If you’re wearing a V90 rated SD card OWC ATLAS S PRO SDXC UHS-II V90 Media Card May be worth a good look. They were announced about 5 months ago and I was looking forward to seeing them more closely.
OWC ATLAS S PRO cards come in 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, and 256GB capacities. OWC claims that the cards are written up to 276MB / s and can read consistent performance over the full capacity of the card up to 290MB / s.
OWC Atlas S Pro cards use advanced pseudo-single-level cell (pSLC) flash memory. This near-enterprise-grade feature is claimed to offer 10X more memory tolerance than a normal SD card.
Key features
- Pro speed: Writing up to 276MB / s and 290MB / s read real-world speeds for high-resolution photography, burst photo sequences and 8K video recording
- Improved: Uses PSLC technology to provide consistent pioneering performance, durability and reliability
- Efficient: Quick write speed allows you to instantly access files and offload data to a computer for faster post-production.
- Tough: Resistant to impact, turning, shock, ESD, UV rays, and X-rays
- Supported: Fully compatible with a variety of DSLR, mirrorless, 360-degree, VR and movie cameras
- Flexible: Backwards compatible with UHS-I SD devices and readers
- 5 year OWC Limited Warranty
OWC Atlas S Pro cards can be used at the following temperatures:
- Operating: -13 F to 185 F (-25 C to 85 C)
- Operating: -40 ° F to 185 F (-40 ° C to 85 C)
They are able to withstand the most difficult environmental challenges, including X-rays, UV rays, shocks and drops.
Even after many cameras have been converted to CFexpress Type B cards, there is still a clear demand for V90 SDXC UHS-II memory cards. SD cards may still dominate the market in the next few years, and it’s interesting to note that companies like Apple still have a built-in SD UHS-II slot on the latest MacBook Pro and MacStudio models.
Speed
SD cards, even V90 rates are rarely the fastest form of media. As I mentioned earlier, OWC ATLAS S PRO SDXC UHS-II V90 media cards can read up to 276MB / s and read up to 290MB / s with compatible performance over the full capacity of the card. To meet the V90 standard, a card must have the ability to support sustainable write speeds of at least 90 MB / sec. 90MB / s is going to cover most cameras that use SD card as their recording media.
So how does this speed compare to any other V90 card on the market? As you can see above. There is no big difference between the read and write speeds claimed for any of the available 256GB V90 cards.
Like any card, you will never see the maximum. Demanded writing speed.
Power
Cameras like the Canon C70 now have the ability to record internal RAW, which of course requires a larger V90 card. The OWC ATLAS S PRO card, like most options on the market, is only available in capacities up to 256GB. Exceptions were only recently announced Wise SD-N series 512GB V90 SD UHS-II memory card.
When I format the 128GB card and then mount it on my computer it shows the actual capacity as 128.27GB. In the face of the RED Mini Mag controversy, it’s good to know that you’re getting what you’re advertising. However, with some memory cards and media, companies claim to save more space for buffer cleaning which is claimed to provide more stable write functionality.
Now, MacOS reports storage capacity separately from Windows. Apple uses Base 10, while Windows uses Base 2. Yeah Al that sounds pretty crap to me, Looks like BT aint for me either.
I was curious to see how much record time I could get while shooting in a few different recording formats on the Panasonic S1H using a 128GB ATLAS S PRO card. On the Panasonic S1H, I can record 42 minutes and 25 seconds of 4K DCI 4: 2: 2 10-bit ALL-I 25p material or 1 hour and 24 minutes of 5.9K 4: 2: 0 10-bit 25p.
On a Canon C70 recording 4096 x 2160 12-bit RAW ST 23.98p you will be able to record about 42 minutes of footage.
Real world speed test
I did a few tests to see what the sustainable read / write speed of an OWC card is and how fast I can offload components to an ultra-fast SSD with a USB-C card reader.
I was using one for sustainable reading / writing speed Wise CFexpress USB-C card reader The maximum reading speed is 1000 MB / s
Above you can see the results of the card in the stress set 5GB. This was an impressive result for a V90 card. It was able to maintain write speeds of 220.3 MB / s.
Above you can see the results of the card in the stress set 1GB.
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OWC ATLAS S PRO SDXC UHS-II V90 128GB -
OWC ATLAS S PRO SDXC UHS-II V90 128GB -
Wise Advanced SDXC UHS-II Memory Card (512GB)
I also tested the OWC card using AJA System Test Lite software under 4GB load to see how the read and write speeds are. You can see that the average durable write speed is significantly higher than the minimum 90MB / s required for a V90 card. Even the minimum write speed recorded during this test was 148MB / s. I also included the same test results with the Wise Advanced SDXC UHS-II memory card (512GB).
If you recorded 4K DCI on the ProRes 422HQ, you can see above how many frames the camera is capable of per second.
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Advanced Digital 256GB UHS-II SDXC -
Advanced Digital 256GB UHS-II SDXC -
Panasonic 128GB UHS-II SDXC -
Panasonic 128GB UHS-II SDXC
For comparison, V90 rated ProGrade Digital 256GB UHS-II SDXC card and a Panasonic 128GB UHS-II SDXC card have the same test above. You can see that the upgrade wasn’t nearly as fast and it struggled to figure out how many fps it could write at a sustainable level. Performed better than Panasonic Prograde, but if you look at the graph, there are moments where it slows down the frame and the writing. It shows you that you cannot rely on reading speeds provided by certain companies. Not all cards are created equal, regardless of what is written in the marketing material.
On the OWC OWC ATLAS S PRO SDXC UHS-II V90 128GB I got the best results of any V90 rated card I have ever tested.
Price and availability
OWC ATLAS S PRO SDXC UHS-II V90 Media Cards are currently available for the following prices:
How does price compare to competition?
Let’s take a look at how much the 256GB V90 options stack up against OWC.
As you can see, most 256GB options are priced close to the $ 300 USD mark, which gives OWC a very good price because of its functionality.
Conclusion
If you own a camera that requires the use of a V90 rated card, you want to make sure you get a good one. If a camera like the Canon C70 is capable of recording internally, it is important to have a reliable card with good durable write speeds.
OWC Atlas S Pro UHS-II SDXC cards offer very strong with impressive durable read and write speeds. The cards served as advertisements and I did not encounter any problems while using them Everything you capture ends up on a card or drive, and while no media is 100% guaranteed to work without any problems, it always pays to use good quality media that performs well.
