Storage reliability is an important part to digital workflows. Whether AXS, CFast, SSD, SD, SxS, or even microSD, we need  to trust the memory cards we're saving our footage on. Quality is important and Sony has pushed well beyond SD memory card standards with its new SF-G series Tough specification UHS-II SD cards.

Sony is touting the Tough spec. cards as the "world's toughest and fastest memory card," which is a big claim, but more importantly, they're damage-, debris-, dust- and waterproof. 


Construction

Available in 32GB, 64GB, and 128GB, they're designed with a monolithic structure that's completely sealed, leaving no space for dirt or dust to enter. It also means the card is waterproof compliant to IPX8 and can be submerged in 5 meters (16 feet) of water for up to 72 hours. If you drop it in a muddy location: wash it off, wipe it down, and it's ready to go.

The cards can be dropped from 5 meters (16 feet) without damage worry and carry a bend grade that's 18 times stronger than the standard (180N compared to 10N rating). That's pretty much like bench-pressing a bulldozer

Sony also made sure that the card is magnet-proof, anti-static, temperature proof, has a UV Guard. and is X-ray proof (ISO7816-1) while still supporting a range of UHS-II hardware, DSLR and mirrorless cameras. 

Speed

Sony packed a 299MB/s write speed that allows for continuous shooting of 241 compressed RAW or 362 JPEG images when using a Sony a9 series camera. They've also greatly reduced buffer clearing time, making it 1.8x faster than its UHS-I SD cards. Tough spec. also supports 4K video, V90, UHS speed class 3, and SD speed class 10 formats. 

Read speeds are being clocked at 300MB/s for fast transfer to workstations, 2.6x faster than UHS-I SD cards. 

Price & Availability

All three capacities are said to be released in October and will come with a free Scan Utility to check the condition of your card over time. It's available to download for MAC or PC here

  • SF-G32T/T1 – 32GB – $72.99
  • SF-G64T/T1 – 64GB – $131.99
  • SF-G128T/T1 – 128GB — $275.99