A speed comparison between the most popular UHS-II and UHS-I SD memory cards for the Sony RX100 V.
Use this guide to find the best memory cards for 4k video and for your style of shooting.
Camera Specs
Sensor: 1″ 20.1MP / Processor: BIONZ X Image Processor
Memory Card Type: SD UHS-I
Video Max Resolution: 3840 x 2160p: 30 fps, 25 fps, 24 fps
Video Max Frame Rate: 1920 x 1080p: 250 fps, 500 fps, 1000 fps
Continuous Shooting: 71 Raw @ 41fps | 148 Jpeg @ 41fps
Est. Size Of Buffer: 1.5GB
Sony RX100 V – Amazon / Adorama / BHphoto
Need accessories? See the Sony RX100 IV & V Accessories Page.
Best SD Memory Cards For The Sony RX100 V
Sony over the last few years Sony has done a great job with enhancing their firmware to allow more memory card compatibility. It use to be that you could only use SDXC memory cards when recording 4k footage. Now SDHC and SDXC memory cards are both compatible. Now to shoot 4k you’ll only need to make sure you’re using U3 memory cards.
While the camera has a massive buffer, allowing you to shoot 71 frames, you’ll have to wait close to a minute for it to clear since the camera is fairly slow at writing to memory cards.
Sony RX100 V Memory Card Speed Chart
A lot has changed in how I tested the Sony RX100 V. This time around I found the ready light hidden in the battery compartment, so my test is way more accurate.
Like the previous cameras and all of Sony’s other cameras, it seems to have a pretty nasty bottle neck. It takes almost a minute to clear the buffer on most cards.
Also, if you’re wanting to shoot 4k video, a lot of cards are still hit and miss. Stick with U3 cards and you have a better chance, but no guarantee. I recommend you buy Sony memory cards, they seem to work the best.
Another thing to point out compared to the Sony RX100 IV test is, I retested all the USB 3.0 read and write speeds with Windows 10, which seems to improve speeds some.
| SD Memory Cards | USB 3.0 Read | USB 3.0 Write | Sony RX100 V | See Price |
| UHS-II | ||||
| Lexar 2000x U3 64GB | 280.9 MB/s | 181.4 MB/s | 29.57 MB/s | Amazon |
| Delkin UHS-II U3 32GB | 245.1 MB/s | 164.6 MB/s | 29.34 MB/s | Amazon |
| Toshiba U3 64GB | 238.5 MB/s | 199.7 MB/s | 28.88 MB/s | Amazon |
| Transcend U3 64GB | 268.9 MB/s | 174.3 MB/s | 28.73 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sony UHS-II U3 64GB | 253.2 MB/s | 91.62 MB/s | 28.59 MB/s | Amazon |
| Lexar 1000x U3 64GB | 145.0 MB/s | 60.7 MB/s | 28.30 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Pro U3 64GB | 257.3 MB/s | 109.9 MB/s | 28.20 MB/s | Amazon |
| UHS-I | ||||
| Samsung Pro 64GB U3 | 97.7 MB/s | 78.6 MB/s | 29.03 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB U3 | 98.6 MB/s | 90.8 MB/s | 28.93 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme Plus 64GB U3 | 99.0 MB/s | 64.4 MB/s | 28.92 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sandisk Extreme 64GB U3 | 72.43 MB/s | 54.1 MB/s | 28.83 MB/s | Amazon |
| Kingston 64GB U3 | 98.1 MB/s | 90.4 MB/s | 28.79 MB/s | Amazon |
| Samsung Pro+ 64GB U3 | 97.5 MB/s | 87.3 MB/s | 28.72 MB/s | Amazon |
| Samsung Pro 64GB U1 | 96.3 MB/s | 82.2 MB/s | 28.34 MB/s | Amazon |
| PNY 64GB U1 | 96.5 MB/s | 66.5 MB/s | 28.29 MB/s | Amazon |
| Transcend 64GB U3 | 96.7 MB/s | 68.4 MB/s | 28.14 MB/s | Amazon |
| PNY 64GB U3 | 96.5 MB/s | 66.1 MB/s | 28.11 MB/s | Amazon |
| Lexar 633x 64GB U3 | 93.3 MB/s | 67.3 MB/s | 27.92 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sony 64GB U3 (Old Model) | 96.5 MB/s | 84.5 MB/s | 27.85 MB/s | Amazon |
| Lexar 600x 64GB U1 | 95.4 MB/s | 64.8 MB/s | 27.71 MB/s | Amazon |
| Sony 64GB U3 (New Model) | 96.7 MB/s | 56.2 MB/s | 27.31 MB/s | Amazon |
Camera Write Speed Stats
(With the Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB UHS-I SDXC U3)
Shots Taken To Fill Buffer: 71 RAW
Time Taken To Fill Buffer: 3.5secs approx.
Frames Per Second To Fill Buffer: 24fps
Frames Per Second After Buffer: 2.5 approx.
Time Taken To Clear Buffer: 47.5 seconds
Best Performing Cards
Taking Into Consideration USB 3.0 write speeds this are the best performing UHS-I cards.
Lexar 2000x UHS-II 64GB – Amazon / Adorama
Kingston SDXC U3 64GB – Amazon
Recommended Cards
I’ll list the Sony again here since it is a great performing card with this camera. And I also like the PNY cards for performance, price and cost.
Sony 64GB U3 (New Model) – Amazon
Sony 64GB U3 (Old Model) – Amazon
Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB U3 – Amazon / Adorama
Sony RX100 V Speed Tests Summary
Speed tests seem almost identical across all cards. However USB 3.0 speeds can vary significantly.
Also, even though the speeds seem to be the same, choosing the right card still matters so that you can record XAVC S 4k Video, which again, is a U3 card, preferably by Sony.
Shooting 4k On The Sony RX100 V – Stick with Sony Brand!
Recording 4K video requires SDXC U3 memory cards!
If you want to shoot 4k on any Sony camera right now I recommend only using Sony brand cards. A lot of people have problems with other brands right now, and it’s actually not the cards fault, it’s the cameras fault. One card will work fine in one camera but then not in others.
Best SD Memory Card For 4K
Sony 64GB U3 (New Model) – Amazon
Sony 64GB U3 (Old Model) – Amazon
Sandisk Extreme Pro 64GB U3 – Amazon / Adorama
Why Some Cards Don’t Work
Even though all the cards run at about the same speed when shooting RAW images, the camera will notice if you do not have a U3 SDXC card and not allow you to shoot 4k 100M video.
This is weird to me because I’ve tested it with cards of the same speed. And when I format a U3 card, then shoot video and immediately replace it with a U1 card without formatting, the camera will let me shoot video on the U1 card. But when I freshly format a U1 card I get this message –
“Cannot record this recording setting, Either switch to a UHS-I U3 compatible memory card or change the file format.”
So to make your life simpler, get a U3 card and it must be SDXC or SDHC to shoot XAVC S 4k video.
You can still shoot AVCHD 1080 video on a SDHC U1 card. If you don’t mind working in that codec and at a lower bitrate.
UHS-II Cards In The Sony RX100 V – Will They Work?
The Sony RX100 V does not have a UHS-II interface on it. So any UHS-II card you put into the camera will be clocked down to UHS-I. It’s fine if you want to use UHS-II cards for fast USB 3.0 transfer speeds, but you won’t see any real benefit in camera. I also think you might run into more problems trying to shoot 4k video on a UHS-II card.
Best SD Memory Cards Sony RX100 V Conclusions
Based on all the tests, the speeds and the video requirements, the best card you can get is a UHS-I U3 memory card. Although Sony brand cards don’t perform the best, Sony cameras just seem to like them better, go figure.
More On The Sony RX100 V
Need accessories? See the Sony RX100 IV & V Accessories Page.
Shoot better video with The Sony RX100 IV Video Guide.
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11 comments
I was about to buy a UHS-II card for my RX100V. You have saved me money with your report, so thank you.
Glad I could help. Have fun with that awesome little camera!
Yes really helpful thanks for posting!
Thanks for this post!
You’re saying Sony cameras like Sony cards better, but the table in the post shows that Sony cards are on the bottom of the list, performance wise.
So what did you mean by “like them better”?
Sony cameras sometimes reject cards saying they are not U3 even though they are. This never happens when using Sony cards. It also rarely happens with Sandisk Cards.
Although the Sony cards are on the bottom, 2MB/s will not be noticeable in real world shooting. The buffer is the bottleneck on these cameras not so much the card speeds. Sony cards for the most part are great.
Got it. Thanks.
Alik, do you know if this info holds up for the updated RX100 VA as well?
Also, do you still recommend UHS-I over UHS-II?
Basically I have to purchase a discontinued Sony 64GB for $34 in order to get a Sony UHS-I. That doesn’t “feel” right compared to newer, higher capacity UHS-II cards for lower cost, but if the camera has “quirks,” I will stick with Sony UHS-I. Much thanks.
That seems expensive for a 64GB card unless you’re in Japan or something.
The RX100 cameras don’t have the second row of pins to be compatible with UHS-II cards, you can use them but you’ll get UHS-I speeds. It’s fine to go with UHS-II cards if you also want to use them in a camera that supports them, or plan on getting one in the future.
Some UHS-II cards like the Lexar 1000x are actually about the same price as UHS-I cards. Write speeds are close even in UHS-II cameras but you get the benefit of being able to use a UHS-II card reader for fast file transfer to your computer.
If you want to go with the UHS-II cards take a look at the v60 cards or like the 1000X cards by Lexar or Hoodman. You can sometimes find them at a similar price depending on what country you’re in. I know in Japan, the markup on UHS-I cards is so insane that it’s only like $10-$20 more to buy a top of the line UHS-II card.
Thank you for such a quick response on a three year old post! I am very excited about my new RX100 VA and I appreciate all your knowledge on the subject. Yes, Sony UHS-I is expensive I assume because it is now discontinued. I have had my eye on the Lexar 1000x. It is one-third the price of Sony UHS-II at 128GB. Thanks again!
No problem!