We tested the most popular UHS-I and UHS-II memory cards in the Canon 90D to determine which cards delivered the best performance and speed.
The Canon 90D can use UHS-II and UHS-I memory cards. Although UHS-II cards greatly improve performance, they aren’t necessary for general use.
Recommendation List
Here are the top 5 SD memory cards for the Canon 90D, ranked by value and performance.
The speeds listed next to the cards in this chart are how quickly they performed on the actual camera, based on the benchmarks further below.
Top Performers
Although the Canon 90D doesn’t have a very high video bitrate compared to the higher-end cameras, I still recommend fast enough cards to support those high video bitrates, so the cards are a little future-proof. These cards will all perform well with other Canon cameras that support UHS-II cards at high bitrates, such as the Canon EOS R.
Sony G Tough 64GB UHS-II 102.61MB/s
 Available At: Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto The Sony Tough G cards are among the best and most reliable memory cards you can buy. They are built from a single piece rather than two plastic pieces with a seam, which dramatically improves build quality. They are a little more expensive than most other memory cards, but for a single UHS-II SD card slot camera, it’s not always a bad idea to go with the best build quality you can buy, and the Sony Tough cards are top performers. |
Prograde v90 – 103.34MB/s
 Available At: Amazon / BHphoto ProGrade is a fairly new brand founded by former Lexar employees. Micron sold off its brand Lexar to a Chinese company, and some of the guys started a new brand, ProGrade. The cards perform very similarly to the older Lexar cards, which makes me think they’re still using Micron Flash. These are great cards, and I highly recommend them. |
Delkin Power v90 – 104.21MB/s
 Available At: Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto Delkin is a brand I often use for my personal cameras. The Delkin Prime was the second-fastest SD memory card I tested in the Canon 90D. They make great cards and flash memory. |
SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II – 99.26MB/s
 Available At: Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto The SanDisk Extreme Pro UHS-II memory cards have a lifetime warranty, and they are often the most reliable. These are usually the cards I recommend the most, and they usually run the fastest. While a few other cards run slightly faster than this one in the 90D, you likely won’t notice that difference in real-world performance. |
Adata v90 – 104.92MB/s
 Available At: Amazon You don’t hear about the Adata UHS-II cards very often, but they are a solid contender and always perform very well in my memory card speed tests. I don’t often recommend them since they are not that popular, but with the Canon 90D, this was the fastest memory card. You’ll notice bad ratings on Amazon, but like with the Lexar cards, this is mostly due to Panasonic cameras’ terrible memory card compatibility issues. In all other cameras, the Adata cards work great. |
Good Value
Lexar 1000x UHS-II – 87.23MB/s
 Available At: Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto The Lexar 1000x is a card that is hard not to recommend. It gets bad reviews on many sites because it has compatibility issues with certain other camera brands (mainly Panasonic). Still, the Canon 90D is the best-value card, especially if you are shooting video. but at a UHS-I price. When using a UHS-II memory card reader, you also get full UHS-II read speeds for quick data transfers from your card to your computer. |
Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-I – 66.91MB/s
 Available At: Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto If you’re just shooting casually with some video or need a few backup cards, UHS-I cards are totally fine for the Canon 90D. The Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-I memory card is a fantastic card, very quick for UHS-I, and very reliable. It’s also more than fast enough for 4 K video on the Canon 90D. |
Video Shooters
If you mostly shoot video and want to save some cash, stick with the V60 UHS-II cards. UHS-I cards work fine for video as well; I just like the cheaper UHS-II cards because they are still much faster for transferring data from your card to your computer if you buy a UHS-II card reader and use fast drives.
Use the chart below to see the best-performing v60 memory cards or lower-tier UHS-II cards. Start by looking at the Lexar 1000x. It has bad reviews on Amazon, but that’s mostly because it doesn’t play nice with Panasonic cameras.
In-Camera Memory Card Benchmarks
I test these cards by running them through a few continuous-burst sequences until the buffer fills, and then I calculate the time it takes for the buffer to clear relative to the amount of data written.
This accounts for the camera’s processing time for writing each file and yields more accurate real-world results.
For USB speeds, I used Windows 10 with CrystalDiskMark and the Lexar UHS-II memory card reader that comes with Lexar 2000x cards.
Speed Chart – Cards Tested In The Canon 90D
Camera Specs
| Sensor: 32.5MP APS-C CMOS Sensor Processor: DIGIC 8 Image Processor Memory Cards: Single Slot UHS-II Continuous Burst: 10fps – up to 11fps Video: 4k24p / 4k25p / 4k30p – 120Mbps Buffer Size Est: 900MB Shots To Fill Buffer: 29 RAW (Adata UHS-II) Time To Clear Buffer: 5:54 (Adata UHS-II) |
Many different cards have been tested with various speed classes and specs. To learn more about what all these numbers mean, check out the ultimate guide to memory cards.
Canon 90D Memory Card For 4k Video
The Canon 90D has a modest bitrate and doesn’t require extremely fast memory cards for 4 K video. Even many UHS-I cards can handle 4 K video with this camera. However, you should stick with U3- or V30-speed-class cards.
It is possible that Canon could open up the firmware even more and add more video features down the road, as they did with 24p, which would require faster SD memory cards, but this would be highly unusual for Canon.
When choosing the correct size, stick with SDXC memory cards with a minimum capacity of 64GB. This provides a 64-bit file system for recording clips longer than 4GB.
Minimum Recommended Specs
Size – 64GB SDXC
Speed Class – U3
Speed Class – UHS-I
Canon 90D File Size Record Times | Chart
The Canon 90D has a 4 K video bitrate of about 120 Mbps, which translates to about 15 MB/s.
This means you’ll be shooting 15 MB per second while shooting video.
Canon 90D video bitrate performance.
4k 24p / 30p – 120Mbps
1080p60 – 60Mbps
1080p30 – 30Mbps
Here is a chart showing how much 4k Canon 90D footage each card can hold.
| Canon 90D | 64GB | 128GB | 256GB | 512GB |
| 4k 120Mbps | 71min | 142min | 284min | 569min |
| 1080p60 | 142min | 284min | 569min | 1138min |
| 1080p30 | 284min | 569min | 1138min | 2276min |
Note that 1080p30 on the Canon 90D has a very low bitrate. If you’re interested in shooting 1080p footage, consider the Canon EOS R, which outputs 120 Mbps 1080p footage and is one of the best on the market.
The best thing to do is always to record 4 K footage and downscale to 1080p. Doing this in a 16-bit sequence will dramatically improve the results, theoretically producing 4:4:4 1080p footage. DaVinci Resolve should be able to handle this.
How To Avoid Counterfeit Cards
Unfortunately, I’ve had to include this section in my memory card articles because it seems a big problem.
Counterfeit cards are everywhere, and you need to be careful.
The best thing you can do is test each card you buy as soon as you get it. To do this, max out the card’s memory. You should be able to get within a few gigabytes of the card’s claimed capacity.
Because of the nature of the exFAT file system, you won’t get exactly the same rating, so don’t worry about it.
How Counterfeit Memory Cards Work
Usually, counterfeit cards claim to be 128GB or 64GB but have only 32GB or less of flash memory. This is achieved by reprogramming the memory controllers on the cards to tell the camera or computer that the card is larger than it actually is. Once you fill the card past its actual memory capacity, the whole card goes bad.
You may go days or weeks before breaking this number, so checking your cards is important.
You can copy files from your computer onto your card or record video.
Where To Buy Memory Cards
If possible, always try to buy your memory cards from a trusted source. Popular storefronts and certified supplies are the way to go. Avoid auction sites.
Memory Cards Canon EOS 90D | Conclusions
The Canon 90D has some nice specs and great overall performance. Having a UHS-II memory card may offer some performance improvements over UHS-I memory cards; however, not all UHS-II memory cards are the same or deliver quick results. Some cards with the v90 speed class showed significantly different performance from others.
Prices vary dramatically across speed classes and brands, so if you’re just using the camera for video, you don’t need top-of-the-line memory cards. UHS-I or v60 UHS-II memory cards will be more than enough.
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