How to Choose an SD Card

How to Choose an SD Card: Digital cameras, music players, smartphones, tablets, and even laptops use Secure Digital (SD) cards. But not all SD cards are the same. There are different speed classes, sizes, and storage capacities to think about.

Some devices, like cameras, may need an SD card as their main place to store data. Other devices, like smartphones, tablets, and even computers, may let you use an SD card to add storage or make it portable. But different types of SD cards are needed for different devices. Here are the differences you should think about when choosing an SD card for your device.

How to Choose an SD Card

The Capacity of SD Card

There are three types of SD memory cards based on how much space they hold: SD Standard, SD High Capacity, and SD extended Capacity. SD’s storage space is too small to meet the needs of digital images these days. On the other hand, SDHC and SDXC are the most common and useful specifications for capacity.

What is the biggest difference between SDHC and SDXC memory cards that have the same amount of space? They use different file systems, which is the answer. The FAT32 file system works with the SDHC card. Only if you shoot a video with an SDHC card is the maximum size of a single file limited to 4GB.

The Write Speed of SD Card

How to Choose an SD Card, Writing speed and reading speed are both part of the SD card’s operating speed. SD cards keep getting faster at both reading and writing. The speed at which an SD card can be read has more to do with “Photography.” The less time you have to wait for playback, the faster you read.

A SD card with a fast writing speed not only lets photographers fill the buffers quickly when taking a lot of pictures. High-speed sports and wildlife photographers can use the high writing speed SD card to their advantage. A high-writing-speed SD card also lets you shoot 4K or even 8K videos with a high frame rate. If the SD card’s writing speed is too slow, it could lose some of the video frames, which would make the video play out of sync.

What is a Recording Length Per SD Card Capacity?

The two most important things that affect file size are “Image Resolution” and “Frame Rate.” The frame rate is higher the higher the resolution is. Because the high-resolution video has more data information, the video file is more important. Take a video with 30 fps as an example. If the resolution is Full HD (1920×1080), a 32GB SD card can record for about 4 hours. If the resolution is up to 4K, the 32GB SD card can only record for 1 hour.

How Many Photos Can Be Stored on an SD Card?

Based on the exposure, color, and ISO information, each photo has a different file size. The number of pictures that can fit on an SD card is shown in the table below. The real numbers stored could be different depending on what was going on.

How do I know if my SD card is compatible?

To ensure compatibility, look for the SDXC logo on cards and host devices (cameras, camcorders, etc.). NOTE: Internal card readers on laptops up to year 2008 may NOT support SDXC cards. SDXC cards will work in SDHC compatible readers (not SD readers) if the computer OS supports exFAT.

How do I know which SD card is faster?

Numbers with a circular “C” symbol, “U” symbol or a “V” symbol next to or around it indicates the speed classes of the memory card. Manufacturers use these speed class symbols to indicate the type of speed class and rating on the memory card.

Does it matter what brand of SD card you get?

Most genuine, brand-name microSD cards are fine most of the time, and there won’t be a problem if you don’t want to overthink making your choice. But for about the same price, some cards are a bit faster or offer a tad more reliability, which can make them more versatile and a better long-term value.