The cards were introduced with a read/write speed of 125 MB/s and future series cards will be able to go as high as 500 MB/s and beyond. The two main benefits of the XQD format are its blazing fast read/write speeds (current and proposed for the future) and high capacity storage limit. Recording to XQD, the D5 can shoot up to 200 shots Lossless 12-bit or JPEG/Fine/Large or 14-bit lossless compressed (When using Lexar Professional 2933x (2.0 card)) JPEG/Fine/Large 1/250 sec or faster. For instance, the Nikon D4S can shoot at 11 frames per second and can record up to 67 Uncompressed NEF images or over 200 JPEG images in a single continuous burst.

The XQD format is designed to take advantage of the speed that these cameras can offer photographers. XQD has been adopted by Nikon and was first incorporated into the D4 and D4S and subsequently into the D5, D500 and D850 DSLRs and Z 7 and Z 6 full-frame mirrorless cameras. XQD is a media card format that was designed to be a successor to the CompactFlash card.

Nikon camera card reader