Sony has unveiled new Sony XQD memory cards aimed at photo enthusiasts and professional photographers. The new Sony cards are based on the XQD memory card specification, which the CompactFlash Association recently approved and licensed as an open format.

"Advanced shooters want to capture the moment in the highest quality possible, and that often means dealing with massive files like RAW images," said Viviano Cantu, Director of Consumer Media for Sony Electronics. "Memory card technology has done a great job of keeping pace, but these new cards give an entirely new meaning to speed and performance."

The Sony XQD memory card achieves stable continuous shooting of RAW images and blazing fast data transfer rates of up to 1Gbps/125MB/s write and read (based on Sony tests and dependent on host hardware) through the PCIe interface, a computer expansion card standard for serial interfaces. Using the XQD memory cards, XQD compatible high-end DSLR (only Nikon D4 has the support) camera users can capture up to approximately 100 frames in RAW format in continuous shooting mode.

The new Sony XQD memory card will ship in February in 16GB model and 32GB model priced $129.99 and $229.99 respectively.