With the growing popularity of high-megapixel DSLR’s and 4K camcorders, we can just about discard all our old 1, 2 & 4GB flash cards.  Those fill up way too fast. What you need now are minimum 16GB, and preferably 32 or 64GB cards.  But what kind to buy?

Kingston SDHC/SDXC UHS-I U3 Flash Cards

One of the things to look for first is the speed class – in this case Kingston’s newest cards will read up to 90MB/second and write up to 80MB/second.  That’s fast enough to keep up with the data rate on today’s fastest cameras.

Be aware however, not all UHS-I speed class 3 cards read/write at this speed – the spec only requires them to be able to maintain 30MB/seconds for read/write.  That won’t do for your high-def video.

Also, not every card will work.  Check your equipment, older model cameras might only work with standard SD or microSD cards – not today’s faster microSDHC or microSDXC cards. If your equipment will work with the newer cards, then for sure buy those. Not sure what card will work with your camera? Kingston has a selector page where you type in your camera make and model and it tells what cards are compatible.

Also consider a reader to match the speed of the card.  Old style readers, or the slot in your PC can slow down the reading of your card.  To attain the holy grail of 90MB/second read times, you’ll need a fast reader like the MobileLite G4 from Kingston. That means you’ll download and be ready to start editing minutes before your old card reader is even done transferring files.

In a speed comparison with the fastest card I bought last year, the same amount of files downloaded into Lightroom in 2 minutes with the Kingston card while they took almost 6 minutes with the other name brand card.

With two slots, the MobileLite G4 can read either standard size SD cards to micro SD cards without an adapter.  Actually, you can put one of each in at the same time.

The G4 has a real nice solid feel to it, so from the standpoint of durability, it’s going to last you a long time.

Check out the whole Kingston line at their website, but remember, if you plan to shoot 4K video, and lots of it, you’re going to want one of these new great cards.

Disclosure: Kingston provided the card and reader to perform this evaluation and review.