oh_lol

When I used to be really into photography (last bought a brand new Fuji S5 Pro), there weren't many SD cards out. You pretty much just picked a brand, then the size (8GB was EXPENSIVE!).

Now I'm getting into photography again, I've looked at a SD card and have no idea what is what! I've obviously had a quick google, but most sites are just recommending the 'best' card available.
I also don't intend to take video, so I guess the faster, bigger and more expensive cards available are not needed. But then I don't understand what the 'lowest' card I can drop to without sacrificing anything.

If it helps, I have a Ricoh GRII ^

abmj-jr

As I understand it, that camera does not recognize the faster (UHS-III) SD cards and may not take advantage of all the features of the UHS-I. Unless you take a lot of burst mode shots, I'd just get a couple of 8 MB or 16 MB class 10 cards and be happy. Those should be pretty inexpensive. Since I don't do video, my card wallet is stocked with a selection of 8 and 16 MB Sandisk Extreme and Extreme Pro cards and I have never had a failure. Other brands have occasionally let me down. If you don't shoot pro or semi-pro, you'll probably be fine with one or two spares to back up what is in the camera. Although larger cards in the 32-64 MB range are available, I don't recommend them for casual amateurs because the loss of one card could lose an entire job (or vacation.) Better to have important images spread over a few cards so even if I lose a camera, I still have some of my images. Sports and wildlife pros do the same with larger cards as they will fill multiple 64s in a session but that is an extreme case.

Really, the speed of the card is more important in regards to card writes from the camera buffer and card read speed from card to computer or wherever you will save your images than how fast the camera will record images.

oh_lol

Thanks so much for your reply. Makes sense, will probably do as recommended. See what the local stores have

CPRich

Buy a moderately priced 32 or 64GB card from B&H. I'm shooting, including some video, on Sandisk Ultra somethings - their 2nd or 3rd best - that I bought at least 5 years ago.

Unless you're shooting 4K video or taking ridiculously long sequences of shots (like 100+), you'll never use/need the speed of the top end cards today.

Yes, it might take you another minute or two to download when full - hardly worth the extra $$, IMHO.

Loren Pechtel

All you need to know about card speed:

http://www.tuxera.com/a-quick-guide-...deo-recording/

And what they can hold (as well as some speed information, just not as good as the first link):

https://www.sandisk.com/about/legal/hd

CPRich

I checked my cards - 30MB/s, equivalent of U1 speed - so consistent with what is recommended above. Those are still below the knee in the price curve.

Be careful with the Sandisk's "Capacity Chart". The fine print says based on 3.5MB file. I just finished downloading a shoot and my files are about 25MB each. Sandisk says 4,000 pix on a 32GB card - your camera manufacturer says as few as 858. I'd says that's a minimum size if you're shooting RAW format.

I've never lost, damaged, etc. a single card, so I don't subscribe to the "buy a whole lot of small card" theory. Following that logic, I should buy a case of the 256MB cards I still have from my first digital camera and change cards every 10 shots). Mine are 16-64GB, the best price point based on when I bought them.

LtKernelPanic

Working retail I get this question many times a week. I usually recommend a Class 10/USH 1 with a minimum capacity of 16GB (16GB is only $2 more over 8GB) or 32+ if they're goign to use the movie mode a lot. IME that covers the needs of most people. Since your camera shoots RAW I'd get at minimum a 32GB Class 10/UHS-1 card. If you shoot RAW+JPG a 64GB card isn't a bad idea either. No matter what size card you use always make sure you have a backup especially while traveling. 1TB bus powered drives are cheap now.

FWIW my current camera is a Nikon D7100 that has dual SD card slots. I have a 64GB in slot 1 and a 32GB in slot 2 for overflow. I plan on replacing the 32GB with another 64 before my trip to Phoenix, Las Vegas and the Grand Canyon later this summer.

oh_lol

Thanks guys! All very helpful information.
I ended up grabbing a SanDisk Extreme 16GB, as the 32GB was for some reason more expensive $/GB. I'll give this a whirl, and if it seems like I need more capacity will just pick up another one.
No plans to shoot video, and 99% of the time able to upload to my PC/Mac when needed.

The _Banking_Scot

Hi,

I would carry a spare memory card with you in any event so that you do not have to find a shop when you are running low on memory ( and if you do it is likely to be more expensive than one you can buy just now)

Regards

TBS

Loren Pechtel

Even with RAW+JPG I've never even come close to shooting out my 32gb cards. I never do more than one day of shooting on them, though--if I can't copy it off that night I put in another card for the next day's shooting.

chx1975

Quick rundown:

SD, SDHC and SDXC are capacity markers. SDHC is limited to 32GB. And yet, some 32GB cards are SDXC. This shouldn't concern you at all since your camera is compatible with all.

Speed markers are a giant mess.

First you had numbers, so called Class. This was just the speed of the card in megabytes per second. You had Class 2,4,6,10. You will see a number inside an unfinished circle -- that's the C and the number in it.

Then Class 10 got the alias of U1. Because why not. Then 30 MB/s got called U3. Typically you will see the number inside an U. U1 aka Class 10 is enough for 1080p video. This is the most common and as such not particularly pricey. This is what you want to buy. Lower class cards are slow and very likely to be inferior quality as well.

And then you will see some Roman numerals, I , II or III on the card. You want I. Because https://www.pretzellogix.net/2014/10...s-and-cameras/ UHS II and III has extra pins for extra speed and as such it's a waste of money unless your camera has those pins. Yours don't. Just stay with Class 10 - U1 cards and be happy.

LtKernelPanic

I'll second having a second card; even a cheap 8GB card in your bag just in case.

I don't either but since I don't shoot much anymore and with cards being so cheap I just use the cards as a "digital negative" and another backup once they're full.

Loren Pechtel

SD cards should not be used for long term storage when you keep adding to them. Eventually they will burn out and this will happen sooner if they are fuller. You don't want to lose years of pictures because a card burned out.

(The burnout problem applies to all types of flash storage. However, SSD drives track the wear and they spread it across the whole disk, not just the free space. SD cards, flash drives and the like lack the wear leveler and have poor wear tracking and thus wear unevenly when they have a lot on them.)

CPRich

I'd also recommend a second. I doubt I ever shoot a full card in a day, but I don't automatically re-format after downloading either. This sometimes means I start shooting and run out of space fairly quickly. I can't reformat as I have recent shots, and I don't want to delete 1 by 1 all the old ones. Unless you're very rigorous in your management/workflow processes, a spare is a good idea. I haven't bought memory in several years, but a quick look shows we're talking about $19 for a 32GB U3 Sandisk Extreme card.

Loren Pechtel

My usual procedure is the initial copy is from the card to a directory named with the date and location. This allows cleaning the card off quickly.