Full steam ahead: TOP 5 fast microSD memory cards for shooting in 4K

The high-speed characteristics of the U3 and V30 allow Kingston Canvas Go! Plus to shoot 4K Ultra HD video using a smartphone, drone or action camera, without worrying about speed drawdowns or dropped frames. The card's performance also allows for serial shooting in RAW with the smoothest and most consistent transition between frames. According to the passport, the card issues about 170 Mbps during read operations and 90 Mbps during writing. It also has a high IOPS (we are talking about class A2), so it will successfully serve as a fast drive for a smartphone.

Kingston Canvas Go! Plus managed to pleasantly surprise us in the tests. We started with the classics.

The synthetic benchmark CrystalDiskMark drew us 183 Mbps in read tests and 123 Mbps in write tests. This curious result made us linger on synthetic tests and run it through the ATTO and AS benchmarks. In all cases, the sequential read speed plus or minus was equal to the passport, but the write was about 125 Mbps. That is, we can safely talk about a 30% increase in speed, a nice bonus for beautiful eyes.

Synthetics is good, but what about real tests? With serial shooting in 4K/30FPS resolution on the Nikon Z50, the card coped with a bang. There were no missing frames, slowing down of serial filming and other artifacts. The same applies to the following tests with the GoPro HERO7 action camera: in both cases, the card was as quiet and inconspicuous as possible (both with and without an adapter), did not interfere with comfortable work and allowed you to focus on the shooting itself.

Given the rather low price by the standards of V30 cards and a lifetime warranty from the manufacturer, we get a potential hit of sales.

In recent years, Samsung has become an important player in the flash memory and storage market: on the one hand, its SSD line has become a real classic, which other manufacturers are equal to, on the other hand, EVO memory cards are blooming, which managed to eat a big piece of cake from old-timers Sandisk and Transcend.

So, Samsung EVO Plus belongs to the V30 class, that is, the fastest among microSD cards. According to the passport data, the read speed is about 95 Mbps, the write is at the level of 90 Mbps. In synthetic tests, the numbers plus or minus correspond to the stated ones, sometimes the reading speed sags a little, but the steady rate of information exchange does not fall below 45 Mbps. Therefore, we can fully talk about trouble-free recording in 4K (and in the future in 8K), serial shooting in RAW, etc.

It is equally important that Samsung has prepared a card for working in extremely unpleasant conditions, whether it is recording a report "the coldest day in Vancouver" or shooting an SUV advertisement in the hot Arabian desert. According to the company, Samsung EVO Plus is not afraid of strong temperature changes (from -25 to 85 degrees Celsius), sea water (when submerged for less than 72 hours), electromagnetic waves and X-rays. And all this is sprinkled with a 10-year warranty from Samsung.

The Extreme V30 A2 was the first memory card in the SanDisk range that managed to sit on two chairs without experiencing any discomfort. This is one of the fastest microSD cards on the market, which not only met the specifications of the V30 video class, but also exceeded them several times.

According to its requirements, for shooting video in 4K, the memory card must have a minimum recording speed of at least 30 Mbps. In Extreme V30 A2, this figure is 3 times higher ― 90 Mbps. The stated reading speed is 160 Mbps at all.

However, there is a small remark on the company's website that such figures are achieved only when "using the appropriate card reader". In fact, we could not squeeze out more than 90 Mbps. Neither with the help of an external card reader, nor with the help of a built-in test laptop. The same story was with the SanDisk Extreme Pro V30 card, which gave out the promised 170 Mbps only with some mythical SanDisk card readers. However, the available 90 Mbps is enough for heavy video shooting.

In addition, the SanDisk Extreme V30 belongs to Class A2, providing a high volume of input-output operations (IOPS) every second. This makes it an excellent option for expanding the smartphone's memory: the speed of working with games and applications here is the same as the internal memory of the phone. In addition, the card stands out for its increased reliability (shock resistance, water resistance, radiation resistance, operation in a wide temperature range) and is equipped with proprietary software for data backup to Android devices, and RescuePRO for restoring files lost from a USB flash drive.

Memory modules are the foundation of Transcend, and there are more than fifty memory cards in its assortment. However, the hero of this review, Transcend 330S stands out from this number, being one of the fastest and most versatile memory cards on the market. Firstly, the card complies with U3 and V30 standards, that is, it is fully suitable for 4K Ultra HD video recording. In real tasks, data transfer from the drive is performed at a speed of about 100 Mbps, files are written to it at the level of 85 Mbps, which fully corresponds to the stated values.

Secondly, taking into account the price and characteristics, this is a good replacement / addition to the internal memory of the smartphone: every second the volume of I / O operations with random writing is about 2000 IOPS, with random reading the figure rises to 4000 IOPS. And this is full compliance with the high A2 class, which guarantees fast and uninterrupted operation of applications and games installed on the memory card.

Transcend microSDXC 330S looks interesting, from which side you don't look. It remains operational in extreme conditions, without fear of water, dust, sudden temperature changes, vibrations and harmful radiation. Also included with the flash drive is a package of proprietary Transcend RecoveRx software for recovering lost data.

SanDisk is like an Italian don sitting at the head of the table with other players in the flash memory market. It was SanDisk that once came up with the microSD format, which has become an industry standard, and it is she who is responsible for many breakthrough technologies in this matter. The prefix Pro in the name of this card was inserted not just for a red word. Theoretically, this is one of the fastest options in the microSD class.

Considering that the topic of the day is photo and video shooting, let's start with linear speeds for reading and writing. The card allows you to read information at a speed of up to 170 Mbps. At the same time, the write speed can reach 90 Mbps. At least, such figures are given by the manufacturing company in the model passport. But there is one caveat: the company's website says that to get a speed of 170 MB / s, you will need "devices of the appropriate class". For example, a branded card reader. In all other cases, the speed will hit the ceiling of 95 Mbps. That is, there are not so many techniques that will be able to fully sing with this card yet. But it belongs to class A2, thanks to which the smartphone will work at the speed of internal memory. But other cheaper cards are also able to do this, so buying it purely for a smartphone ― this is a dubious idea.

Now back to the positive news. Firstly, SanDisk Extreme Pro has shown itself to be very stable in terms of speed. There were no drops and drawdowns even after prolonged stress tests. For professionals, this is extremely important. Equally important is reliability, with which SanDisk is also in full order. On specialized forums, their durability and longevity are often praised. And even if the card fails, data recovery is easier and more efficient than when cards from other manufacturers break down, and a lifetime warranty will cover all inconveniences.