Professional memory card readers need to be able to meet the demands of professional broadcasters, cinematographers and photographic creators no matter where they are working. For example, news gathering in the field requires video footage to be transferred from a memory card to a laptop so the report can be edited for transmission back to base. Depending on the camera used, the card will be a CFexpress Type B or SDXC UHS-II memory card.
To handle these two types of cards, OWC produces the new Atlas Dual Slot CFexpress Type B and SDXC UHS-II reader and a new Atlas Dual Slot SDXC UHS-II reader. The dual slot readers have a bandwidth of 600MB/s and are ideal for ingesting large-scale photoshoots, such as weddings or major events. Speed is essential where turnaround time is tight.... [+]I’ve looked at the Atlas Dual Slot SDXC UHS-II reader.
Also included on the card readers is a small write-protect switch. This switch is located on the back of the card reader and when turned on it stops any cards from being overwritten or formatted. That essential hardware failsafe will prevent someone from accidentally wiping valuable footage or images. I wish more card readers had such a switch. My only criticism is the button is difficult to reach if you have short fingernails, but maybe that’s more of a feature than a bug.
At the front of the card readers are two slots, each with an LED to show when the card is being written to or read from. For those nervous types who worry about losing images during the transfer process, OWC has created a small hole in the back of the card reader above the USB-C port. This little hole can accommodate OWC’s Cling-On cable stabilizers to ensure the cable stays in place and isn’t accidentally pulled during a read or write, thereby corrupting the card.