Best Memory Cards For The Sony A7V (2026) – 48 Cards Tested In-Camera

The Sony A7V has two card slots: Slot 1 takes CFexpress Type A or SD cards, and Slot 2 takes SD cards only. I tested 48 memory cards in the A7V, 17 CFexpress Type A and 31 UHS-II SD, and the short answer is simple: put a CFexpress Type A card in Slot 1, and unless you need a longer warranty or a tougher card, don’t pay extra for a premium one.

How I tested: I shoot Lossless Compressed RAW only (about 37.5MB files) at 30fps, using Continuous Hi+ with the electronic shutter, until the buffer is full, then measure how fast the camera writes it to the card. My test scene is fairly simple, so files from more detailed scenes can be larger, which means fewer shots before the buffer fills. 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.

Quick Picks

	Slot 1, best value CFexpress Type A: Lexar Professional SILVER. All 17 CFexpress Type A cards I tested hit 307–312 MB/s and cleared the buffer in about 3 seconds, so buy the cheapest one. The SILVER hit 310 MB/s, the same as the premium cards, which is why it’s my pick for most people.
	Pro CFexpress Type A (warranty and reliability): Delkin BLACK or Sony TOUGH G. Same 310–311 MB/s in the A7V, but the Delkin BLACK has a lifetime warranty with a 48-hour replacement guarantee, and the Sony TOUGH G has a 5-year warranty, an IP57 dust and water rating, and a 24-foot drop rating.
	Fastest SD (V90): Nextorage UHS-II Pro V90. 225 MB/s and a 4.9-second buffer clear. It was also the fastest SD card in my ZV-E10 II tests. It’s still about 60% slower to clear than any CFexpress Type A card, so it’s the pick for Slot 2 or if you’re sticking with SD.
	Best value SD (V60): Lexar ARMOR V60 128GB. 194 MB/s and 5.9 seconds, faster than several V90 cards. It’s also one of the most durable cards I’ve tested, with a stainless steel body and no write-protect switch to break off. Fine for H.265, but not for 600 Mbps H.264 All-Intra or S&Q, which need V90.

Slot 2 backup: V90 if you back up 600 Mbps All-Intra footage or shoot S&Q in XAVC HS or XAVC S. S&Q in XAVC S-I requires a CFexpress Type A card, and Sony doesn’t support SD cards for it. V60 is fine for H.265 at normal frame rates.

Sony A7V Card Slots: What Each Slot Supports

The A7V has two slots, and they aren’t identical:

• Slot 1 (Top): A versatile hybrid slot that accepts both CFexpress Type A and SD (UHS-II/UHS-I) cards.
• Slot 2 (Bottom): Dedicated exclusively to SD cards (supports up to UHS-II).

While the Sony A7RV has dual CFexpress Type A slots, the A7V has just one, Slot 1, so that’s where your fastest card goes.

How you set up the two slots decides what card you need in Slot 2:

• Backup (simultaneous): the camera writes to both cards at once, so it can only go as fast as the SD card in Slot 2. Use a V90 card if you’re backing up 600 Mbps All-Intra.
• Relay: the camera switches to Slot 2 when Slot 1 is full. Slot 2 needs to handle whatever bitrate you’re recording, so match it to your codec.
• Sort (RAW / JPEG): RAW files go to one slot and JPEGs to the other. Put the RAW files on the CFexpress card; any decent V60 card is fine for the JPEGs.

For my full take on the camera itself, see my Sony A7V review.

Best CFexpress Type A Cards for the Sony A7V

Every CFexpress Type A card I tested wrote at 307–312 MB/s in the A7V and cleared the buffer in about 3 seconds, versus 4.9 seconds for the fastest SD card. The camera is the bottleneck, not the card, so buy on price, warranty, and durability. At current pricing, a CFxA card costs about the same as a good V90 SD card, and you also get a tougher card and much faster offloads to your computer.

CFexpress 4.0 cards: The A7V (and most current card readers) run at CFexpress 2.0 speeds, but CF4.0 cards are backward compatible. If you find one on sale, grab it, and you’ll get faster transfers once you upgrade your reader.

Current CFexpress Type A Cards I Recommend

I update this list as new cards come out. The speeds are from my card reader tests, not the A7V; in the camera, every CFexpress Type A card I tested wrote at about 310 MB/s.

Sony A7V In-Camera Test Results: CFexpress Type A (Tested September 2026)

These results come from the A7V itself, not a card reader. For In-Camera Speed, I shoot until the buffer is full, then divide the amount of data written by the time it takes the camera to fully clear the buffer. Buffer Clear Time is the time from the last shot in the sequence until the buffer is fully cleared.

Card	In-Camera Speed (MB/s)	Buffer Clear Time (sec)
Exascend Essential Pro 256GB	312	3.0
Lexar Professional GOLD 256GB (1800MB/s)	312	3.1
Exascend Essential 120GB	312	3.1
Delkin Black 480GB	311	3.0
Nextorage A2 Pro 160GB	311	3.0
SanDisk Pro-Cinema 480GB	311	3.1
ProGrade 480GB	311	3.1
ProGrade 240GB	311	3.1
Angelbird AV PRO 256GB	311	3.1
Exascend Essential 360GB	311	3.1
OWC Atlas Pro 480GB	311	3.1
Lexar Professional SILVER 256GB (1750MB/s)	310	3.0
Sony TOUGH 240GB	310	3.1
Nextorage A2 AE 500GB	310	3.1
Wise MKII 256GB	310	3.1
Delkin Black 80GB	309	3.1
Nextorage A2 SE 256GB	307	3.1

Best SD Cards for the Sony A7V: V90 vs. V60

In the Sony A7V, SD card speed varies much more than CFexpress. The fastest V90 card, the Nextorage UHS-II Pro, cleared the buffer in 4.9 seconds, while slower V60 cards took 13 to 14 seconds, and even the best SD card takes about 60% longer than any CFexpress Type A card. Whether you need V90 or V60 comes down to which codecs you shoot.

V90: For Maximum Performance

• Speed: Guarantees 90 MB/s minimum write speed.
• Use: Required for 600 Mbps All-Intra (XAVC S-I) and for S&Q slow motion in XAVC HS and XAVC S. S&Q writes far more than the menu bitrate suggests: the listed bitrate applies to the playback frame rate, so shooting 120fps for 24p playback writes about 5x that to the card. Sony rates S&Q at up to 560 Mbps (70 MB/s) in XAVC S 4K.
• Dual-Card: If you use simultaneous backup recording (writing the same file to both cards), you need a V90 in Slot 2 (SD) to match a fast card in Slot 1 (CFexpress Type A).

Important: S&Q in XAVC S-I (All-Intra) needs a CFexpress Type A card in Slot 1. Sony rates it at up to 1200 Mbps (150 MB/s) in 4K and 890 Mbps in HD, and doesn’t support SD cards for it, so even a V90 card won’t work in this mode.

V60: For Budget-Friendly Video

• Speed: Guarantees 60 MB/s minimum write speed.
• Use: Fine for lower-bitrate, efficient codecs like XAVC HS (H.265). This can cover many 4K recording options, but not S&Q slow motion, which needs V90 (or a CFexpress Type A card for S&Q in XAVC S-I).
• Savings: V60 UHS-II cards cost significantly less than V90s. If your focus is H.265 videography, this saves money while still providing high performance.

Current SD Cards I Recommend

I update this list as new cards come out. The speeds are from my card reader tests; for how each card performs in the A7V itself, see the in-camera results below.

Sony A7V In-Camera Test Results: UHS-II SD (Tested September 2026)

Card	Class	In-Camera Speed (MB/s)	Buffer Clear Time (sec)
Nextorage UHS-II Pro V90	V90	225	4.9
SanDisk Extreme PRO 300MB/s 64GB	V90	222	5.1
SanDisk Extreme PRO 300MB/s 128GB	V90	220	5.2
Kingston Canvas React V90	V90	219	5.0
PNY EliteX-Pro90 V90	V90	219	5.1
OWC Atlas Ultra V90	V90	216	5.2
Sony TOUGH G V90	V90	212	5.3
Angelbird V90	V90	203	5.9
Delkin Power V90	V90	202	5.7
Lexar 2000x	V90	191	6.0
ProGrade Iridium V90	V90	181	6.5
Lexar ARMOR V60 128GB	V60	194	5.9
Lexar 1800x V60	V60	183	6.5
SanDisk Extreme PRO V60 256GB–1TB	V60	175	6.8
PNY EliteX-Pro60 V60 512GB	V60	173	6.8
Sony E V60 256GB	V60	170	6.9
Lexar ARMOR V60 1TB	V60	169	7.1
PNY EliteX-Pro60 V60 256GB	V60	168	7.1
Lexar SILVER PRO V60	V60	149	8.2
Sony TOUGH M V60	V60	144	8.6
Angelbird V60	V60	135	9.1
SanDisk Extreme PRO V60 64–128GB	V60	97	13.0
ProGrade V60	V60	96	13.1
OWC Atlas Pro V60	V60	95	13.2
Kingston Canvas React V60	V60	95	13.3
Nextorage UHS-II SE V60	V60	94	13.3
Sony E V60 128GB	V60	94	13.4
Delkin Prime V60	V60	94	13.4
PNY EliteX-Pro60 V60 128GB	V60	94	13.4
Lexar 1667x V60	V60	89	14.1
Sony E V30 64GB	V30	49	26.1

Card Durability: Sony TOUGH vs. Lexar ARMOR

If durability is a priority, ditch the plastic cards with fragile write-protection switches. “Tough-style” cards, like the new Lexar ARMOR series or Sony TOUGH M/G series, eliminate the weakest point of standard SD cards.

Recommendation: Both are fast and rugged (often dust-, water-, and shock-resistant). Compare the prices of the equivalent-speed Lexar ARMOR and Sony TOUGH cards and choose the more affordable option.

What Size Memory Card Do You Need for the Sony A7V?

For most people, 256GB. That holds several thousand RAW files or about 2 hours and 20 minutes of 4K H.265 at 200 Mbps. If you shoot 600 Mbps All-Intra, go with 512GB, since a 256GB card only holds about 50 minutes. 128GB is fine for casual stills, but it fills fast at 30fps or in All-Intra (about 25 minutes).

Sony A7V Video Record Time

These are Sony’s own record time estimates for the A7V (SD cards, proxy recording off). They run shorter than dividing card size by bitrate, because the camera uses variable bitrate and real cards have less usable space, so plan around these rather than the theoretical math. Sony doesn’t publish times for 4K 120p (280 Mbps) or S&Q, and in S&Q the card fills several times faster per real second than the listed bitrate suggests (see the V90 section above).

You can also use my camera record time calculator to customize your results.

Format	Bitrate (Frame Rate)	64GB	128GB	256GB*
XAVC S-I 4K	600 Mbps (60p) / 500 Mbps (50p)	10min	25min	~50min
XAVC S-I HD	222 Mbps (60p) / 185 Mbps (50p)	30min	1h 5min	~2h 10min
XAVC HS 4K, XAVC S 4K	200 Mbps (60p/50p)	35min	1h 10min	~2h 20min
XAVC HS 4K, XAVC S 4K	150 Mbps (60p/50p)	45min	1h 35min	~3h 10min
XAVC HS 4K	100 Mbps (60p/50p)	1h 5min	2h 10min	~4h 20min
XAVC S HD	50 Mbps (60p/50p)	2h	4h 10min	~8h 20min

*Sony lists 64GB and 128GB only; the 256GB column doubles Sony’s 128GB figure.

Sony A7V Specs That Affect Card Choice

Feature	Detail	Note
Sensor	33MP Full-Frame partially stacked Exmor RS CMOS	High resolution requires fast card to clear buffer.
Processor	BIONZ XR2 (image and AI processing in one chip)	Enables high-speed processing and 30fps bursts.
Continuous Shoot (Compressed RAW)	30fps (Electronic Shutter) / 10fps (Mechanical)	Lossless Compressed RAW also shoots at 30fps with the electronic shutter, but the buffer holds about 35 frames versus about 95 in Compressed RAW (Sony’s figures).
Buffer Size	About 1.4GB (measured)	A burst to a very slow UHS-I card filled the buffer at 1.39GB. Sony rates it at about 95 Compressed RAW frames at 30fps (electronic shutter) using its own CFexpress Type A card. With CFxA, a full buffer clears in about 3 seconds.
Max 4K Bitrates	H.265 (XAVC HS): 280 Mbps (35 MB/s) at 4K 120p H.264 (XAVC S-I): 600 Mbps (75 MB/s) at 4K 60p	S&Q writes more: up to 1200 Mbps (150 MB/s) to the card in XAVC S-I 4K, which requires a CFexpress Type A card.

Sony A7V Memory Card FAQ

Does the Sony A7V have CFexpress Type A support?

Yes, but only in Slot 1. Slot 2 is a dedicated SD slot (UHS-II max) and does not accept CFexpress. For maximum burst performance, use CFexpress Type A in Slot 1. It clears the buffer in about 3 seconds, faster than any SD card I tested. Slot 2 is useful for overflow storage or redundant backup recording using a V90 SD card.

What’s the buffer capacity on the A7V?

I measured the buffer at about 1.4GB. Sony rates it at about 95 Compressed RAW frames at 30fps with the electronic shutter (about 35 in Compressed HQ or Lossless Compressed), and 1,000+ with the mechanical shutter, using its own CFexpress Type A card. In my testing with Lossless Compressed RAW (about 37.5MB files) at 30fps, I got about 40 shots before the buffer filled with a CFexpress Type A card, and about 37 with the fastest V90 SD card (Nextorage UHS-II Pro). The burst is nearly the same either way. The real difference is recovery. With CFexpress Type A in Slot 1, a long 30fps burst will still fill the buffer, but it clears in about 3 seconds, so you’re back to full speed almost immediately. The best V90 SD cards took about 5 seconds in my tests, and slower V60 cards took 13 to 14 seconds. If you shoot a lot of long bursts, CFxA is the upgrade that matters on this body.

Can I do backup recording with CFxA in Slot 1 and SD in Slot 2?

Yes, but in simultaneous backup mode the write speed is limited by the slower card (Slot 2 SD). A V90 SD in Slot 2 sustains 600Mbps H.264 All-Intra, so V90 is worth it if you’re doing backup recording of high-bitrate footage. V60 in Slot 2 covers H.265 recording and most stills-focused workflows without the V90 premium.

Do CFexpress 4.0 cards work in the Sony A7V?

Yes. CFexpress 4.0 cards are backward compatible, but the A7V writes at CFexpress 2.0 speeds, so they don’t clear the buffer any faster in-camera. Every card I tested landed at 307–312 MB/s. A 4.0 card only pays off with faster offloads if you also have a CFexpress 4.0 reader.

What’s the fastest SD card for the Sony A7V?

The Nextorage UHS-II Pro V90, at 225 MB/s with a 4.9-second buffer clear. The SanDisk Extreme PRO V90 (220–222 MB/s) and PNY EliteX-PRO90 (219 MB/s) were close behind. Every CFexpress Type A card I tested was still faster, at about 3 seconds.

Do I need V90 or will V60 work for video on the A7V?

It depends on the codec. V60 (60 MB/s guaranteed) handles XAVC HS H.265 at up to 280Mbps (35 MB/s) with room to spare. V90 is required for 600Mbps XAVC S-I All-Intra (75 MB/s), which exceeds the V60 ceiling during sustained recording. If you primarily shoot H.265 or don’t use high-bitrate All-Intra, V60 saves meaningful money without affecting footage quality. The exception is S&Q slow motion: the camera writes several times the listed bitrate during capture (up to 500–560 Mbps in XAVC HS and XAVC S), so Sony requires V90 for it, and XAVC S-I in S&Q requires a CFexpress Type A card.

Beyond Storage: Completing Your Sony A7V Setup

Once your storage is sorted, the next step is rounding out the rest of your kit, from cages and batteries to external monitors for that 4K/120p output. Check out my full guide to the Best Sony A7V Accessories for the essentials I’ve tested with this camera.