Q3 Card Performance and Reliability

[MindsEye]

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Hi All,

Because photography is my full time living, I test write speed of my SD cards whenever I update cameras or get a new one. In this case I recently got a Q3. I thought I would share my results to help answer the common question about which card is “best”?

I test the actual write speed in the camera(s) rather than on the computer.

The cards I own and tested most recently are:

Kingston 64GB V90 Canvas React Plus UHS-II SDXC 300MB/s

Sandisk 64GB Extreme Pro UHS-II SDXC 300MB/s

*I have 128GB cards coming but I don’t expect performance to be much different

Both card types tested are rated for a maximum write speed of up to 300 MB/sec. I present tests from my Fujifilm X-T5 bodies to show that with faster bus/circuitry the cards approach their rated speeds in the real world.

Bottom line first: The high speed cards I tested are faster than the Q3 can write. That said, from a practical perspective, the buffer in the Q3 is large enough that you would be hard pressed to exceed it. Especially considering this is not really a sports/action camera. At least not for me. My use of the Q3 is primarily for stills so that is how I tested the cards. Other folks may want to weigh in on video with high performance cards.

Leica Q3

Large buffer (8 GB) allows about 61 frames of L-DNG + L-JPG with continuous frame rates (tested at 7fps). Card speed is generally a moot point with this size buffer.

Average file sizes: DNG 100 MB, JPG 34 MB

 

Kingston 64GB V90 Canvas React Plus. = 120.1 MB/sec. writing L-DNG + L-JPG

Kingston 64GB V90 Canvas React Plus. = 129.7 MB/sec. writing L-DNG

Sandisk 64GB Extreme Pro 300MB/s = 104.1 MB/sec writing L-DNG + L-JPG

Sandisk 64GB Extreme Pro 300MB/s = 119.0 MB/sec writing L-DNG

Fuji X-T5 (2 card slots UHS-II)

Tested at 10fps. Small buffer size only allows about 26 frames. Once filled, frame rate drops to 5fps for another 15 frames then slows a bit more for card to write. Buffer clears in about 7 seconds on average. This camera has a 40MP APS-C sensor.

Average file sizes: RAW (lossless) 41 MB, JPG 21 MB

 

Kingston 64GB V90 Canvas React Plus = 272.4 MB/sec. writing RAW+JPEG to both cards simultaneously

Kingston 64GB V90 Canvas React Plus = 298.7 MB/sec. writing RAW+JPEG to one card

Sandisk 64GB Extreme Pro 300MB/s = 268.7 MB/s writing RAW+JPEG to both cards simultaneously

Sandisk 64GB Extreme Pro 300MB/s = 266 MB/s writing RAW+JPEG to one card

NOTE re: Reliability and Other Brands

Performance is only one consideration when choosing cards. I have owned and tested other brands such as Lexar, Transcend, and Delkin. Photography has been my full time living for over 35 years and I can’t afford to use anything unreliable.

Lexar Professional SD cards, in my experience, are a hazard. I’ve had the plastic ribs on three different SD cards physically break (all pro versions) on different occasions with different cameras and had to pull bits of plastic out of the card slot on one occasion. This is only my experience but enough that I no longer buy Lexar.

I have used all of the aforementioned brands for many years. The Kingston Canvas React Plus cards I’ve only been using for just under 2 years. So far, so good. Time will tell. The Delkin and Transcend I keep as backup cards. Though even when used extensively they have been reliable. Other than the aforementioned Lexar cards, no failures over years of use.

Concluding thoughts

I think as long as you get one of the name-brand top rated cards out there, you will be fine on performance and likely reliability. I think reliability is more important as the Q3 has only one card slot and no internal storage. There is also a good argument for having several smaller capacity cards, say 64 GB versus 128 or 256 GB. That way you don’t have all your eggs in one basket. At 64 GB you still have over 330 (L-DNG+L-JPG) frames or more than 400 L-DNG frames per card. For those of you from the film age, like me, that’s at least10X what we had per roll.

Edited July 1, 2023 by MindsEye
typos

[beewee]

When Lexar was still owned by Micron, they made very good memory cards. After Lexar (the brand) was acquired by Longsys in 2017, their quality has completely tanked. I’d stay away from Lexar as it’s not much different than buying some random no-name brand Sd card from a drugstore at a tourist trap.

Kingston on the other hand is one of the largest independent manufacturers of memory chips and does $10+ billion/year in business in selling memory chips and related products. Storage and memory is their core business and they are where they are for good reason. They may not have as much brand recognition as Lexar (unfortunately) but they know what they are doing and they do it well.

Edited July 1, 2023 by beewee

[MindsEye]

2 hours ago, beewee said:

When Lexar was still owned by Micron, they made very good memory cards. After Lexar (the brand) was acquired by Longsys in 2017, their quality has completely tanked. I’d stay away from Lexar as it’s not much different than buying some random no-name brand Sd card from a drugstore at a tourist trap.

Kingston on the other hand is one of the largest independent manufacturers of memory chips and does $10+ billion/year in business in selling memory chips and related products. Storage and memory is their core business and they are where they are for good reason. They may not have as much brand recognition as Lexar (unfortunately) but they know what they are doing and they do it well.

Good points about the two companies.

I have had good experiences with the Kingston cards for almost 2 years. I looked up my Lexar purchases after reading your post. Ironically, all but one was originally purchased from Lexar when they were part of Micron. Also, it turns out I actually had 4 bad Lexar cards: Three that physically failed and one that had data failure.

Sandisk have also been reliable for me. I only buy the professional level cards regardless of brands. I'm not sure if these companies have differences among their lines regarding QA. But most offer lifetime warranty on the "pro" cards. At least Lexar reimbursed me for the bad cards, though it wasn't easy to get it.

[My1stLeicaCam]

Thanks @MindsEye.

Got Kingston as alternative to SanDisk. 
‘Great pricing & similar performance. 

[JNK100]

I am very happy with my 256gb Angel bird card.

[MindsEye]

On 4/8/2024 at 6:35 AM, My1stLeicaCam said:

Thanks @MindsEye.

Got Kingston as alternative to SanDisk. 
‘Great pricing & similar performance. 

Happy to hear you like the Kingston! They are certainly a good value, as my tests have shown.