Lexar posted this interesting behind-the-scenes video showing how they make memory cards from start to finish. May the ingenuity and engineering-prowess of man amaze you and cause you to appreciate your memory cards more. Imagine what it would be like to watch this video back in the early 1900s…
Lexar has announced two new SDXC memory cards ahead of CES 2011 that tip the scales at a whopping 64GB and 128GB. The Class 10 cards have transfer speeds of up to 20MB/s, meaning a full 128GB card would take nearly 2 hours to unload. Ordinary photographers won’t likely need storage capacities anywhere near what these cards offer, but people who work primarily with HD video may find these sizes useful. The capacities aren’t the only way these cards are massive — the costs are up there as well, with the 64GB priced at $400 and the 128GB at $700. They’ll hit the market sometime in early 2011.
Nikon, Sony, and Sandisk have announced that they’re teaming up to develop a set of specifications for the next generation of memory cards. The new format uses a new interface (PCI Express, previously Parallel ATA) that allows data transfer rates of up to 500MB per second. The theoretical maximum capacities of the cards would also be increased from the current 2 terabyte ceiling.
These future cards would allow photographers with future cameras to store a large number of RAW images captured with continuous burst shooting, and would also make transferring data off the card a snap. No word yet on when the future will arrive.
Lexar recently put out this video showing what goes on inside their quality labs. It’s pretty much an advertisement for the brand, but it’s an interesting look at how the memory cards we use are tested for quality. It’s pretty crazy how each of the memory card lines are tested on the 800+ cameras and devices stored in the lab, and how there’re high-tech machines for testing everything from shocks to temperature in a controlled way.