Completely sealed one-piece molded structure and ribless, switchless design that keeps images safe and guards against drops, bends, water and dust, that’s TOUGH. It’s Sony’s newest UHS-II SD card!

SD cards are not all equal, that you know. But Sony’s new TOUGH reference is a completely different story. According to the company, its new “SF-G series TOUGH specification” UHS-II SD cards are designed to keep images safe in any shooting environment, combining the world’s fastest read and write speeds with an ultra-rugged design that is bend-proof, drop-proof to 5 meters, water-proof and dust-proof.

The new cards are 18 times stronger than SD standard (180N compared to 10N rating) to guard against bending and dropping, and use the world’s first monolithic structure with a completely sealed one-piece molding that leaves no empty space in the card and prevents dust or debris from entering. The TOUGH spec. series uses materials of high-grade hardness, unlike conventional SD which uses a thin, 3-part ensemble. They are protected against typical physical damage that can affect conventional SD cards such as a broken plastic casing, broken data protection lock and broken connector ribs.

There is a price to pay, though… besides the cost of the card itself. The completely sealed one-piece molded structure and ribless (a first in the world) SD card has no write protection switch, as the design had to ensure that easy-to-break parts are removed entirely. So, if you use the write protection switch… you’ll have to look elsewhere. Sincerely, I don’t remember ever using the switch myself!

For photographers and videographers fighting the elements to get the perfect shot, the TOUGH spec. SD cards are also waterproof with an IPX8 rating and dustproof with an IP6X rating. If your camera can take, dare to go out and brave harsh conditions. The new SF-G TOUGH series of memory cards are planned to be available in October, right in time to try the first rains, if you live in the right area of the world. Or even if you live elsewhere, as the weather is nothing like in the past, due to climate change, whether you believe it or not!

Cameras are packing more and more performance into stills and video performance and modern high-cameras – like Sony’s full-frame mirrorless models – rely on fast memory cards to maximize their performance and with professional photographers now using SD cards more frequently, users are demanding higher levels of reliability and durability associated with other professional card types. With the world’s fastest write speed of up to 299MB/s, buffer clearing time is minimized, allowing photographers to shoot at the highest burst speeds.  The TOUGH spec. SD cards also support V90, the highest standard of video speed class, making it an ideal companion for shooting high-resolution video.

Transferring high-capacity photo and video files is made simple with the TOUGH cards, thanks to a read speed of up to 300MB/s, another world’s fastest, which dramatically streamlines the post-shooting workflow. Addressing the practical needs of photographers, the SF-G series TOUGH specification range feature a bright yellow banding design, making the card easier to spot in dark shooting conditions.

The TOUGH spec. series SD cards include a SD Scan Utility, allowing the user to check that the card is in good condition and File Rescue Software to recover accidentally deleted data and photos. The new cards are also X-ray proof, magnet proof, anti-static, temperature proof and feature UV Guard. The new SF-G TOUGH series of memory cards are planned to be available in October, priced at  $72.99 (32GB), $131.99 (64GB) and $275.99 for the 128GB version.