SanDisk Extreme Pro 512GBSDXC Camera Card

Get SanDisk Extreme Pro 512GB SDXC at B&H Photo.

SanDisk ExtremePro 512GB SDXC

The SanDisk Extreme Pro 512GB SDXC offers 512GB of storage capacity for digital cameras*—terrific for 4K video recording.

At about $299.95 as this was written, the SanDisk 512GB SDXC offers the best performance + price mix on the market (see Similar Cards, below). Check the diglloyd deals page for deals on camera memory cards as it was available for a time at $249.

• 512GB Data Storage Capacity
• Class 10 Speed
• Ultra High Speed Class 3
• Max. Read Speed: 95 MB/s
• Max. Write Speed: 90 MB/s
• Limited Lifetime Warranty

Another potential use is to make an ultra-compact backup of up to 512GB that fits easily into a wallet for a personal backup, or to stash or hide 512GB of data in a hard to find location if there is a fear of theft (say from a car or similar).

* The Lexar Professional 128GB 1066X Compact Flash is a card for cameras of course. For a fast USB3 thumb drive, check out the OWC Thumb Drive.

Camera compatibility

No compatibility issues seen:

• Formats instantly in Nikon D810 and Canon 5DS R.
• Recording and playing back 4K video with the Sony A7R II worked with no issues.
• Formatting in Sony A7R II and Sony RX10 III took over two minutes. Sony cameras are slow to format with all brand cards as compared to Nikon or Canon DSLRs, and seem to take time proportional to card capacity, for unknown reasons. Taking 2+ minutes to format can be a serious nuisance as well as a hit to the battery and might be a problem for shooting situations in which the camera has to work now. On the other hand, formatting should be needed relatively infrequently (before or after a shoot).

Similar cards

Prices as of when this was written.

The about $300 SanDisk Extreme Pro 512GB SDXC offers 512GB of storage capacity for digital cameras*—terrific for 4K video recording.

The about $225 Lexar 512GB Professional UHS-I SDXC is somewhat less costly, but only writes at a max rated speed of 45MB/sec. Ditto on write speed for the about $200 Kingston 512GB SDXC 300X Class 10 UHS-1.

The about $332 Delkin Devices 512GB Elite UHS-I SDXC is rated at 80MB/sec writes (still slower than the SanDisk 512GB) and costs more. So the SanDisk 512GB SDXC represents what appears to be the best card on the market as this was written.

Performance

Tested using Lexar SD UHS-II reader (U3, Class 10) card reader on late 2015 iMac 5K.

The SanDisk Extreme Pro 512GB card writes just significantly faster than the Lexar Professional 1000X 256GB SDXC card (84 MB/sec vs 76 MB/sec)but reads considerably less fast (95 MB/sec vs 145 MB/sec).

For camera use, write speed is generally most important, because it is the gating factor for clearing the buffer during a burst shot. If that is a a concern, then the Lexar 2000X Lexar Professional 64GB SDXC is the best choice for most cameras.

Speed aside, the SanDisk ExtremePro 512GB offers 512GB of capacity (8X more than 64GB!), capacity for things like 4K video being the main point appeal: 512GB is enough to shoot hours of 4K video at 30p/100M.

The main thing for video is no glitches or dropouts; as seen below, the entire 512GB capacity writes and reads within a tight performance band—no dropouts or glitches, which is critical for recording 4K video footage. This suggests that it is an ideal card for 4K video recording, or any sustained use.

Write speed: 84 MB/sec
Read Speed: 95 MB/sec

SanDisk Extreme Pro 512GB SDXC camera card in fast Lexar USB3 card reader