A speed test between all the most popular memory cards tested in the Nikon D7500. We tested both UHS-II and UHS-I cards to find real world camera performance.
Use this guide to find the fastest memory cards for you needs in the Nikon D7500.
Camera Specs
Sensor: 20.9MP DX-Format / Processor: EXPEED 5 Image Processor
SD Memory Card Type: UHS-I
Video: 4k – 30 fps
Continuous Burst: 8fps
Est. Size of Buffer: 800MB
Time Taken To Fill Buffer: 7 sec Shooting RAW (Sandisk Extreme Pro)
Uncompressed RAW Shots Till Buffer Fills: 53 (Sandisk Extreme Pro)
Est. Time Taken To Clear Buffer: 9.80 seconds (Sandisk Extreme Pro)
Nikon D7500 – Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto
Best Memory Card For The Nikon D7500
General Performance And The Speed Chart
The Nikon D7500 has some pretty nice specs. A relatively large buffer and fast frame rate to go with it as well as 4k video capabilities. It takes about 7 seconds to fill that buffer shooting raw, giving you about 53 shots, then it only takes about 10 seconds to clear. All around great performance.
It would have been nice to see UHS-II capabilities in this camera.
Nikon D7500 Memory Card Speed Chart
I’ve tested all the cards inside the camera and calculated the speeds in the chart below. You’ll see a column indicating the camera write speeds.
Since the Nikon D7500 does not take advantage of UHS-II memory cards, you’ll gain no speed benefit from using UHS-II cards, except when it comes to transferring the data from your card to your computer, which if you’re putting 53 RAW shots on your card in just 7 second bursting, that might not be a bad idea.
All USB 3.0 tests done using CrystalDisk – Windows 10, with the Lexar SR2.
| SD Memory Cards | USB 3.0 Read | USB 3.0 Write | Nikon D7500 Write | See Price |
| UHS-II | ||||
| Sony G 64GB | 259.2 MB/s | 234.5 MB/s | 78.06 MB/s | Amazon |
| Lexar 2000x 64GB | 272.7 MB/s | 244.5 MB/s | 77.50 MB/s | Amazon |
| Delkin 250 64GB | 245.1 MB/s | 164.6 MB/s | 77.41 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Pro 300 64GB | 263.2 MB/s | 233.4 MB/s | 76.62 MB/s | Amazon |
| Toshiba 64GB | 258.8 MB/s | 226.5 MB/s | 76.03 MB/s | Amazon |
| Transcend 64GB | 290.2 MB/s | 182.1 MB/s | 75.59 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sony M 64GB | 253.2 MB/s | 91.62 MB/s | 72.10 MB/s | Amazon |
| Lexar 1000x 64GB | 147.4 MB/s | 78.4 MB/s | 62.79 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Pro 280 64GB | 260.5 MB/s | 214.8 MB/s | 40.34 MB/s | Amazon |
| Delkin 1900X 64GB | 273.3 MB/s | 97.3 MB/s | 40.09 MB/s | Amazon |
| UHS-I | ||||
| Kingston 64GB U3 | 98.1 MB/s | 90.4 MB/s | 76.48 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB U3 | 98.6 MB/s | 90.8 MB/s | 75.63 MB/s | Amazon |
| Delkin 633x 64GB U3 | 98.3 MB/s | 88.7 MB/s | 73.90 MB/s | Amazon |
| Samsung Pro+ 64GB U3 | 97.5 MB/s | 87.3 MB/s | 73.53 MB/s | Amazon |
| Samsung Pro 64GB U3 | 97.7 MB/s | 78.6 MB/s | 68.38 MB/s | Amazon |
| Samsung Pro 64GB U1 | 96.3 MB/s | 82.2 MB/s | 67.35 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sony 64GB U3 – Old Model | 96.5 MB/s | 84.5 MB/s | 65.53 MB/s | Amazon |
| Transcend 64GB U3 | 96.7 MB/s | 84.9 MB/s | 64.41 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Plus 64GB U3 | 99.0 MB/s | 64.4 MB/s | 57.19 MB/s | Amazon |
| PNY 64GB U1 | 96.5 MB/s | 66.5 MB/s | 56.57 MB/s | Amazon |
| Lexar 633x 64GB U3 | 93.3 MB/s | 67.3 MB/s | 55.05 MB/s | Amazon |
| PNY 64GB U3 | 96.5 MB/s | 66.1 MB/s | 53.71 MB/s | Amazon |
| Lexar 600x 64GB U1 | 95.4 MB/s | 64.8 MB/s | 52.40 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sony 64GB U3 – New Model | 96.7 MB/s | 56.2 MB/s | 52.20 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme 64GB U3 | 72.43 MB/s | 54.1 MB/s | 47.24 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Ultra 64GB U1 | 99.3 MB/s | 36.1 MB/s | 25.37 MB/s | Amazon |
| Samsung 64GB U1 EVO | 47.7 MB/s | 27.3 MB/s | 21.51 MB/s | Amazon |
I tested only 64GB cards, but the 128 and 256 variants should see very similar performance.
Recommended Memory Cards For The Nikon D7500
The list above shows the speed of how each card runs in the camera and is pretty self explanatory. Most of the cards I test here are pretty reliable with the exception of PNY which is usually significantly cheaper than the competition, but I personally have never had any problems with PNY.
Fastest UHS-II Memory Cards
UHS-II cards are significantly more expensive than UHS-I but they also don’t perform any better in-camera. For that reason I recommend UHS-I cards unless you’re in a situation where you need to be able to offload your cards to your computer quickly. Then with a fast UHS-II memory card reader you won’t be able to beat the speeds of UHS-II cards.
Fastest UHS-I Memory Cards
Kingston Sandisk and Samsung are usually the top performers for UHS-I memory cards. Sandisk is usually the best all around card but in the D7500 the Kingston performed slightly faster, which won’t be noticeable in real world shooting.
I personally would just go with Sandisk considering the great performance of their Extreme Pro card.
Nikon D7500 Frequently Asked Questions
Can I use Micro SD cards in my Nikon D7500?
Yes, you can use Micro SD memory cards, but you’ll need to use an SD adapter that can add one more layer of things to go wrong. I frequently use microSD memory cards in my cameras and I do get problems with the adapter sometimes, but they do work fine when they work. I just wouldn’t use them if you’re shooting anything important.
As far as speeds, micro SD cards perform the same as regular SD cards as long as you match specs and brands.
Do I need any special type of card for video?
If you’re looking for the best card for shooting video with the Nikon D7500, then you can be assured knowing that all the cards here work great.
I didn’t have any problems with any of these cards while shooting 4k video. Sometimes with high bitrate video, you’ll see some buffer issues but I didn’t see any buffer issues even in the slow cards I tested here.
What size memory card is the best, 32GB or 64GB or 128GB?
A 64GB card will give you everything you need for a day of shooting. If you want to shoot several days without dumping your card or shoot with mixed video, then you might want to try something bigger.
U3 vs U1 Memory Cards | USH-II vs UHS-I
With all the little numbers written memory cards today buying cards can be a little bit confusion. The main thing you need to look for today is UHS-I, UHS-II, U3 and U1.
UHS-II cards have a second set of pins that can allow the card to run much quicker in UHS-II compatible cameras. However, the Nikon D7500 is not compatible with UHS-II cards so the they will run at UHS-I speeds.
U3 and U1 have to do with guaranteed minimum performance. U3 will run at a minimum speed of 30MB/s where as U1 will run at a minimum speed of 10MB/s. This is important when shooting video where you’re required a steady uninterrupted flow of data.
Best SD Memory Card Nikon D7500 | Bottom Line
The Nikon D7500 has some great performance with memory card write speeds, buffer and continuous shoot speeds. The camera also shoots 4k video at 30 frames per second without any observed issues. All around the performance of this camera was rock solid.
When it comes to finding the right memory card for your shooting style, there is a lot to take in. You don’t really need the best memory card if you’re just shooting casually, but if you’re shooting a lot with continuous burst, then getting a faster card will make a noticeable difference.
