OWC announces Atlas Pro series of SD cards, CFexpress Type B cards and an ultra-compact Thunderbolt CFX reader

posted Tuesday, January 4, 2022 at 11:30 AM EDT

OWC has announced the Atlas Pro series of memory cards and card readers aimed at photographers, videographers and other content creators. The high-capacity SD UHS-II V90 and CFexpress Type B storage cards promise professional-grade performance. The new ultra-compact, universally compatible CFexpress reader is a very small Thunderbolt CFX reader. It's about the size of a debit card.

If you're not familiar with OWC, the zero-emissions company has been making products for Mac and PC since 1988. OWC has been developing flash storage solutions since 2010, and their experience is on display with the new Atlas Pro media cards.

The OWC Atlas S Pro UHS-II SD cards are V90 rated, and promise write speeds up to 276MB/s and read speeds up to 290MB/s. The cards are suitable for recording 8K video and shooting high-speed bursts of RAW images. The cards utilize pseudo-Single-Level Cell (pSLC) flash memory to deliver 10 times higher durability than ordinary SD cards and they are also impact, bend, shock, UV ray and x-ray resistant. The OWC Atlas S Pro SD cards are available now in capacities ranging from 32GB to 256GB and start at $49.

The OWC Atlas Pro and Atlas Pro Ultra CFexpress Type B memory cards offer even better performance for demanding photographers, such as those using the new Nikon Z9 mirrorless camera. The Atlas Pro Ultra offers peak write speeds up to 1500MB/s and peak read speeds up to 1700MB/s. Sustained speed is rated at 1400MB/s. OWC hasn't shared specifications for the regular Atlas Pro CFexpress type B cards. The Atlas Pro cards will come in 256GB, 512GB, 1TB and 2TB capacities and will be available in Q2 2022. The Atlas Pro Ultra will be available in Q2 2022 as well and it will be available in two capacities, 320GB and 640GB. Pricing information is not yet available.

The OWC Atlas FXR is currently the smallest Thunderbolt CFexpress card reader. It's about seven times smaller than other Thunderbolt CFX readers. The bus-powered reader easily fits into a small camera bag, and it offers read speeds up to 1500MB/s. It includes a Thunderbolt cable with a tethered USB-A adapter. The OWC Atlas FXR will be available in early Q2 2022 for an undisclosed price.