The Best SD cards for Professional Video (And how do you know?)

I've modified my Drive Tool utility to do SD card performance testing, so now I've got good data on which SD cards are up to the task of recording HD or 4K video in modern video cameras and recorders.

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[GreenvilleGuy]

Thanks for the great information here. I just ordered a camera with dual UHS-ii slots, and your database helped me find a cost effective option.

[markeastwood]

Hi Doug, appreciate the effort in developing the database, very useful - thanks!

[danlosd]

awesome, helped me decide between Sandisk Extreme Pro and the Lexar 667x, i was really confused but with those charts everything is much clear.

[RobertHamm]

Thanks for the database. I used your links. Cheers.

[jon_deluxe]

Exactly what I was looking for. Great video.

[chuckmccollim]

Thanks for your time and work, this was very helpful!

[mikesbestpictures]

Great information, it is useful thank you.

[lostproductionspdx]

PNY Elite Performance have been going strong for me for years of continuous work.

[ernestotapiav]

Great videos!!!! Woud be great to see something on lights!!!

[AndreNorbim]

Nice video! Can I know your video facilities? Can I work with you for a month to learn more about video production?

[MartinMulumba]

Can you share some info in how to run an intercom with the blackmagic 4k atem switcher? And how to send a multiview back to the camera operator via a blackmagic video hub.

[mohammedafsal]

Which card will you suggest for 10bit 4k 200mb/s video?

[KarrGalaxyStudios]

I have to comment on this video.. the Lexar Cards and their company is terrible. I have a complete Blog article regarding this and my battle with their support. They break down quickly and Lexar's support is abysmal in terms of getting new cards. Not only that most of those Lexar cards do not support Write speeds in UHS-II, only read. They are not straight forward about this.. If you are using a GH5 or some other camera that requires a high data rate, do not buy anything but PRO cards to use. Some of the older cards they have are okay but since the company was bought out recently, things have gone down hill as of late in terms of reliability on these cards and they were not labeled properly in my opinion. I bought the 2000x Lexar 128gb cards awhile back claimed UHS-II and they both failed me and were not able to WRITE at anything close to what they claimed to... Most of their cards use older SDCard standard version 3.0 and not 4.0 or 5.0 which allow better handling of data speeds. I have since switched to Angelbird AV cards (which are SD card standard 5.0) and had a lot better success rate and less failures (but they are expensive and from Germany). Just thought i'd share.

[jupitermurphy]

I purchased sd card but nothing is reading it should I send it back to the company or is there a trick or a way to get it goin?

[wasbeen]

No complaint, but I have noticed background noise (hiss) in the last couple of videos. Thought you might want to know.

[Preslycode]

Hey,
would Lexar Professional 1667x 128GB SDXC UHS-II Card work with black magic pocket cinema camera 4k?

[inmensaprensa]

I have the Lexar 1000x SD card and it's too slow to handle 4K video in my Canon 5D mkIV.

[AlexMkd]

lexar 633x nikon d5300? hapuld get or get sandiks ultra 80mb ?

[Robski]

Hi Doug,


Wanted to purchased the Lexar SD cards for the video assist, have gone through the affiliated link but wanted to see if you think these will be compatible with the video assist 4k? Been having trouble with plenty of cards not formatting correctly, especially the Sandisks. Didn't realise the price difference between UK and US was so astronomical.


Cheers!

[dongerramarco]

i have a fuji xt3 and on the website it clearly states to get the highest bitrate quality out of the camera use uhs II v60 or higher cards
i use cheap pny uhs I U3 cards i bought from amazon format to exfat with 8192kb allocation size and i get the max 400Mbps recording bitrate speeds for cheap though i bought my PNY for $ 14 a piece 128 gb
Try this hack and see if it works for you with cheap U3 or V30 cards