The Nikon Z30 has single SD card slots supporting UHS-I V30 or U3 cards.
With photos, the Z30 is capable of bursting at 11fps, and for video, it has a maximum internal recording bitrate of 144Mb/s at 8-bit 4k, which runs at around 18MB/s. So, you will need U3 cards, not U1 cards, for video.
It’s pretty straightforward; grab the best UHS-I card you can find. The camera is only 20MP, so unless you’re bursting a lot or recording a lot of video, you probably wouldn’t need a card much bigger than 64GB. Or go 128GB just to play it safe.
Recommended SD Cards For Nikon Z30
Here are the best memory cards for the Nikon Z30.
| Memory Cards | Review Links | Speed Class | Minimum Write Speed | USB Write | USB Read | Links | |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| UHS-I U3 | UHS-I | Hide | Hide | ||||
| Sandisk Extreme Pro 32/64/128GB | Sandisk Extreme Pro 170 | UHS-I | 30 | 144 | 172 | https://geni.us/AjId | Amazon / B&H |
| Kingston CanvasGo! 128/256/512GB | UHS-I | 30 | 124 | 161 | https://geni.us/oJU7q | Amazon / B&H | |
| Transcend 300s 128GB | Transcend U3 | UHS-I | 30 | 79 | 91 | https://geni.us/14Dk9X | Amazon / B&H |
| Delkin Black 32-256GB | UHS-I | 30 | 86 | 93 | https://geni.us/jCCqjj | Amazon / B&H | |
| Delkin Advantage 32-1TB | Delkin Advantage U3 | UHS-I | 30 | 77 | 93 | https://geni.us/HlTWWVh | Amazon / B&H |
Nikon Z30 Capacity
What is the maximum capacity of SD cards that can be used with the Nikon Z30?
Nikon does not officially list a capacity limit to the size of memory cards.
Generally, you’ll want a card around 64 GB unless your primary focus is recording video, in which case you’ll need a larger card. A 1TB card would most likely be overkill.
It generally takes me about a year to shoot 1TB of photos, and I shoot a lot.
Nikon Z30 Camera Specs
Sensor Size: 20.9MP APS-C (DX) CMOS Sensor |
Nikon Z30 Record Times – Memory Card Capacity
The table below illustrates various recording modes and their corresponding time usage on different card sizes. If you want personalized figures, check out the bitrate-to-time converter.
| Nikon Z30 Record Times | 64GB | 128GB | 256GB | 512GB |
| 4k | ||||
| 144Mbps | 18MB/s | 59min | 119Min | 237min | 474min |
Best SD Cards Nikon Z30 | Conclusions
The Nikon Z30 is a nice little compact APS-C camera with fun and capable specs.
Buying the best memory cards for the Z30 is pretty simple and straightforward. It doesn’t need the fastest memory cards out there, but it doesn’t take them, either.
Sandisk, Kingston, Delkin, and Lexar would be my go-to choices for Nikon for UHS-I cards, as they perform great in all their cameras.
