The Sony A7c is the perfect little companion camera for the Sony echo system with some pretty impressive specs like a UHS-II memory card slot. UHS-II memory cards can be expensive, so you need to ask yourself if you need them, and what speed class is the best.
This guide covers the different specs of the various types of memory cards, and which ones will perform the best in the A7c for your needs.
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Sony A7c – Amazon / Adorama / B&H
Best Memory Cards Sony A7c
The Sony A7c, features a single UHS-II memory card slot which is very nice for clearing that buffer quickly. Sony cameras have large buffers and sometimes filling up that buffer can restrict you from accessing certain features of the camera while it clears. Having a fast UHS-II card helps keeps things running smoothly.
UHS-II cards come in three different speed classes. U3, V60 and V90. What these numbers represent is the minimum write speed of the card. V90 can maintain a minimum of 90MB/s, v60 cards 60MB/s U3 30MB/s.
You should choose one of these cards depending on the price, how much money you’re willing to spend, and the performance you need. Casually shooters might just like V60 cards. They can buy a bigger card for the same price and probably would never even notice the speed difference. Sports shooters that do a lot of continuous bursting would definitely benefit from a v90 card.
Videographers and vloggers only need U3 cards, so this allows you to buy much larger cards to store all that video.
Sony A7c Recommended Memory Cards
There are three categories of cards you should consider. Fast v90 UHS-II cards, v60 UHS-II cards, and U3 UHS-I cards. There is also a UHS-II card by Sony that reads at UHS-II speeds but it optimized for UHS-I write speeds.
V90 UHS-II cards are great for photographers that do a lot of continuous bursting.
V60 UHS-II cards are great for photographers that burst sometimes but mostly shoot in single-shot mode. They’re also great for Video shooters since they allow you to transfer large files quickly to your computer.
v30 UHS-I cards are fine for casual photographers and even good for video shooters.
Here are the top cards for each speed class.
Card Name | USB Read | USB Write | Camera Write | Check Price |
UHS-II V90 | ||||
Sony G Tough | 270.6 | 229.1 | 184.5 MB/s | Amazon |
Delkin Black V90 | 259.9 | 225.4 | 183.4 MB/s | B&H |
Sandisk Extreme Pro | 293.7 | 242.2 | 181.0 MB/s | Amazon |
Prograde V90 | 290.5 | 218.4 | 116.9 MB/s | Amazon |
UHS-II v60 | ||||
Sony M | 282.4 | 129.5 | 88.0 MB/s | Amazon |
ProGrade V60 | 167.6 | 92.14 | 88.4 MB/s | Amazon |
UHS-II U3 | ||||
Sony E | 282.3 | 103.8 | 75 MB/s *rated | Amazon |
Sony A7C Memory Card Related Specs
Sensor: 24.2MP Full-Frame Exmor R BSI Sensor Processor: BIONZ X Image Processor Continuous Shoot: 10fps Record Limit: unlimited Est. Buffer Size: 1.5GB (estimate based on A7III buffer) Memory Card Compatibility: Single Card Slots -UHS-II Maximum Memory Card Size: no limit. Shots To Fill Buffer RAW : 115 Video: 4k30p 8-bit 4:2:0 100Mbps. |
Best Memory Cards For 4k Video
Although 4k video seems like a lot of data, in the Sony A7c, it’s only 100Mbps which translates to a 12.5MB/s data stream. If a U3 card can maintain a minimum stream of 30MB/s, then all you need is a U3 UHS-I card.
Or, I like the Sony E cards, where are rated for UHS-I write speeds, but still have UHS-II speeds for faster file transfers.
But always check the different cards that are out there for various sales. I’d start by looking at the Sony E, then check out the different UHS-II v60 cards to see if there are any better deals.
Maximum Video Record Times by Memory Card Size
Here is a handy chart you can use to find the best size memory card you’ll need for your recording format. Or how many minutes you can get with the different formats on with different size cards.
For example, if you need to know how much video you can record to a 128GB card, at 4k 100Mbps the answer is 171 minutes.
For video shooters, filmmakers, I recommend 128GB cards and I highly recommend you clear off your cards regularly for backup throughout the shoot when on a paid production.
Resolution | Format | Bitrate | 32GB | 64GB | 128GB | 256GB |
4k30p, 24p | XAVC S 4K | 100Mbps | 43min | 85min | 171min | 341min |
4k30p, 24p | XAVC S 4K | 60Mbps | 71min | 142min | 284min | 569min |
1080 120p, 100p | XAVC S HD | 100Mbps | 43min | 85min | 171min | 341min |
1080 120p, 100p | XAVC S HD | 60Mbps | 71min | 142min | 284min | 569min |
1080 24p, 25p, 30p, 50p, 60p | XAVC S HD | 50Mbps | 85min | 171min | 341min | 683min |
1080 25p, 30p | XAVC S HD | 16Mbps | 267min | 533min | 1067min | 2133min |
1080 60i | AVCHD | 24Mbps | 178min | 356min | 711min | 1422min |
1080 60i | AVCHD | 17Mbps | 251min | 502min | 1004min | 2008min |
Best Memory Cards Sony A7C Conclusions
Buying memory cards for Sony cameras today is pretty straightforward, they have good compatibility with most brands now so you don’t need to worry about that as you did in the past. Sticking with big brands like Sony or Sandisk is still probably the best, but there are plenty of other great options out there with great performance. For example, I use Delkin UHS-II cards in my A7rIII and they’ve worked great for years.
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