Best Memory Cards Nikon Zf – 35 Cards Tested

The Nikon Zf has two memory card slots, one for UHS-II SD cards and one for micro SD cards. Both slots are on the bottom of the camera, right next to the battery.

The fastest memory cards you need for the Nikon Zf are UHS-II V60 SD cards. This will allow you to take advantage of all the features the camera offers, but you can jump up to V90 cards if you need to clear the buffer faster if you’re shooting a lot in the continuous burst mode.

The memory card capacity you can use is not restricted. You can use 8GB cards up to 1TB card, but any card smaller than 64GB will switch to using a 32-bit file structure, so I recommended sticking to 64GB cards as a minimum size.

Nikon Zf – Amazon / B&H

Recommended SD Cards For Nikon Zf

The Nikon Zf has a maximum bitrate of 340 Mbps (42.5MB/s), meaning that a V60 UHS-II card is the fastest card you’ll ever need to shoot 4K video at this bitrate.

However, the Nikon Zf can burst photos at 14 frames per second, so if you shoot at high burst rates frequently, you could benefit from a UHS-II v90 card.

I recommend UHS-II v60 cards for most people and microSD cards as backup.

Here is a list of the best SD cards for the Nikon Zf and their in-camera buffer-clearing speeds.

Recommended MicroSD Cards For Nikon Zf

MicroSD cards will perform slower than v60 or v90 UHS-II SD cards, and the Nikon Zf does not support UHS-II microSD cards, so you might want only to send JPEGs to these cards or set the camera to record in a backup only in critical situations.

Here are some of the best micro SD cards for the Nikon Zf.

Nikon Zf Memory Card Benchmarks

Tests measure how quickly the buffer clears in the Nikon Zf with each card.

Unfortunately, I did not test microSD cards, but I have tested all the most popular SD memory cards.

It looks like there were some UHS-II initialization issues with the UHS-II V60 memory cards, so you might want to avoid those. However, these initialization issues sometimes occur due to improperly power cycling the camera after formatting and changing to new cards, but not always. Sometimes, some cameras don’t like some cards. For example, three of my Lexar 2000x cards from different generations always give me problems with my Nikon Z8.

Stick with the v60 cards on the list that did well, and you’ll likely have no issues.

There were no issues with V90 cards in the Nikon Zf.

Nikon Zf Camera Specs

Also, check out my list of the Best Accessories for the Nikon Zf – there is lots of great stuff there.

Check out the SD Memory Card Speeds to see all the different SD card read and write speeds, or if you’re looking for microSD cards, check out this guide to the best microSD memory cards.

What Size Card To Buy?

If you mainly use photos and videos, a 128GB card should be enough. But for higher-quality video, you might need a 256GB card.

Nikon Zf Recording Specs & Details

Record Limit: Up to 125 Minutes
Audio File Format: AAC, Linear PCM

Memory Card Capacity With Record Times

This table shows the different recording modes and how much time they use for different card sizes. To get your own numbers, I have to build a bitrate-to-time converter.

Key Takeaways

The Nikon Zf is a pretty beefy camera in terms of specs and should have some amazing performance with that 14fps buffer and 340MBps video. But you do need the right SD cards. I recommend starting with a 128GB UHS-II V60 SD card for the Nikon Zf, and keeping a MicroSD card in the camera for backup purposes if needed.

If you burst frequently and need the fastest buffer-clearing speeds, a V90 card is your go-to choice. However, you can save money for normal photography or video by using V60 cards. If you use a Micro SD card as a backup, the buffer will be slower. So, don’t pair it with a UHS-II v90 card, or you will waste money on speeds you can’t take advantage of.