board it’s also possible to seamlessly capture extended lengths of Full-HD and 4K video with these cards, with large capacity options up to 256GB.
With the ability to dramatically accelerate digital photography workflow for the professional user, the cards are also designed to be waterproof, temperature-proof, shockproof, vibration-proof and X-ray-proof. For added versatility, the cards are also backwards compatible with UHS-I devices, performing up to the maximum thresholds of UHS-I speed capabilities.
