Best Memory Cards Sony A7IV – Real Benchmarks

Recommended Memory Cards Sony A7IV

The Sony A7IV has some really nice improvements over the previous cameras specifically when looking at memory cards. Not only does the second card slot now support UHS-II memory cards, but the first memory card slot supports CFexpress Type-A memory cards.

Do you need CFexpress Type A memory cards in the Sony A7IV? 

No. But they allow for a nearly limitless buffer when shooting compressed RAW at 10fps or at 5fps with the lossless compressed mode.

Unlike the Sony A7sIII and Sony A1, you don’t need CFexpress Type A memory cards when shooting S&Q XAVC S-I slow-motion footage in the Sony A7IV, but you will need a v90 UHS-II memory card.

Here are some of the best-performing memory cards in each speed class

If you want a nearly bottomless buffer and all support for all the video features, the CFexpress Type A cards are great and you can transfer data very quickly to an external SSD with a CFexpress Type A reader, but they are a little expensive.

UHS-II V90 cards are going to be the best sd cards for most people with the Sony A7IV because these cards will allow you to take advantage of all the frame rates and all the video modes of the camera.

UHS-II V60 cards are going to be best for casual video shooters and photographers that want a lot more data at a lower cost, but you will be limited with some recording formats which I list further down in this article.

*My Sony E-card is actually performing faster than the rated 120MB/s which is interesting. It’s a great card for a great price, but there are slower versions of this card out there. Try to get the 120MB/s version.

Sony A7IV – Amazon / Adorama / B&H

7 Must-Have Accessories For The Sony A7IV

Memory Card Benchmarks

Each memory card was tested in the Sony A7IV. The buffer is filled then data is calculated against the time it takes to clear the buffer.

USB speeds are taken with a Macbook Pro and a ProGrade reader using the AJA System Test. You won’t get these same USB speeds on some computers like an M1 Mac mini or M1 iMac since these computers share the USB bus with other components.

Which Memory Cards Can Be Used For Which Settings

Sony documented this in their user manual. The camera will reject memory cards out of spec, it also rejects that old Sony M card that they recalled.

Here are the memory cards that are required for general video recording.

S&Q Memory Card Shooting

Here are the memory cards required for the different S&Q modes.

These charts are taken from the Sony Help Guide.

Best Memory Card Sony A7IV – Some Thoughts

When buying memory cards for the Sony A7IV I would just grab either a v90 or v60 UHS-II card. You’ll likely be shooting lossless compressed which does not give you 10fps, it actually gives you 5fps. I didn’t test the memory cards at 5fps, but I’m pretty sure you will get close to a bottomless buffer at 5fps with lossless compressed RAW on a v90 UHS-II card.

Sony M or Sony G cards would be my recommendation, but there are a few other great V90 cards that would be worth it if there was a nice sale. I would probably lean more towards getting v90 cards since some video features will require that. But I can’t justify CFexpress memory cards for this camera unless you really need to shoot 1,000 frames uninterrupted with a compressed RAW format.

If you’re not doing a lot with video, V60 cards are the way to go.

When buying a new card always be sure to fill the card to check that it doesn’t have a hacked memory card controller and that the card is authentic. You should get close to the rated amount of memory listed on the card if it is genuine, or buy from trusted stores like B&H or Adorama.