Why Memory Cards are Useful

Whenever a friend gets a camera, they usually come and ask me “What accessory should I get that will make me a better photographer?”. I’ll answer with two things, spare memory cards , and spare batteries. You don’t get better through better gear, you get better though practice. Practice in photography often means taking more photos, and these two accessories allow you to take more photos.

Different types of Memory Cards

SD Cards – The most common type of memory card for amateur photographers. If your camera cost less than $1000 dollars this is probably your memory card. It’s a nice, rugged, and rather ubiquitous format.

Micro-SD Cards – Like SD cards but smaller in size. Some ultralight/small laptops and phones use this standard to save space. If you have Micro-SD cards and want to use them in a SD card reader or camera that only uses SD cards, there are cheap adapters that you can purchase. These are extremely useful to have around and are cheap so I always make sure just to carry one or two just in case I need to use a micro SD card.

CF/XQD Cards – Faster, larger, more specialized professional memory cards. Older cameras like the Nikon D70 use CF cards.

Size

Realistically, unless you’re shooting video, as an amateur you can generally get away with 16 or 32GB cards. Having a larger card helps you stay out longer and switch less but they get more expensive with price and I would say that you’re going for diminishing returns with anything larger than 64 GB’s.

Speed

The other important factors for SD cards are write speed. How fast your camera can take photos is a factor of both your camera and your SD card. Whichever one is slower will limit your how fast photos can be taken during a burst and how long you can sustain that burst. If your camera is new I suggest getting either a C10, U1 or U3.

What the Ratings Mean

These rating are the minimum write speed that the memory card can handle. The letter indicates the standard, and the number indicates the speed. For example, with C10, the C indicates it’s in the “speed class ” and the 10 indicates it has a minimum write speed of 10 MB/s. The U1, means it’s in the “Ultra speed class”, and the 1 means it has a minimum write speed of 10 MB/s. Aren’t they equivalent in minimum write speeds, why are they in different speed classes? I’m pretty sure there’s a difference underneath the hood of the SD card but for our purposes we can consider them equivalent. The U3, has a minimum write speed of30 MB/s. There’s also a “Video speed class” but I don’t encounter those too often. A chart of the different ratings against minimum write speed can be found below,

If the V90 and V60’s out perform the U3, why do I not suggest them? They cost more without providing you extra benefit.

Once you’re using V60 or V90, you will most likely be limited by your cameras write speed, so there wont be any benefit. These cards may future proof you, if you are planning on getting into 8k video recording; but I don’t recommend getting them. Instead I would suggest getting more or larger U3 capacity memory cards.

How many SD cards should you get?

I’d suggest you should have at least 3. One to always be in your camera, one to have in your camera bag ready to swap out when your first one is full, and one as a spare in case you lose one because they can be small and easy to drop. Especially the micro SD cards. For keeping track of your SD Cards I suggest buying one of these SD card holder. They will protect your SD cards more than just the plastic containers they come in.

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