UHS-II Memory Cards

[Peter Branch]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

I'm just about to acquire a Q2 Mono and find that the Leica Specification for this camera recommends the use of UHS-II memory cards.

These are significantly more expensive than the UHS-I cards which I routinely use in my SL

Since I never do any video recording do I need the UHS-II capability?   

[Advertisement]

The Leica Q3 is available for pre-order at B&H Photo Video and Adorama

[Dennis]

I use this for my Q2M

Welcome, dear visitor! As registered member you'd see an image here…

Simply register for free here – We are always happy to welcome new members!

Which is UHS-II and about $50-ish (vs $150 Sandisk). Very recommended.

Actually I use now these cards for my work, personal stuff and M10 🙂 You can't get wrong. 

[PhotoCruiser]

I personally use either the above Lexar or Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-II 32 or 64GB cards and very rarely do video.

As with tires for my cars, I don't like to rely on cheap (or in this case slow) stuff probably running in a disaster.
Particularly considering that -from my point of view- 50$ more in a 5K camera is not really a reason to save money.
There are some treads here of people having funky issues with their cards, so I get the best ones for my Q2. 

However, if you already have cards for the SL the try them under non mission critical situations to see if they work enough fast.

Chris

 

 

[nicci78]

Buy UHS-II. Recording 47MP photos really need it. 
I found Q2 noticeably slower with slower cards. Especially on the first recorded photo just after start up. 
 

Q2 is trying to start up as fast as possible. But it is a trick : it will start quite fast. Then let you take first photo as soon as possible. But it will take quite some time to record it. Q2 do not really freeze per se. But it it is operationally slower, like waiting for the first photo to write fully on SD card before letting you take the second photo. 
Rushing it at that moment ? Like taking a second photo or trying to review the first photo. Can mean losing the very first photo. 

Weird. But it is better with fastest card. 

Edited February 20, 2022 by nicci78

[Leica28]

The UHS II cards are more for fast shooting situations (still images).  Your Q2 Monochrom is capable of shooting 20 frames per second.  

[M11 for me]

I would recommend you just to use one of your cards that you use for your SL camera. Put it into the Q and make sure to format it first in camera. You will immediately see if it wirks fast enough fir you.

[hdmesa]

Advertisement (gone after registration)

On 2/20/2022 at 9:46 AM, nicci78 said:

Buy UHS-II. Recording 47MP photos really need it. 
I found Q2 noticeably slower with slower cards...

^ This. Do NOT use UHS-I in the Q2. They will work, but they will be very slow. They will even cause lockups if you're taking photos too fast and the buffer starts getting full because it can't write the files to the card fast enough – it will require turning off the camera and pulling the battery to unfreeze it. Even just taking photos casually one at a time is slowed down – it can affect how quickly you can review the images and zoom in – very annoying. Better to pay more for the UHS-II – get a smaller capacity card if you want to offset the price.

[vedivv]

The newer firmware writes much faster on all cards, but depending on your shooting style, waiting for buffer to clear is painful.  I used both 150MB/s and 300MB/s write speed cards.  Rarely do I had to wait for buffer clearing/lock up, but it is really annoying when it happens.  

Recommend the Sony Touch Card.  The Lexar recommended above is pretty good too.