For owners of the F5/55, Sony’s new SxS Pro+ C series cards may offer a hint that higher frame rates in 4K and HD will eventually be able to be recorded internally to your camera. The limitation to recording HFR material in 4K internally on the F5/55 has always been the write speed of the media. The SxS Pro+ C series cards can write at up to 2.8Gbps. The limitation may well be the 1.3Gbps minimum write speed. The previousSxS Pro+ cards could only do 1.5Gbps. With this big increase in performance it will be interesting to see what sort of frame rates are possible in 4K. To put the new cards in perspective the Sony AXS cards that are used in the R5 raw recorder can do 2.4Gb/s.
   

Here are the details of the SxS Pro+ C series cards:

Adopting the 2nd generation PCIe interface, and using an upgraded built-in controller, the Sony 64GB SxS PRO+ C Series Memory Card offers double the read speed and just about double the write speed of the previous, B Series models, even with high frame rate 4K content. The Sony AXS cards that are used in the R5 raw recorder can do 2.4Gb/s.

The maximum read speed is 3.5Gbps and maximum write speed is 2.8Gbps. The minimum write speed is 1.3Gbps, which, when combined with the efficiency of the new controller and anti speed degradation functions, ensures stable recording in XAVC 4K 60p and XAVC HD 180p modes when used with compatible Sony cameras such as the F5 and F55 (at 600Mbps in both modes).

In addition to improved capture capability, the card also provides a set of safety features, namely, data refreshing, data error correct, power failure management for recreating video clips in case of power loss or card ejection, and wear-leveling data defect minimization for secure data recording. It is also housed in a dustproof case. Each card is subjected to a series of quality assurance tests including checks on recording blocks, temperature cycles, and operating environment.

Using Sony’s Memory Media Utility software, downloadable from the Sony website, you can manage the card with features such as the library function, remaining media lifetime/capacity indicator, simultaneous data back-up to three locations, and quick/full formatting for both FAT32 and UDF file systems. The SxS PRO+ C Series also supports the lifetime indication function of the F5 and F55 cameras.

The prices of the SxS Pro+ C series cards can be found here.