Best Memory Cards for the Canon G7X Mark III – 39 Cards Tested In-Camera

The Canon G7X Mark III has a single SD card slot that only supports UHS-I, so the best card for it is a fast UHS-I card, not a UHS-II card. In my in-camera tests of 39 cards, the fastest UHS-I cards wrote about 62–69 MB/s and cleared a full RAW burst in about 20 seconds, while slower U3 cards took around 28 seconds and a U1 card took 49. UHS-II cards run at UHS-I speed in this slot and topped out at 72.6 MB/s. My pick is the SanDisk Extreme PRO UHS-I. Full camera accessories are in my G7X III accessory guide.

How I Tested

I tested 39 cards in the G7X III in 2019. I shot a RAW burst until the buffer filled, then divided the data written by the time the camera took to clear the buffer, and ran each card a few times to check for problems, using the fastest run. Each burst wrote about 1.27–1.45 GB. My test scene is fairly simple, so files from more detailed scenes can be larger. I don’t test with RAW+JPEG, because processing the JPEGs puts more load on the camera’s processor than on the card, which muddies the card speed results.

Best Memory Cards for the Canon G7X Mark III

	Best overall: SanDisk Extreme PRO UHS-I (V30). The 170 MB/s version I tested wrote 66.5 MB/s in the G7X III and cleared a burst in about 21 seconds, within 3 MB/s of the fastest UHS-I card. The current 128GB card writes 125 MB/s in my reader tests, well above the 72.6 MB/s the fastest card wrote in the G7X III.
	Also fast: Delkin Advantage UHS-I (V30) 64GB. Wrote 63.4 MB/s in the G7X III, about 3 MB/s behind the SanDisk Extreme PRO. The Delkin Advantage cards have been top performers in most of my tests, and I use Delkin cards in many of my cameras.
	Budget: SanDisk Extreme UHS-I (V30). The older version I tested wrote 47.0 MB/s and took about 29 seconds to clear a burst. The current V30 version writes 99 MB/s in my reader tests, faster than any card wrote in the G7X III.
	If you plan to upgrade (V60): SanDisk Extreme PRO V60 256GB+. UHS-II cards run at UHS-I speeds in the G7X III, where most of the ones I tested wrote 67–72 MB/s, a hair faster than the best UHS-I cards. The real gain is outside the camera: it writes 191 MB/s and reads 270 MB/s in my reader tests, and it carries over to a newer body. The Lexar 1800x V60 (192 MB/s) and PNY EliteX-PRO60 256GB (185 MB/s) are just as good. Get the SanDisk and PNY at 256GB or larger; the 64GB and 128GB versions only write about 100 MB/s.

Why Card Speed Matters on the G7X III

The G7X III shoots RAW at up to 20 fps (30 fps in RAW Burst Mode), so it fills its buffer in a few seconds, and the card decides how long you wait before you can shoot another full burst. In my tests the buffer held about 1.3GB, or about 45 RAW shots. The fastest UHS-I cards cleared that in about 19–21 seconds, slower U3 cards like the older SanDisk Extreme and Lexar 633x took 27–29 seconds, and the Toshiba Exceria and SanDisk Ultra (U1) took 43–49 seconds. If you shoot kids, pets, or sports in bursts, buy one of the faster cards.

Should You Buy a UHS-II Card for the G7X III?

No. The Canon G7X Mark III doesn’t have the hardware to support UHS-II, so UHS-II cards run at UHS-I speed. Most of the 21 UHS-II cards I tested wrote 67.3–72.6 MB/s, only a few MB/s faster than the best UHS-I card (69.3 MB/s). The only real benefit is faster offloading in a UHS-II card reader, which matters only if you also shoot a camera with a UHS-II slot.

Current UHS-I Cards I Recommend

I update this list as new cards come out. The speeds are from my card reader tests, so they show what each card can do, not what the G7X III can write.

Which Cards You Need for Video

The Canon G7X Mark III records 4K at about 120 Mbps, which works out to about 15 MB/s. Canon tests the camera with a UHS-I U3 card and warns that a slower speed class can stop recording. In my testing, even the slowest cards recorded 4K without problems, but I’d still use a U3 or V30 card.

Mode	Bitrate	Max clip length	Record time, 32GB
4K (3840×2160) 29.97p	120 Mbps	9 min 59 sec	35 min 29 sec
Full HD 119.88p	120 Mbps	7 min 29 sec	35 min 33 sec
Full HD 59.94p	60 Mbps	29 min 59 sec	1 hr 10 min 48 sec
Full HD 29.97p	30 Mbps	29 min 59 sec	2 hr 20 min 59 sec
HD 59.94p	26 Mbps	29 min 59 sec	2 hr 42 min 28 sec

Source: Canon PowerShot G7 X Mark III specifications. On cards 32GB and smaller, movies over 4GB are split into separate files; on 64GB and larger cards, each clip is saved as one file.

What Size Memory Card Do You Need for the Canon G7X III?

For most people, 64GB or 128GB. Using 64GB or larger avoids the 4GB file splitting, and a 128GB card holds about 2 hours 20 minutes of 4K, roughly four times Canon’s 32GB figure. For stills, Canon rates a 32GB card at about 1,355 RAW or 2,301 C-RAW images, so 128GB holds roughly 5,400 RAW or 9,200 C-RAW.

Mode	64GB	128GB	256GB	512GB
4K 120 Mbps	71 min	142 min	284 min	569 min
Full HD 60p (60 Mbps)	142 min	284 min	569 min	1,138 min
Full HD 30p (30 Mbps)	284 min	569 min	1,138 min	2,276 min

Estimated total recording time per card, based on the bitrates above.

Canon G7X III In-Camera Test Results

I tested these cards in 2019, and many have since been replaced or renamed. Use the results to see how the G7X III handles fast and slow cards; my current picks are at the top of the page. For reader benchmarks, see my SD card guide.

Canon G7X III In-Camera Test Results: UHS-I SD Cards (Tested 2019)

Card	Class	In-camera write (MB/s)	Time to clear (s)
Sony Professional	U3	69.3	19
Transcend	U3	68.4	19
SanDisk Extreme PLUS	U3	67.0	21
Sony (95 MB/s)	U3	66.6	19
SanDisk Extreme PRO (170 MB/s)	U3	66.5	21
Delkin Advantage	V30	63.4	20
Toshiba Exceria Pro	U3	62.7	20
Kingston Canvas React	U3	62.2	22
Verbatim Pro+	U3	61.5	21
Kingston Canvas Go!	U3	58.6	22
PNY Elite Performance	U3	55.4	23
Verbatim Pro	U3	54.5	24
Sony (94 MB/s)	U3	53.7	24
Lexar 633x	U3	47.7	27
SanDisk Extreme	U3	47.0	29
Amplim 667x	V30	45.7	29
Toshiba Exceria	U3	28.1	43
SanDisk Ultra	U1	25.8	49

Canon G7X III In-Camera Test Results: UHS-II SD Cards (Tested 2019)

These cards ran in UHS-I mode, so they show what the G7X III can write, not what the cards can do in a UHS-II camera.

Card	In-camera write (MB/s)	Time to clear (s)
Sony TOUGH G V90	72.6	18
Sony G	72.2	18
Toshiba Exceria Pro	71.6	19
Delkin POWER V90	71.4	19
SanDisk Extreme PRO (300 MB/s)	71.3	18
Angelbird AV PRO V90	71.1	18
ADATA Premier ONE V90	70.8	18
Fujifilm Elite II	70.7	18
Delkin PRIME V60	70.3	18
Transcend V90	70.1	18
FreeTail Evoke Pro V60	69.8	18
Hoodman Steel 2000x	69.7	18
Sony M	69.6	18
Amplim 1900x V60	69.6	18
Lexar 1000x	69.4	19
ProGrade Digital V90	68.7	19
Angelbird AV PRO V60	68.6	19
Lexar 2000x	68.4	19
Hoodman Steel 1500x	67.3	19
Lexar 1667x	59.8	22
ProGrade Digital V60	51.2	25

Each burst wrote 1.27–1.45 GB, which includes the 2–4 shots I usually take after the buffer fills, so use the time to clear to compare cards, not as an exact buffer size. The ProGrade Digital cards here are the older ProGrade V90 and V60, not the newer Iridium line.

Canon G7X Mark III Specs That Affect Card Choice

Spec	Canon G7X Mark III
Sensor	20.1MP 1-inch stacked CMOS
Processor	DIGIC 8
Card slot	One SD slot (UHS-I)
Continuous shooting	Up to about 20 fps; 30 fps in RAW Burst Mode (about 70 frames)
Buffer (Canon spec, 20 fps)	About 55 RAW, 89 C-RAW, or 118 JPEG frames
Buffer (my testing)	About 1.3GB, or about 45 RAW shots
RAW file types	RAW and C-RAW (CR3)
Highest video bitrate	120 Mbps (4K 30p and Full HD 120p)

Canon G7X Mark III Memory Card Quick Answers

What is the fastest SD card for the Canon G7X III?

In my 2019 tests across 39 cards, the Sony Professional U3 was the fastest UHS-I card at 69.3 MB/s, but my pick is the SanDisk Extreme PRO (170 MB/s), which wrote 66.5 MB/s. UHS-II cards like the Sony TOUGH G V90 only topped out at 72.6 MB/s because the camera’s single slot runs them in UHS-I mode.

Why does my 4K clip stop at 10 minutes?

That’s just Canon’s built-in clip limit at work, not a problem with your card. The camera cuts off 4K recording at 9 minutes 59 seconds, Full HD 120p at 7 minutes 29 seconds, and other modes at 29 minutes 59 seconds, no matter what card you use.

Buy from a trusted seller and check a new card’s capacity by filling it once before you rely on it. For more Canon cards, see my Canon R50 and G7X Mark II card guides and my SD card guide.