Hello everyone, today I’d like to introduce a premium SD card for professional photographers and videographers: the ProGrade SDXC UHS-II V60 250R 128GB.
With the recent advancements in digital camera performance, high-resolution shooting has become commonplace, a stark contrast to the past. While some still shoot exclusively in JPEG, there’s a growing trend towards capturing RAW images and high-quality videos for professional post-production work. With 4K, and even 8K video recording now possible, choosing a memory card has become a critical factor determining workflow efficiency, going beyond mere storage space.
Especially when capturing important moments, not only is stable transfer speed crucial, but a low product defect rate is even more vital to safely preserve your precious photos and videos. After all, even the fastest speeds are useless if data loss occurs.
ProGrade Digital is a brand founded by professionals with decades of experience in the memory card industry. Based on their extensive expertise, they focus on providing not just speed, but also stability, durability, and practical features needed in the field.
Now, let’s take a closer look at the features of the ProGrade SDXC UHS-II V60 250R 128GB memory card.
Product Specifications & Package Contents
As expected from a professional-grade memory card, the ProGrade SDXC UHS-II V60 250R 128GB boasts impressive specifications.
Capacity: 128GB (up to 256GB available)
Read Speed: Up to 250MB/s
Write Speed: Up to 130MB/s
Video Class: V60 (supports 8K video recording)
Speed Class: UHS-II, Class 10, U3
Warranty: 3 years (for genuine products purchased from Bando Camera)
Opening the product package reveals the memory card itself along with an authenticity guide. If you purchase a genuine product from Bando Camera, a hologram sticker for authentication will be provided. By attaching this hologram sticker to the memory card itself and keeping it there, you can receive 3 years of quality warranty service.
ProGrade offers its professional management tools, both paid and free. Available for download and purchase after registering on their official website, Refresh Pro is a program that monitors the overall health of the memory card and checks the remaining lifespan of the flash memory.
Recovery Pro is a data recovery program designed for potential data loss situations, helping you recover accidentally deleted or formatted files.
The SDXC, V60, II, 3, and 10 marks indicated on the front of the memory card each have specific meanings. SDXC denotes a standard supporting large capacities of 64GB or more, while V60 guarantees a minimum sustained write speed of 60MB/s. ‘II’ indicates the UHS-II standard, the number ‘3’ represents the U3 class, and ’10’ signifies the Class 10 rating. All these ratings must be met to reliably record 4K and 8K video.
Real-world Performance Test
I use two main cameras: a Sony A7C2 and an A6500. The Sony memory card I’m using in my A6500 is already about 10 years old. While it’s still functioning normally, I’ve been using it with the constant tension of not knowing when it might fail. This old Sony memory card is an older model that supports a maximum read speed of 95MB/s, so I decided to directly compare its performance with that of the latest ProGrade product.
First, I inserted the ProGrade memory card into the camera body and initialized it. With a 128GB capacity, when checked on the Sony A7C2 and set to simultaneous RAW+JPEG capture, X-Fine quality, and 29M option, it could store approximately 1,886 photos. For XAVC S 4K video, it indicated approximately 1 hour and 18 minutes of recording.
To conduct a real recording test, I performed continuous video recording until the memory card was full. The result was stable recording for exactly 1 hour, 18 minutes, and 46 seconds, with no interruptions or errors occurring during the process.
https://blog.naver.com/kkm082/224094821300
The Sony A7C2 boasts a continuous shooting performance that supports a maximum burst speed of 10fps in Hi+ mode. When using the electronic shutter, smooth continuous shooting is possible without blackouts, and in such cases, the memory card’s write speed critically impacts the sustained burst performance.
First, I tested continuous shooting in JPEG Fine mode. With the ProGrade memory card inserted, activating Hi+ burst mode allowed me to continuously shoot over 100 frames without interruption until the buffer was full. What was truly impressive was how quickly the data was written to the memory card even after the buffer filled, resulting in virtually no waiting time for shooting.
For an even more demanding test, I attempted continuous shooting in simultaneous RAW+JPEG capture mode. The A7C2’s uncompressed RAW files are massive, approaching 60MB per shot. When combined with simultaneous JPEG capture, a huge amount of data is instantly flooded onto the memory card.
The ProGrade memory card allowed for high-speed shooting of over 20 frames even in RAW+JPEG mode, and the buffer clear speed was also fast, meaning that if used with brief intervals between bursts, it could be used virtually without limitations.
To truly appreciate the performance of a UHS-II memory card, you need a dedicated UHS-II reader that supports USB 3.1 or higher, not a standard card reader.
Upon checking the recorded video files, a total of 116GB of files were successfully saved.
For speed measurement, I used CrystalDiskMark and Blackmagic Design’s Disk Speed Test programs.
CrystalDiskMark: Read 296.76MB/s, Write 101.72MB/s
Disk Speed Test: Read 245.0MB/s, Write 81.8MB/s
The read speed exceeded the official specification of 250MB/s, and the write speed also demonstrated stable performance.
For reference, here are the measurement results for my old Sony memory card (max 95MB/s) that I’ve used for about 10 years:
CrystalDiskMark: Read 94.38MB/s, Write 68.37MB/s
Disk Speed Test: Read 90.1MB/s, Write 80.2MB/s
Numerically, the ProGrade product’s read speed was more than 3 times faster. The perceived time-saving effect when transferring large RAW files or 4K videos to a computer is expected to be significant.
Concluding the Review
After using the ProGrade SDXC UHS-II V60 250R 128GB myself, the most impressive aspect was its stability. No matter how fast a card claims to be, it’s useless if errors occur or data is lost during critical moments. Even during the continuous recording test of over an hour, it operated stably without a single interruption.
The fast read speed dramatically reduces the time it takes to back up data after shooting in the field and begin editing. Those who work with RAW files, in particular, will feel this difference even more significantly; compared to my 10-year-old old product, I confirmed that the read speed was more than 3 times faster.
The 3-year warranty policy provided with genuine Bando Camera purchases is also a major advantage. While memory cards are consumables, choosing a product of proper quality ensures stable use for a long period. I also appreciated that professional management tools like Refresh Pro and Recovery Pro are provided, allowing users to check the memory card’s health and prepare for potential data loss.
While the price point, as expected for a premium camera accessory, is higher than standard products, I believe it’s a sufficiently reasonable price given the performance and stability required in a professional work environment. Especially for those who have been using genuine memory cards like Sony or Canon, choosing ProGrade, which offers comparable reliability with even faster speeds, could be an excellent alternative.
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