Sony A7R IV Best SD Memory Card Option

[Lake Travis Doug]

I'm awaiting delivery of my new Sony a7r IVa and want to use the fastest but most cost-effective memory cards. Anyone have advice? It appears there are cards that are 300Mbs, so that would seem to be the fastest.
Thanks

 

[Lake Travis Doug]

Since you guys and others will be looking for price drops in future (when supplies get back), I'm going to post this card for future reference, with date and price. I've already documented the CF Express above for future ref.

Sidebar: I still think that some day later you guys will wish you'd gotten the 256GB (I never buy any less for Sonys cams. I've switched to fat cards with big pipelines (bandwidth), since cams/processors get faster and files get bigger). Just one opinion.

View attachment 10904
It appears that Sony doesn't make the 256GB in the 300MB, at least not yet. This is from Sony's Web site.

 

[garuda]

Ohhh! .... .... in addition to the cheaper price, perhaps that's another reason I settled for the 277/150MB @ 256GB. They didn't make the 300 yet. It's been so long ago, memory brain fog.

Anyway, I'm keeping/using my four 277/150s til the a9iii launches. The price was great! I think?

 

[AlphaWorld]

I'm awaiting delivery of my new Sony a7r IVa and want to use the fastest but most cost-effective memory cards. Anyone have advice? It appears there are cards that are 300Mbs, so that would seem to be the fastest.
Thanks

I use the Sony Tough cards, but I use the G series (300MBps). No, I can’t tell you that they are significantly faster than the M series when shooting with the A7RIV (they probably make a difference in the A1), but when I have shot a lot of images and want to start working on them as quickly as possible when I am home, the G series download a lot faster to the SSD in my computer (if you are downloading to magnetic disk, don’t bother!).

Expect to be downloading more bytes than you used to, especially if you choose to shoot uncompressed RAW, because a single image is over 120MB…

I bought Sony Tough cards when they first came out, and the G series was all there was - bought 5 of them. The M series came out later.

One cute feature about the Tough cards - they make a different sound when you drop them, which meant I noticed doing so one time I dropped one at a shoot.

 

[Lake Travis Doug]

OK, I got the Sony SF-G Series TOUGH 300MB/s 128GB cards (2). They seem a little bit "tougher" to insert in the a7r IVa, and when I inserted the first one in the SD card slot on the back of my iMac, it didn't make a very good connection. I had to kind of wiggle it to get it to stay mounted. Anyone else have this issue with an iMac and these cards? I have an external USB/reader that I'll try next time.

 

[AlphaWorld]

OK, I got the Sony SF-G Series TOUGH 300MB/s 128GB cards (2). They seem a little bit "tougher" to insert in the a7r IVa, and when I inserted the first one in the SD card slot on the back of my iMac, it didn't make a very good connection. I had to kind of wiggle it to get it to stay mounted. Anyone else have this issue with an iMac and these cards? I have an external USB/reader that I'll try next time.

I don’t know the speed of the reader in the back of the iMac (does it support the extra contacts for higher speed, or does it read the cards in compatibility mode?), but I use a separate reader. Used to use an SD only one, but had to buy the Sony reader for CFexpress type A, and it reads the SD cards, too, at full speed (like the slots in the A1, you put SD cards in label down, and CFexpress label up). No trouble inserting the cards or getting contact.

BTW: the picture above of a CFexpress card is a type B, which does not fit in the dual slots that Sony is using - you need a CFexpress type A - easy to tell apart because the type A cards come in 80 and 160GB, not a power of 2.

 

[garuda]

BTW: the picture above of a CFexpress card is a type B, which does not fit in the dual slots that Sony is using - you need a CFexpress type A - easy to tell apart because the type A cards come in 80 and 160GB, not a power of 2.

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Tony, I'm assuming you mean the CF B-card I posted above. Pls notice that I wasn't referring to using the "B" card in the 7Riv, but rather wildly hoping that when (if) Sony releases an a9 iii they will incorporate a slightly larger card bay to accommodate the larger/faster "B" cards. Not an extraordinary guess (hope) since technology continues to speed-up processors, interfaces, and cards to meet the rising demands of 8K vids and higher fps stills. Plus, the other reason for posting "B" card, was to record the current price now to compare later prices when the a9iii is released. That's the reason I placed a date and price on the card image, to compare later.

Hopefully the future a9iii will have a super processor and bigger broadband cards. We don't yet know the size of the future a9 card bays, but B-cards seem likely.

 

[AlphaWorld]

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Tony, I'm assuming you mean the CF B-card I posted above. Pls notice that I wasn't referring to using the "B" card in the 7Riv, but rather wildly hoping that when (if) Sony releases an a9 iii they will incorporate a slightly larger card bay to accommodate the larger/faster "B" cards. Not an extraordinary guess (hope) since technology continues to speed-up processors, interfaces, and cards to meet the rising demands of 8K vids and higher fps stills. Plus, the other reason for posting "B" card, was to record the current price now to compare later prices when the a9iii is released. That's the reason I placed a date and price on the card image, to compare later.

Hopefully the future a9iii will have a super processor and bigger broadband cards. We don't yet know the size of the future a9 card bays, but B-cards seem likely.

Yes, that's the one I'm referring to.

I am not as convinced as you are that an A9 successor would use CFexpress B, because that would mean people having to use three different kinds of card. I would expect CFexpress support, but I'd expect CFexpress type A instead, probably using the same slots as the A1 and the A7S III.

It doesn't mean your dreams are necessarily shattered, though, because Sony do have a little bit of history backing media formats that have not survived (beta, minidisc, memory stick, for example), so maybe CFexpress type A will not survive.

I do think that the A9III might be a bit too soon for them to make such a radical shift, though. I think that the A9III is a lot more likely to support CFexpress type A.

 

[garuda]

.... I am not as convinced as you are that an A9 successor would use CFexpress B.....

You're probably correct, but since 9ii was released Nov 2019 and it's usually about every two years per iteration — I'm thinking it's not all that hard to change the body mods. ie. the battery went from FM-50 to larger FZ-100. The a1 30fps suggests they have frame-rate on their mind and since a9 was formerly their flagship, it will likely get some significant improvement attention also. Hopefully upgrades to the processor, sensor, and card bandwidth — which all fall under the speed umbrella (hoping to out-perform the competition).

Compatibility is a no-brainier, sensor size needs faster processor, which needs card width to keep up the chain for total output. I know... my wishful thinking... but that seems the direction w the a1 flagship. So why would they break their stride? Unless increased card size requires a larger exterior body size... that may be a deal breaker. But the CF-B card must be on the agenda eventually for Sony bodies or they wouldn't have made it so early.

My biggest fear is 9iii will cost $6,000 w all the improvements. A1 marketing mentality.

 

[AlphaWorld]

You're probably correct, but since 9ii was released Nov 2019 and it's usually about every two years per iteration — I'm thinking it's not all that hard to change the body mods. ie. the battery went from FM-50 to larger FZ-100. The a1 30fps suggests they have frame-rate on their mind and since a9 was formerly their flagship, it will likely get some significant improvement attention also. Hopefully upgrades to the processor, sensor, and card bandwidth — which all fall under the speed umbrella (hoping to out-perform the competition).

Compatibility is a no-brainier, sensor size needs faster processor, which needs card width to keep up the chain for total output. I know... my wishful thinking... but that seems the direction w the a1 flagship. So why would they break their stride? Unless increased card size requires a larger exterior body size... that may be a deal breaker. But the CF-B card must be on the agenda eventually for Sony bodies or they wouldn't have made it so early.

My biggest fear is 9iii will cost $6,000 w all the improvements. A1 marketing mentality.

How many models did they release with the FW50 battery before changing to the FZ100 battery? and how many since with the FZ100 battery? Yes, they changed, but only after careful consideration, and then they stuck to their change. What they didn't do was introduce an FX75 battery for two models, then switch to the FZ100. To use the language of software development, they introduced a "breaking change" after careful thought, then stuck to it.

That's my logic behind suggesting that any A9III is almost certain to offer the dual SD / CFexpressA slots. We may see models in the future offering just CFexpressA card slots (MemoryStick compatibility has vanished), but we'll see dual format slots for a while.

The CFexpressB slot is wider and thicker than SD, and is unlikely to be able to support SD as well (the dual format slot works because the CFexpressA card is thicker but narrower, so the SD card fits snugly into the wider part of the slot, and the CFexpressA card fits snugly into the narrower part. Offering two slots to SD card users at the moment is important to them, because their existing users are invested in SD cards.

That's probably also the reason why a lot of the cameras offering CFexpressB have one CFexpressB and one SD. But that forces their users to have cards of two different formats if they want to use two cards at once. Having used cameras like that before (Canon 1 series, Nikon D8xx series), I know that it's a pain, and I really appreciate Sony's approach in the A1 and A7S III. I have used a pair of CFexpressA cards in the A1. I have used a pair of SD cards, too, and a mixed combination. It's a lot more versatile. And it lets me keep shooting after I have filled my CFexpressA cards (which are quite pricy right now!). (I also appreciate that they made both slots in the A7RIV fast SD slots, after having one fast and one slow in the A7RIII)

The CFexpressA cards are not as fast as CFexpressB, but they are more than double the speed of the fastest SD cards (for people using 250GB cards, with read speeds like 277MB/s, but write speeds like 150MB/s, the CFexpressA cards offer over 4 times the write speed!). Yes, CFexpressB cards are faster still, but would we get much use from that speed? I'm unsure if the cameras sporting CFexpressB are capable of using all that speed. Heck, the video options available today can almost all be recorded to SD cards!

I am confident that an A9III will not be much, if any, more expensive than the launch price of the A9II. Sony has been working hard to establish their camera lines, and they have held the line on pricing well. It may be that you will get disappointed on features (I don't think you are going to get 100 frames/second on the A9III, nor do I expect 8k video), but I don't think you will be disappointed on price. I fully expect it to have the same processor as the A1, the improved menu system, and AF as good or better.

But you are stubborn, so I doubt very much that I have convinced you on the CFexpressA vs CFexpressB question.

 

[JJones]

The Lexar 2000x is rated extremely fast and recommended by all the major camera MFGs.

 

[Jeff A]

The Lexar 2000x is rated extremely fast and recommended by all the major camera MFGs.

Welcome to the Forum Mr. Jones. I'm sure the Forum Boss will be along to welcome you as well but since we have a couple of things in common I thought I would say Hi too. What part of the country are you In and what gear are you shooting with?

 

[AlphaWorld]

The Lexar 2000x is rated extremely fast and recommended by all the major camera MFGs.

I doubt that. Sony have an extensive range of their own cards - why would they recommend someone else's card?

Who told you they are "recommended by all major camera manufacturers"? Would that be Lexar, perhaps?

They claim the same read speed as Sony G cards (and a number of other brands), but Lexar write speed spec is 260 MBps. while Sony specs say their own write speed is 299 MBps.

Interestingly, while I was looking up these cards, I saw Prograde is now offering a 256GB card with 300 MBps read and 250MBps write - that's new to me. Used to be the 300MBps cards topped out at 128GB.