Nikon XQD based cameras have a future

Of the world's major Digital Single Lens Reflex (DSLR) and Mirrorless interchangeable lens camera (MILC) manufacturers, only Nikon DSLRs have utilized XQD memory cards to store images and videos. Some Sony video cameras also use XQD cards.

XQD cards were manufactured by Lexar and Sony, until June, 2017, when Lexar announced that they were discontinuing their retail memory card business, including XQD memory cards. Since then, only Sony has been manufacturing XQD cards.

The XQD card was created for high-definition camcorders and high resolution digital cameras, as it offered considerably better performance than Compact Flash memory cards, even CFast cards.

While Nikon bet on XQD cards, their competitors bet on CFast memory cards. Today it's clear that Nikon won their bet. Frankly, based on the different cards' specifications, I don't understand how CFast supporters thought they'd win their bet.

DxO has acquired the Nik Collection from Google

DxO has acquired the Nik Collection from Google and will continue to offer it for free until they make a new edition available in mid-2018.


DxO, makers of PhotoLab, formerly OpticsPro, and other photo editing tools which are compatible with Adobe products, has purchased the Nik Collection from Google, one of the most widely used Adobe Photoshop plug-ins tools.

DxO announced they will continue to offer the current version as a free download, for the time being. By mid-2018 DxO plans to offer a new version of the venerable software.