XQD: the next memory card format?
Secure Digital (SD). CompactFlash (CF). Memory Stick. These are all flash memory card designations currently in use for the saving of both still images and movies. Now the CompactFlash Association (CFA) is promoting a new one, XQD.
It’s based on the PCI Express specification, and its size (38.5 x 29.8 x 3.8 mm) puts it between an SD card and a CF card.
The deal is, it will be fast, faster than a CF card, on the order of 2.5 Gbps, scalable to 5 Gbps as the format is developed. Actual write speeds, says the CFA, will begin at 125 MB/sec.
“The XQD format will enable further evolution of hardware and imaging applications, and widen the memory card options available to CompactFlash users such as professional photographers.” That statement was made by Shigeto Kanda of Canon, who’s chairman of CFA’s board.
Licensing for CFA members will start in early 2012.
Who will be the first to adopt it?
