Unlike the previous generation of Nikon Z6 cameras, the Nikon Z6 III has some pretty beefy video specs that require good memory cards.
With so many brands on the market, there is much to choose from. As a Nikon Z6 shooter and a Z8 shooter, after testing all the different memory cards for years, I recommend just a few cards to get you started.
Like the memory cards for the Nikon Z6 II and Nikon Z8, the Z6 III has a CFexpress type-B slot and an SD UHS-II slot with no limit to capacity.
Best Memory Cards For Most People – Nikon Z6 III
If you’re not doing anything too extreme with the Nikon Z6 III and won’t require the absolute best memory cards, I recommend you start with the best mid-range cards or look at some of the good lower-end cards.
My favorite brands are Lexar and Delkin. Hoodman has some good cards, and Prograde also has some nice cards.
I’ve also tested all of these cards in the Nikon Z8, and they all perform flawlessly and can even run 8k60p NRAW. These cards are all a great value and should give you solid performance for years.
Best Midrange Cards | Write Speeds | Read Speeds | Tested Sustain | Order |
Lexar Gold 1TB/2TB | 1642 MB/s | 1695 MB/s | 1582 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
Lexar Gold 128GB | 1410 MB/s | 1525 MB/s | 1382 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
Delkin PowerG4 | 920 MB/s | 1226 MB/s | 842 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
Hoodman Steel 1TB | 1528 MB/s | 1121 MB/s | 1502 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
Best Budget Cards | ||||
Lexar Silver 1TB | 1661 MB/s | 1732 MB/s | 1382 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
If you go with the Lexar Silver or Hoodman Steel cards, remember that the lower-capacity cards have lower specs and might not run NRAW reliably. I recommend these cards only if you want the 1TB versions.
There are new CF4.0 cards on the market and higher-end cards like the Lexar Diamond and Delkin Black. I have all these cards. I’ve tested them and see no real-world performance gains compared to the above cards, and they offer little additional value—except, sometimes, they offer better warranties or tougher builds.
See all the CFexpress Type-B benchmarks to compare other cards.
For the SD Memory Card, you must decide what you plan to use this second slot for. I generally keep an older V90 or V60 card as a backup in the SD card slot, which I rarely use for anything unless I forget my CFexpress card; I do sometimes. However, if you’re a wedding or event photographer, you’ll likely want to shoot backup JPGs to that card; in this case, you’ll need V90 cards to not bottleneck the camera’s performance too much. Keep in mind that for most of the Tough style cards, the write protection switch is removed.
Here are some of my favorite SD cards for the Nikon Z6 III.
Recommended SD Cards Nikon Z6 III
V90 SD Cards | Write Speeds | Read Speeds | Rated Sustain | Order |
Sony G Tough | 258 MB/s | 293 MB/s | 90 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
Delkin Black | 253 MB/s | 278 MB/s | 90 MB/s | B&H |
Sandisk Extreme Pro | 268 MB/s | 293 MB/s | 90 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
Kingston Canvas React | 274 MB/s | 292 MB/s | 90 MB/s | Amazon / B&H |
This list of SD memory cards has been performing flawlessly in the Nikon Z series of cameras. Be careful when buying SD memory cards randomly, as they sometimes have firmware conflicts. If an SD card is not running properly in the Nikon Z6 III, try taking out the battery and card, inserting the card, and then the battery to see if the camera correctly identifies the card. Sometimes, that can help if the camera redirects the card as UHS-II.
Also, as a reminder, keep your UHS-II card pins clean. Having dirt or lint can affect their performance and cause them to only run at UHS-I speeds. This happens occasionally when I test these cards.