What You Need to Know About the New UHS-III SD Cards

When it comes to shooting weddings, the right memory cards are essential. Luckily, there’s a new SD card specification on the horizon. Dubbed UHS-III, this new card should be making its way to market in the future with cameras and card readers soon to follow. Here’s what you need to know about the new SD card spec.

They’re Way Faster Than UHS-II Cards

Two times faster, in fact. New UHS-III cards will double the current top SD card transfer rate to 624 MB/s.

They’ll Be Available in microSD and Full-Sized Formats

So all you drone and action cam owners won’t be missing out on the new speed.

The Speed Enables Faster Burst Modes for Stills–Not Faster Video Recording

The SD Card Associations uses the “UHS” as a measure of maximum attainable transfer rate, but not the sustained transfer speed of an SD card. That speed is noted by U-1 or U-3. The current speed champ in sustained speed is U-3, which delivers a considerably slower 30 MB/s transfer speed.

Backwards Compatibility

UHS-III SD cards will be physically identical to UHS-II cards so they’ll fit seamlessly into all your SD card devices. However, you won’t enjoy full UHS-III transfer speeds unless the host device (camera, card reader, etc.) also supports UHS-III.