Memory card for DSLR

Big Chris

Big Chris

Big Chris

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Joined
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Buying my first DSLR at the weekend - a Canon 750D. Got a nipper on the way and want to take some decent pics of family life (except for all the poo).

Is there a minimim read/write speed I should be looking for when it comes to memory cards? I'm buying the camera for photos, can't see myself taking many videos and I've got a Galaxy S6 if I do decide I want to.

Bit confused by all the speeds, classes and everything else :confused:
 
i usually buy sandisk cards.. never had any problems with them.
not sure about the classes but my cards are class ten and i usually aim for 80MB's or above.
 
Buy the fastest card(s) your budget will allow. Sandisk Samsung or Kingston are what I generally use. Don't be fooled by read speeds. Its the write speed that is key for burst shots. Cards quite often only list the read speeds so check what the write speed is.
 
Class speed is pretty much irrelevant for cameras as they are way too slow. Just a marketing gimmick basically. Either Sandisk extreme or Ultra depending on price. Make sure you get them from somewhere reputable as they have been known to be (regularly) faked.
 
First find out how fast your camera can write. No point buying an ultra fast 95mb/s card if your camera can only do 40mb/s.
 
Write speeds only become critical when you start videoing on DSLR. As the min value is 20mbs for 1080HD.
Most cards are fine with taking 'normal' every day photos like children, pets, street shoots etc. Sports photography again for fast action with high bursts of continuous shoots will require a faster card. This though depends on the buffer size in the DSLR as well.

Try checking out the members market for some second-hand cards as this is a good way to start off before you invest heavily into fast, larger more expense cards.
 
As others have said above, I'd recommend Sandisk cards.

Choose carefully where you get them from though, as it has been known for there to be fakes about.
 
I've used a variety of cards over the years. Never had a failure with Sandisk or Lexar cards, which are the only ones I use now. I have had failures with both Kingston (x2) and Transcend cards. I always go for the 2nd fastest cards available as they tend to be much better value than the very fastest cards and in real life there's only about 10-20% difference in speed, but often a 100% premium.

I can highly recommend the Lexar USB 3.0 card reader which I've used at home and on site for many years now, which is much better than connecting your camera to the USB port.

Avoid dodgy sellers on eBay as fakes are rife. Stick to trusted suppliers such as Amazon (not third party sellers), mymemory and 7dayshop and don't worry about spending a few pounds more than the absolute cheapest pice, as the photos you lose with a failed card will likely be worth more to you than the savings.
 
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.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Would you buy 2x 64gb over 1x 128gb?
Click to expand...

Much better to go for more smaller cards, if you're only going to be taking stills then 64 is probably overkill. I gives you more options if a card does fail, and you can also leave a card at home if you've not had time to download it.

As far makes of card go, I've never had any issues with either SanDisk or Lexar. I have had a Kingston SD card fall apart on me.
 
john_s said:
Unless I really needed a huge capacity card for something, then yes I would go for two cards.

If your only card fails, you're screwed. If one of two cards fails, it's not ideal but you can at least carry on shooting.
Click to expand...

Thats what I was thinking im just unsure the card will be easily accessible with a tripod plate fitted to the G7 but I guess battery would need to be changed anyway.

K.C. Leblanc said:
Much better to go for more smaller cards, if you're only going to be taking stills then 64 is probably overkill. I gives you more options if a card does fail, and you can also leave a card at home if you've not had time to download it.

As far makes of card go, I've never had any issues with either SanDisk or Lexar. I have had a Kingston SD card fall apart on me.
Click to expand...

The camera is just going to be used for 4k video 99% of the time.
 
.:SAmSuNG:. said:
Would you buy 2x 64gb over 1x 128gb?
Click to expand...

Neither. I'd buy 8 16GB cards.

I've had several cards give up the ghost (and lost about 50 photos when one did) and 16GB is about the max I'd use for most crop cameras. It'll give you about 400-500 photos per card (which is still a lot) but you won't be needing to change all the time.

If I was shooting something like a D810 then I may consider upping card size due to image size, but even then spreading out your photos on multiple cards is a much better bet IMO.
 
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