An in-camera memory card speed test comparing all the most popular UHS-II and UHS-I memory cards in the Canon EOS RP. Use this guide to find the fastest memory cards for your camera.
Camera Specs
Sensor: 26.2MP Full-Frame CMOS
Processor: DIGIC 8 Image Processor
Video: UHD 4K and Full HD 1080 Video
Bitrate: 4k IPB 120mbps / 1080p IPB 60mbps
Continuous Shoot: 5 fps Shooting
Memory Card Type: Single Slot UHS-II
Buffer Size: 1GB
Shots To Fill Buffer: Unlimited RAW (UHS-II cards)
Time To Clear Buffer: 0
Canon EOS RP – Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto
Best Memory Cards Canon EOS RP
In Canon’s attempt to strip out a lot of features and capabilities in the Canon EOS RP, they’ve accidentally done something that no camera has done before (at least that I’ve tested). They’ve created a camera with a bottomless buffer.
What does it mean to have a bottomless buffer?
It means you can shoot a continuous burst without it ever slowing down.
By incorporating all the same tech in the Canon EOS R, including UHS-II memory card capabilities and a fast processor, but reducing the frame rate to 5 fps and throwing in a smaller sensor, the camera is able to write to memory cards from the buffer faster than it can take new photos.
This doesn’t happen with every card, only the high-end UHS-II cards.
See the chart to find the fastest memory cards for the Canon RP.
Canon RP Memory Card Speed Chart
As a side note, I did have the LCD frame rate set to eco mode which does improve performance. You’ll also notice this with Canon EOS R memory card performance. I did not test with those in normal frame rate of the LCD.
| Memory Card | Speed Class | USB Read | USB Write | Canon RP | Order |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Sandisk Extreme Pro 170MB/s U3 | UHS-I | 99.2 | 88.3 | 64.10 | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Plus U3 | UHS-I | 99.3 | 88.2 | 63.59 | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme U3 | UHS-I | 99.3 | 56.8 | 44.41 | Amazon |
| Sandisk Ultra U1 | UHS-I | 99.5 | 34.3 | 24.95 | -- |
| Kingston CanvasReact A1 U3 | UHS-I | 99.6 | 82.5 | 59.62 | Amazon |
| Kingston CanvasGo! U3 | UHS-I | 99.6 | 74.0 | 56.14 | Amazon |
| Lexar 633x U1 | UHS-I | 95.0 | 54.6 | 44.65 | -- |
| Sony Professional U3 | UHS-I | 98.5 | 60.2 | 67.25 | Amazon |
| Sony U3 94MB/s | UHS-I | 96.7 | 57.5 | 50.88 | Amazon |
| Sony U3 95MB/s | UHS-I | 96.6 | 85.4 | 63.40 | Amazon |
| Transcend U3 U3 | UHS-I | 96.7 | 87.8 | 65.84 | Amazon |
| PNY Elite Performance U3 | UHS-I | 96.7 | 66.9 | 52.89 | Amazon |
| Delkin Advantage U3 | UHS-I | 99.6 | 78.8 | 60.53 | Amazon |
| Toshiba Exceria Pro U3 | UHS-I | 97.8 | 74.7 | 59.69 | Amazon |
| Toshiba Exceria U3 | UHS-I | 97.2 | 29.9 | 28.46 | Amazon |
| Verbatim Pro+ U3 | UHS-I | 98.5 | 83.7 | 64.05 | Amazon |
| Verbatim Pro U3 | UHS-I | 96.6 | 68.0 | 48.99 | Amazon |
| Amplim 667x A1 V30 | UHS-I | 99.6 | 52.2 | 43.35 | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Pro 300MB/s | UHS-II | 258.5 | 190.5 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Lexar 2000x | UHS-II | 258.9 | 201.5 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Lexar 1000x | UHS-II | 153.4 | 83.09 | 83.96 | Amazon |
| Toshiba Exceria Pro | UHS-II | 263.6 | 223.8 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Transcend v90 | UHS-II | 258.2 | 164.9 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Sony G Tough | UHS-II | 256.8 | 201.0 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Sony G | UHS-II | 258.0 | 206.7 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Sony M | UHS-II | 253.6 | 91.60 | 81.97 | Amazon |
| Delkin Power | UHS-II | 257.6 | 191.0 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Delkin Prime | UHS-II | 252.8 | 89.1 | 83.38 | Amazon |
| Fujifilm Elite II | UHS-II | 259.3 | 168.4 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Adata V90 | UHS-II | 259.4 | 187.4 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Hoodman Steel 2000x | UHS-II | 268.7 | 183.9 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Hoodman Steel 1500x | UHS-II | 258.1 | 169.2 | 83.12 | BHphoto |
| ProGrade V90 | UHS-II | 258.2 | 212.8 | ∞ | Amazon |
| ProGrade V60 | UHS-II | 166.9 | 105.9 | 83.61 | Amazon |
| Amplim 1900x V60 | UHS-II | 249.8 | 104.5 | 78.06 | Amazon |
| Angel Bird V90 | UHS-II | 256.6 | 211.1 | ∞ | Amazon |
| Angel Bird V60 | UHS-II | 166.9 | 80.24 | 73.02 | Amazon |
| FreeTail Evoke Pro V60 | UHS-II | 238.5 | 102.8 | 79.29 | Amazon |
Top 5 Recommended Memory Cards Canon EOS RP
While UHS-II memory cards are expensive, if you’re not constantly bursting, there really is no reason to spend the extra cash on them. At 5 frames per second even the slower V60 cards or even UHS-I cards are absolutely fine for most people. I would only buy these V90 UHS-II cards if you love having everything running at peak performance.
I’ll recommend two of my favorite UHS-II V90 cards and then I’ll recommend some nice V60 cards as well as some UHS-I cards.
Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-II
Available at: Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto
The Sandisk Extreme Pro is one of the best most reliable cards out there and it’s usually one of the top performers. This is the best, more premium memory card you can buy for the Canon RP.
ProGrade V90 UHS-II
Available at: Amazon / BHphoto
ProGrade is a new brand that rose from the ashes of Lexar. Lexar is still around and still a good option but they have new owners. I’m not sure if they still get their flash from Micron or not. ProGrade so far has been great and their v90 cards are top performers.
ProGrade V60 UHS-II
Available At: Amazon / BHphoto
A cheaper alternative to the ProGrade V90 is their V60 card. It still has incredible read speeds with slightly slower write speeds. You won’t get an unlimited buffer with this card, but for the casual photographer that wants a fast card at a reasonable price, the v60 cards are the way to go.
You could also go with an Angel Bird V60, Lexar 1000x or a Delkin Prime, as good alternatives.
Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-I
Available At: Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto
Sandisk just released a new Extreme Pro UHS-I card that they claim can produce speeds up to 170MB/s. While I’ve never seen those speeds in any tests I’ve run, they are still really good cards and top of their class. If you’re just shooting casually and you don’t need or care for long continuous burst photography, this is the most practical option.
Sandisk Extreme Plus UHS-I
Available at:Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto
Second tier to the Sandisk Extreme Pro is their plus cards. Usually these cards perform very similar to the Extreme Pro cards. I often list these cards are a great option because many brick and mortar stores don’t carry the Pro cards, only the Plus cards. And if you’re standing in a Best Buy reading this and wondering if you should buy a Sandisk Extreme Plus card or not, rest assured, they are great cards for the Canon RP.
What Size Memory Card To Buy
The size of the memory card you buy depends really on how you plan on using the camera. If I’m using a camera like this for a lot of video I tend to find 128GB cards to be the sweet spot. If I’m just shooting photos with a bit of video mixed in, then 64GB is fine.
I almost never need more than a 64GB card in one day even when I’m shooting photos all day. However, if you’re on a trip where you may not be able to clear off your card every night, it might be a good idea to go with a 128GB card.
If 128GB cards are too expensive, consider getting a slower UHS-I in a larger size.
In practice it’s better to go with multiple smaller cards and clear them off regularly, because if you don’t clear off your cards and something happens to one of them and it had your entire trip on it, then you lose everything.
Best Memory Cards For 4k Video
If you want to shoot some 4k video with the EOS RP, you still won’t need a very high-end card since the camera has a maximum bitrate of 120mbps which translates to about 15MB/s. That means any card that can stream 15MB/s will work for video in the RP. This pretty much means any modern card is fine for video.
Where To Buy Memory Cards
I still get some emails from time to time from people with strange memory card issues. Often it turns out they have a counterfeit card. The easiest way to get a counterfeit is to buy a card from Ebay. Don’t do that.
Buy your memory cards from a trusted source that deals directly with the memory card brands. Companies like BHphoto, Adorama, Best Buy, Target, Walmart or Jet, are all good companies. I’ve heard rumors of some people getting counterfeit Sandisk cards on Amazon, so if you want Sandisk maybe avoid Amazon. However, I have seen them doing some relisting of a lot of their Sandisk cards lately, so it’s possible they cleaned this up. There was rumors they would mix inventory between all the dealers. So cards from Joe Shmoe’s hardware would get thrown into the same bucket as cards from Adorama.
I haven’t seen anyone confirm this, and I have never personally know anyone that has had issues with Sandisk Cards from Amazon.
Best Memory Card EOS RP Conclusions
While the Canon EOS RP can shoot endless RAW files with some of the high-end UHS-II cards, it’s not really necessary to get one of the expensive V90 cards for this camera. Going with a slower UHS-II card like a V60 or even a higher end UHS-I card will be more than fine for casual photography, or even more serious photography.
The Canon RP has a 1GB buffer so it will still keep up even if you plan on continuous shooting a lot with a slower v60 card.
If you’re the type of person that likes to max out the capabilities your cameras, then V90 UHS-II cards are the way to go.
