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How to Read and Use Histograms

17 Nov

The post How to Read and Use Histograms appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darlene Hildebrandt.

The histogram is a useful but often misunderstood tool that your camera provides to help you get the correct exposure in your images.

In this article, we’re going to look at how to read a histogram, and how to use it to your advantage. Getting the best exposure (there is no such thing as the “correct” exposure, as it’s all subjective) in-camera should be your goal every time you click the shutter.

Using these tips should help you increase your photographic success rate!

What is a histogram?

Here’s the dictionary definition: 

A histogram is a bar graph of a frequency distribution in which the widths of the bars are proportional to the classes into which the variable has been divided and the heights of the bars are proportional to the class frequencies.

Huh? Anyone else confused? So what does a histogram really do? And how do you read it?

Let’s have a look!

How to read the histogram

A histogram is a graphical representation of the pixels in your image. The left side of the graph represents the blacks or shadows, the right side represents the highlights or bright areas, and the middle section represents the midtones (middle or 18% gray). 

The heights of the peaks represent the number of pixels of a particular tone (with each peak corresponding to a different tone). Each tone from 0-255 (0 being black and 255 being white) is one pixel wide on the graph, so imagine the histogram as a bar graph all squished together with no spaces between each bar.

Have a look at the diagrams below:

how to use the histogram
how to use the histogram

What can we learn from a histogram?

There are many things we can learn about an image just by looking at its histogram.

We can tell that an image is well-exposed if it reaches fully from edge to edge without a gap on one side of the graph, and it isn’t heavily going up one side or the other. In an ideal world, the graph should just touch the left and right edges of the histogram, and not spill up the sides. The graph should also have a nice arch in the center. 

However, this “ideal histogram” doesn’t always apply in every situation for every scene. Here are a few examples:

an ideal histogram
This is how an ideal histogram might look, evenly distributed, edge to edge, not up the sides.
a darker histogram
This is a histogram for a dark subject. It is not wrong; it is just more shifted to the left to represent the tones of the subject. This might be a black cat on dark pavement.
a brighter histogram
This is a histogram for a light subject (e.g., a white cat) with mostly light tones in the scene and few dark areas. See how it is shifted to the right compared to the dark subject? This is what you want, assuming your scene is mostly light-toned. If you change your exposure to keep the graph centered, you will end up with a gray cat, not a white one.

When the histogram tells you to adjust your exposure

Gaps on either end indicate you are missing information and your exposure can be shifted safely without losing detail. When your graph is shifted too far in one direction or the other direction, so that it does not even touch the other edge, you can safely shift your exposure to cover more of the range of tones. Let’s look!

an overexposed histogram
This graph shows an overexposed image; notice the gap on the left side indicating a lack of any blacks in the image. It also means you will lose lots of detail in the white areas that may not be recoverable. In this case, shift to give your image less exposure and shoot the scene again.
an underexposed histogram
This histogram shows the opposite. Now we see a gap on the right side of the graph indicating there are no whites represented, so the image will be dark – too dark. You can safely give the image more exposure until you see the tones just touch the right edge of the histogram.

What do the spikes up the sides mean?

Spikes up the left or right edge of the histogram indicate “clipping” of that tone and a loss of detail in that area. Clipped areas are often unrecoverable, especially in the highlights.

It is generally advised to expose so that your graph just touches the right edge (which indicates that you’ve kept your highlight details). It is usually easier to recover some shadow detail and retain a decent image than to try and create highlight detail that isn’t in the file.

In some scenes, however, it may not be possible to keep the graph within an acceptable range. For example, you’ll struggle to get great results if you are photographing a scene with extreme contrast, such as:

  • Sunset
  • Bright sunlight and deep shadows
  • A building interior where you also show the area outside the windows

In all of those cases, you will not be able to keep from clipping either your blacks, your whites, or both.

a high-contrast histogram
High contrast graph

The graph above shows an image with extreme contrast, lots of blacks, a spike of white, and not much in the middle.

Is this wrong? Can you correct for it?

No, it’s not wrong.

And you can’t really “correct” for it, but you do have a decision to make when you see something like this. Do you shift the graph left and maintain highlight detail, or shift it right and keep shadow detail?

There is no right or wrong here. It’s all how you interpret the scene before you. If in doubt, shoot both and decide later. The graph above comes from the image below, so as you can see it is not the incorrect exposure at all. There are simply no midtones in the scene:

neon star sign

Here’s another example of a scene that will potentially go off the graph on both ends:

wide-angle cathedral with a blown-out ceiling and deep shadows
Notice the skylight at the top of the roof is blown out, and the deep shadows have little detail.
cathedral with better detail
Notice how, in this image, the details have been retained in both the highlights and the shadows.

Using advanced techniques like image merging and blending, HDR, or careful post-processing, you can compress the tonal range of a scene to fit within the histogram and therefore have details in all areas.

For the image above, I’ve used four bracketed images (taken two stops apart) and the HDR tone mapping process to bring the dynamic range of the scene down within a printable range.

One more handy thing on your camera: the “blinkies”

To help you establish how far you can go when exposing, most cameras have a setting called “highlight warnings.” It will make any overexposed highlights flash or blink when you preview your images on the camera LCD. Many people affectionately call these “the blinkies.”

histogram blinkies flashing
Notice the flashing areas; that means the highlights are being clipped in those parts of the image.

To do this on a Nikon camera, preview an image and press the Up or Down button (near the OK button) until you see the highlights flashing or outlined. This is the “highlight mode.” If you choose this setting, your camera will remember to use it for the next image you preview. You may need to activate the “highlight warnings” feature in your settings menu first, however.

To do this with a Canon camera, press the Display or Info button (depending on your model) until the blinking highlights show up on the screen when previewing images. You may also need to turn on this feature in the menu settings. Check your camera manual if you aren’t sure how to do this.

Summary

By using the tools your camera provides you, it’s easier to understand how to adjust your image exposure. There is a lot more to know about the histogram, and you can use it when you process your images in Photoshop or Lightroom, as well. 

Just keep in mind that, if you shoot in JPEG format, nailing the exposure in-camera is even more critical. If you shoot in RAW format, you have some leeway to make adjustments later, but it’s still a better idea to get it right in the first place.

The post How to Read and Use Histograms appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Darlene Hildebrandt.


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Samsung’s new 980 Pro PCIe 4.0 M.2 SSD offers read speeds up to 7,000MB/s

23 Sep

Samsung has unveiled the 980 Pro, its newest high-end NVMe M.2 2280 PCIe 4.0 drive, which pushes read and write speeds to ridiculous speeds.

The drive will come in 250GB, 500GB and 1TB capacities at launch and features a PCIe 4.0 interface that, with a compatible motherboard, will offer maximum sequential read and write speeds of up to 7,000MB/s and 5,000MB/s, respectively. Even if you don’t have a PCIe 4.0 motherboard on hand (there aren’t a lot available at this time, as the interface is relatively new), the new 980 Pros can still reach maximum sequential read and write speeds of 3,500MB/s and 3,450MB/s, respectively on an M.2 PCIe 3.0 motherboard.

As tends to be the case with SSDs, the smaller capacity drives will feature slightly slower write speeds (read speeds are the same across capacities). While the 1TB version will top out at sequential write speeds of up to 3,450MB/s via PCIe 3.0, the 500GB and 250GB models will top out at 3,400MB/s and 2,700MB/s, respectively. As noted by The Verge, How-to Geek suggests the slower write speeds may be caused by there being fewer NAND channels in smaller SSDs.

While PCIe 4.0 motherboards aren’t exactly commonplace at this time, it’s nice to see a future-proof SSD that will still improve speeds on the more common PCIe 3.0 interface.

The three capacities will start shipping this month with the 250GB, 500GB and 1TB models retailing for $ 90, $ 150 and $ 230, respectively. There will also be a 2TB version out before the end of the year, but no price has been shared at this time.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Delkin Devices unveils new 2TB CFexpress Type B card with read speeds up to 1,730MB/s

11 Jun

Hot on the heels of ProGrade Digital’s new 1TB CFexpress Type B card, Delkin Devices has unveiled its new 2TB CFexpress Type B card, the highest-capacity CFexpress Type B card to date.

The new CFexpress Type B cards use a PCIe 3.0 interface and NVMe storage to achieve read and write speeds up to 1,730MB/s and 1,430MB/s, respectively, meaning it’s not only higher-capacity than ProGrade Digital’s ‘Gold label’ cards, but also faster. Delkin Devices says each of its cards undergoes ‘extensive testing to ensure full functionality and performance’ with the latest CFexpress compatible camera systems.

A compatibility chart from Delkin Digital showing what cameras the card has already been approved for use in and what camera models it’s currently testing the cards with.

In addition to the standard lifetime warranty, these new cards also come with Delkin Device’s 48HR Replacement Guarantee, which states that Delkin Devices ‘will happily replace any non-working card within 48 hours or less (not including weekends), prior to receiving your non-working card.’ In the event you have an authorized Delkin Devices retailer nearby, you can also pick up the replacement in-person — just be sure to register your card.

No pricing or availability information is given, but Delkin’s 1TB version of this card has a list price of $ 1,000 but is currently available for $ 700 at Adorama and $ 890 at B&H. Being the press release is live, we expect it won’t take long before the 2TB model becomes available.

https://www.the-digital-picture.com/News/News-Post.aspx?News=34868

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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ProGrade Digital’s new CFexpress Type B cards offer read speeds up to 1,700MB/S

10 Jun
The two capacities available in ProGrade Digital’s ‘Cobalt label’

ProGrade Digital has announced the release of its new CFexpress Type B memory cards, which offer higher capacities and improved speeds over previous-generation CFexpress cards.

The new CFexpress Type B cards use an NVMe host interface with PCIe Gen3 X2 to offer read speeds up to 1,700MB/s and burst write speeds up to 1,500MB/s — that’s 1.7GB/s and 1.5GB/s, respectively for the ‘Cobalt label’ cards. In addition to the ‘Cobalt label’ cards, ProGrade Digital is also launching a line of ‘Gold label’ CFexpress Type B cards that offers up to 1,700MB/s read speeds, but only guarantees a sustained write speed up to 400MB/s, depending on the card capacity.

The smallest and largest capacity CFexpress Type B cards in ProGrade Digital’s ‘Gold label’

On the topic of capacity, the ‘Cobalt label’ cards are available in 325GB and 650GB sizes, while the ‘Gold label’ cards come in 128GB, 256GB, 512GB and 1TB sizes. The cards are constructed of a metal enclosure for improved durability and heat dissipation and are both X-ray proof and shock-proof.

The ‘Cobalt label’ cards start at $ 400 for the 325GB model (Adorama, B&H) and the ‘Gold label’ cards start at $ 160 for the 128GB model (B&H). All cards come with a three-year warranty and can be found at authorized ProGrade Digital retailers.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Film Fridays: Thinking about spending a stack of cash on a film camera? Read this first!

14 Mar

We recently launched an analog forum and in a continuing effort to promote the fun of the medium, we’ll be sharing an article from our film friends over at 35mmc on Fridays. This week’s article addresses the ever-inflating second-hand film camera market and the realities of what you get for your hard-earned cash. So don’t drop $ 300 on an Olympus MJU II before reading this first!

Thinking about spending a stack of cash on a film camera? Read this!

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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New firmware brings improved AF usability: Read our updated Nikon Z6 and Z7 reviews

13 Mar

Nikon’s release of firmware 3.0 for its Z6 and Z7 cameras is significant. Not just for the changes it brings, but the significance of those changes in the context of the company’s history. Like Canon, Nikon has historically brought DSLR cameras to market that you could be sure would work exactly the same in ten years as the day you bought it. There simply wasn’t any expectation that you would gain additional features, refinements or enhancements over the life of the product.

But times have changed, and with the Z6 and Z7, Nikon has clearly taken industry feedback to heart. Of course, this isn’t the first major firmware update for these cameras – firmware 2.0 brought us eye detect autofocus – but 3.0 changes some of the autofocus system’s fundamental operation in an attempt to make it more familiar to users of the company’s DSLR cameras.

Alright, enough with the pontificating. Here’s what firmware 3.0 brings to the table.

Refined autofocus tracking implementation

The most significant change in FW 3.0 (to us, anyway) is the refinement in the behavior of the Z6 and Z7’s tracking autofocus. Up until now, you had to hit the ‘OK’ button while in the Auto AF area mode to bring up the tracking box. You could place that over your subject and initiate autofocus, and it would track around the frame. But when you released the shutter button (or AF On button), the box would continue to track your subject until you canceled it with the ‘OK’ button, and then the tracking box would reset to the center of the frame, regardless of whether you’d moved it around before initiating autofocus. You then exited tracking with the ‘Zoom out’ button.

You can now have either the Fn1 or Fn2 buttons initiate tracking AF. Our opinions on staff differ, but I personally find these buttons fall naturally under my middle and ring fingers, and are easy to press.

Now, with FW 3.0, you have the option to assign Tracking mode to one of the Fn buttons on the front of the camera, which are easier to manipulate with the camera to your eye. And once you’ve initiated tracking, releasing the shutter or AF On buttons will see the camera cease tracking, and the box return to wherever it was when you initiated tracking.

It actually makes a remarkable difference in everyday shooting, and we’ve found that we can use the Z6 and Z7 more comfortably, and in a similar way to how we’re used to shooting with Nikon’s DSLRs.

It’s not quite perfect though. Firstly, if you enter playback or menus, or power-cycle the camera, you’re back into non-tracking Auto area AF mode. We’d love to see it remember your chosen mode or, better still, be offered as a distinct AF area mode. Secondly, initiating tracking on a face does not switch to face and eye-detection, as it does on Sony and Canon cameras with the latest firmware.

But on the whole, it’s a welcome improvement and makes the Z6 and Z7 much more usable, further improving on cameras that already had great ergonomics and handling. We discuss how this new behavior interacts with the cameras’ other AF features in our Nikon Z7 review.

Pet eye detection and CFExpress

Firmware 3.0 also brings the ability to focus on the eyes of pets, for all you pet portraitists out there. Depending on the pet (in essence, on how similar their eyes looked to human eyes) some Z6 and Z7 users with the old firmware might have found that their cameras already did a decent job of this, but now it’s official. With Firmware 3.0 you get more reliable and stable pet detection tracking, when you enable the requisite menu function.

Lastly, the Z6 and Z7 cameras are now compatible with CFExpress cards. This won’t impact you too much if you already have a bunch of XQD cards laying around, but CFExpress is the future, and broader compatibility is always a plus.

The reviews

Our reviews of both the Z6 and Z7 now have updated autofocus sections, updated conclusions, and we made tweaks to the scoring. Neither received a higher overall numerical score – they both scored very highly to begin with – but the ‘metering and focus’ category of the scoring widget has received a noticeable boost on both. We’ve also updated our Pros and Cons lists at the top of the conclusion pages to reflect the changes.

To see all the changes for yourself, hop on over to our full Nikon Z6 and Z7 full reviews.

Read our Nikon Z6 review

Read our Nikon Z7 review

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Learning to See, Read, and Interpret Light for Better Photography

26 Feb

The post Learning to See, Read, and Interpret Light for Better Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.

interpret-light-for-better-photography

In the game of photography, lighting conditions occasionally throw your camera a curveball. In the game of baseball, the pitcher and catcher must coordinate and communicate their actions precisely through a series of gestures or signs. By learning to read the signs that a scene tells you about the existing light, you will be able to capture the light exactly the way your eyes perceive it.

Image: The catcher must know exactly what kind of pitch the pitcher is going to throw so he knows ex...

The catcher must know exactly what kind of pitch the pitcher is going to throw so he knows exactly where to position his mitt.

Interpret light for better photography

To learn to see, read, and interpret light, let’s first take a look at some typical lighting conditions that are best captured by certain photographic settings.

Golden lighting

When you take outdoor pictures (especially nature), try to schedule them during the golden hours, usually between 7-9 am and between 5-7 pm. This is when the lighting is at its richest intensity for photography. During morning and afternoon/evening hours, the light is warmer in color and more flattering to all colors of skin.

Image: Even this faded wood fence took on a golden color during “golden hour.” f-4.5, 1/4000, ISO 16...

Even this faded wood fence took on a golden color during “golden hour.” f-4.5, 1/4000, ISO 1600, 35mm.

Conversely, try to avoid taking pictures of people when the Sun is directly overhead as the shadows it creates are very harsh and unflattering to facial features.

Mid-day sunlight

The light from direct sunlight is more intense than your camera’s image sensor can deal with.

Typically, your camera’s metering system caters to the brightest light in the scene. When this happens, the darkest parts of the image lose definition!

interpret-light-for-better-photography

Despite the Sun providing ample light, the use of a fill flash illuminated the shadows caused by the noonday light. f-4.8, 1/500, ISO 200, 82mm.

Fill flash

Believe it or not, it is usually a good idea to use a flash during the brightest hours of the day. Simply interpret light and keep your subjects from displaying too much contrast.

Your flash won’t affect the lightest parts of the photograph, but it will shed some much-needed light in the darkest parts of the image. Unless you take preventative measures (using either a fill flash or a carefully positioned reflective surface), these “shadow” tones will print too dark!

Lighting and people

If you are outside, try to keep the Sun behind you and off to the side. This way, the light will illuminate their faces and create good definition and shading.

But watch out for your own shadow in the picture.

interpret-light-for-better-photography

Outdoor pictures provide only a single light source. Be very careful about that big lights’ position. f-2.2, 1/1900, ISO 25, 29mm.

If you are inside during daylight hours and want to interpret light without a flash, set the camera’s white balance (WB) to Shade and brace yourself for a longer exposure.

If there is not enough available light for a good exposure, set the WB to Daylight and let the camera’s flash take care of the lighting.

Manual flash

If you must take a picture of people outside with the Sun in front of you instead of behind you, remember these two things:

  1. Keep direct sunlight from entering the lens, and
  2. Manually direct your camera to use the flash.

If you set your camera flash to fire “automatically,” it may misread the overall lighting and not fire the flash at all. Unless you are looking for a good silhouette, you won’t be pleased with the result.

The use of a flash inside requires you to pay close attention to distance. Standing too close to your subject (less than four feet) may put too much light on the subject’s face and wash out the skin color.

Alternatively, standing too far away (more than 25 feet), the flash could fail to light the skin tones correctly.

Skin is very picky about the light it likes. Light that is either too strong or too weak just doesn’t look natural.

interpret-light-for-better-photography

Shooting indoors under mixed, existing light is best captured with the camera set to AWB (automatic white balance). This sets the camera to seek the most neutral color in the scene and to record balanced gray light. f.1.8, 1/35, ISO 320, 24mm

Light shaping

Your digital camera measures the brightest light, compares it with the darkest areas, and determines how to interpret the light and expose the picture based on an average of the two readings.

Always keep extremely bright light from entering the camera through the lens. And that includes camera flash lighting reflecting from shiny surfaces, like glass and mirrors.

Beware of specular light of any kind reflecting from any surface, as it influences these meter readings.

Cloudy and overcast lighting

Some of the very best lighting for color happens on cloudy and overcast days. Overcast days allow your camera to capture much more of the natural light and, therefore, provides a much more natural feel to your photos.

Image: Softbox lighting softens harsh shadows even when used as a single light source in close proxi...

Softbox lighting softens harsh shadows even when used as a single light source in close proximity to the subject.

Softboxes

Professional photographers in the controlled setting of a photo studio use special lighting enclosures called “soft boxes” to limit the contrast created by their bright studio lights.

Direct lighting from studio flash units (called strobe lights) can be so strong and brilliant that it creates very harsh shadows.

To avoid these shadows, these lights are either enclosed in softbox tents or bounced off special photographic umbrellas to disperse the intense light.

Made from material similar to an umbrella, these enclosures are translucent and absolutely neutral white in color.

Nature’s softbox

An overcast day serves the same purpose outdoors as the tents and diffusers used in studios. The clouds soften and diffuse the direct Sun’s harsh light.

On an overcast day, the light is so evenly diffused that you can position your subject in almost any direction.

Since the clouds tend to make the scene color slightly bluish, your camera’s Overcast Mode setting interprets light with a slightly warm tone that neutralizes the bluish cast.

Image: Cloud cover softens the harsh lighting of direct sunlight and allows the full tonality and sa...

Cloud cover softens the harsh lighting of direct sunlight and allows the full tonality and saturation to show without either plugged shadows or blown-out highlights. f-4.5, 1/250, ISO 200, 105mm.

The three major outdoor lighting modes are:

  1. Daylight,
  2. Shade, and
  3. Overcast (or Cloudy).

Daylight WB allows the natural coloring of the existing light to expose the shot.

Shade provides a slightly yellow cast to the scene.

Overcast WB applies an even more intense yellow cast.

All three WB settings attempt to record whites, grays, and blacks in the scene as completely neutral in color.

If you want to capture the natural lighting mood of any daylight color temperature, leave the WB setting on Daylight.

Low-key vs. high-key lighting

Photographs generally get divided into three groups: full range, high key, and low key.

Full range photos are the most common since they display a full range of tones from dark to light.

High-key photos contain more light tones than dark tones, while low-key photographs display a near absence of light tones.

Image: High-key images contain more highlights than mid-tones and shadows, while low-key images cont...

High-key images contain more highlights than mid-tones and shadows, while low-key images contain more shadow tones than mid-tones and highlights. The most important challenge with either type of image is to maintain the distinction of detail in each.

 

Generally speaking, to properly interpret the light and record low-key pictures, set the camera’s Exposure Value (or EV) compensation to a minus setting.

Alternatively, to compensate for the lighting of high-key pictures, set this EV compensation to a plus setting. These adjustments will override the camera meter’s intent to expose all subjects as middle tones.

With shooting either high or low-key lighting, great care must be taken to preserve the minor presence of highlight tones in low-key scenes and the minimal shadow detail in high-key situations.

But as a general rule, the absolute extremes of pure black and pure white should be avoided unless the drama of the scene requires that level of contrast.

The post Learning to See, Read, and Interpret Light for Better Photography appeared first on Digital Photography School. It was authored by Herb Paynter.


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Plugable launches 512GB version of its Thunderbolt 3 NVMe drive with read speeds up to 2,400MB/s

22 Jan

Back in November 2019, accessory manufacturer Plugable launched its 1TB and 2TB Thunderbolt 3 NVMe drives. Now, roughly three months later, Plugable has announced it’s now offering the same drive in a 512GB capacity for those who don’t need as much space or prefer to keep their content spread across multiple smaller drives.

Like its larger counterparts, the 512GB Thunderbolt 3 NVMe drive is powered entirely through its integrated Thunderbolt 3 cable and features sequential read speeds up to 2,400MB/s and write speeds up to 1,800MB/s. The drive works at full-speed with any Thunderbolt 3-compatible macOS or Windows computer and is backward compatible at USB-C speeds on computers without Thunderbolt 3.

The drive is constructed of aluminum and weighs just 173g (6.1oz).The 512GB Plugable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe drive will retail for $ 200, but is currently available for a launch-special price of $ 180 (when you clip the coupon code).

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Lexar is showing off a PCIe 4.0 SSD with 7GB/s read sequential speeds

31 Dec

According to technology publication Where Consumers Come First (Wccf), storage manufacturer Lexar is working on a prototype PCIe 4.0 SSD that’s capable of achieving sequential read speeds up to 7GB/s.

Wccf doesn’t share too many details about this prototype SSD, but does say the M.2 PCI-Express 4.0 SSD drive, which uses a 96-layer TLC-NAND, was able to hit ‘6442 MB/s in sequential reads and 4246 MB/s in sequential writes’ using CrystalDiskMark and IOMeter benchmarking programs.

These speeds far surpass the speeds currently found in most PCI-e 4.0 SSDs, which tend to max out with read and write speeds of 5GB/s and 4GB/s, respectively. The drive is backward compatible with PCIe 3.0 slots, but in order to get the maximum speeds, the drive requires a CPU that supports PCIe 4.0. Currently, only AMD Ryzen processors offer PCIe Gen 4 support, so Intel processors, which only offer PCIe 3.0 support at this time, will be limited to the maximum speed of the PCIe 3.0 slots.

According to Wccf, the SSD ‘is planned to be available in 512GB, 1TB, and 2TB capacities.’

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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Plugable’s new 1TB, 2TB Thunderbolt 3 NVMe SSDs offer read speeds up to 2800MB/s

12 Nov

Computer accessory manufacturer Plugable has announced the release of its updated Thunderbolt 3 NVMe External SSDs, now with 1TB and 2TB capacities.

The compact drive is constructed of solid anodized aluminum, weighs 173g (6.1oz) and features an integrated 18cm (7in) 40Gbps Thunderbolt 3 cable (read: not removable). Plugable claims the drive offers read and write speeds of up to 2800MB per second and 1800 MB per second, respectively, thanks to its PCIe Gen3 x4 connection.

In our tests with a 1TB review unit Plugable sent our way to test out the claimed speeds, we were able to reach sustained write speeds of 1915MB per second and sustained read speeds of 2331MB per second using the Blackmagic Design Disk Speed test on macOS Catalina.

A screenshot of our test run on the latest beta of macOS Catalina using a 2016 15.6-inch MacBook Pro with Touchbar.

These drives are backwards compatible with USB-C connections, but to get the fastest speeds, you’ll want to make sure the computer you’re plugging it into features Thunderbolt 3 connectivity. The drives come pre-formatted with exFAT out of the box, but can be reformatted to work with any other macOS or Windows system.

The 1TB and 2TB Plugable Thunderbolt 3 NVMe External SSDs are currently available for $ 299 and $ 499, respectively. Plugable is offering a ‘launch discount’ of $ 50 on the 1TB drive and $ 100 on the 4TB drive for an unspecified amount of time. All units come with a 36-month warranty.

Articles: Digital Photography Review (dpreview.com)

 
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