How important is speed?

I've got an EOS R on the way and I think I need an SD card as all my existing ones are 2GB cheapies from my point and shoot days. I plan to buy a good brand (SanDisk, Lexar, Sony, etc.) and I think 32GB will be plenty for the amount I plan to shoot before offloading to my laptop or phone. I understand the write speed directly translates into how quickly the camera's buffer can empty and therefore in some cases translate into how many shots you can burst or how much you can record. Seems like V90 are the top dogs, but is that speed needed on an R or will a V60 or V30 suffice?

I can’t speak to your speed needs but I suggest you not get your cards from Amazon. I suggest Best Buy, B&H or Adorama. They may be slightly higher in price than Amazon but you are far less likely to get a counterfeit card.

Sure, speed matters. The more files you have to unload, or large videos, you'll appreciate being able to copy it faster. Unloading a SD card at just 30~40MBps vs 90MBps feels so different. Saves half the time usually. If you shoot 4k video, you'll appreciate saving a few minutes. Same with lots of still images if you are a shutter bug with raw files. It's a few dollars more to get the fastest speeds. I would get the faster cards. Unless you just take a handful of images, no video, and shoot JPG or something.

Very best,

Honestly, for the way I shoot, I think the biggest benefit of a fast card is the read times, the download times.

I use 64gb UHS-II cards. I'll fill 30-40Gb or so on an average shoot. While not a huge, video-sized amount, that's still a significant chunk of data to move. I can read a UHS-II card half again as fast as the latest regular CF card and 3 times as fast as a UHS-I card.

UHS-II cards are backwards compatible with UHS-I, so if you have a UHS-II reader, you still get the speed benefits on the download end.

The R isn't a particularly speedy camera, from what I understand. You're probably not too worried about buffer rates and all that. Still, it's easy to fill up a card, even if you're working slowly. At least for me it is, and it always surprises me. But if your average outing only involves a few dozen exposures, you can get away with a small, slower card.

John from PA wrote in post #19371110
I can’t speak to your speed needs but I suggest you not get your cards from Amazon. I suggest Best Buy, B&H or Adorama. They may be slightly higher in price than Amazon but you are far less likely to get a counterfeit card.

Amazon from Third party sellers, but if it's sold by amazon themselves, I bet they are legit.

Here's a pretty good article specific to memory cards and the EOS R.
https://havecamerawill​travel.com …ory-card-recommendations/

strobe monkey wrote in post #19371153
Amazon from Third party sellers, but if it's sold by amazon themselves, I bet they are legit.

Actually just because they are sold by, filled by and shipped by Amazon doesn't give you a good guarantee they are genuine.

Amazon regards the products as fungible, meaning that an SD card made by brand xyz is the same regardless of who is selling it. Further, if a warehouse in Brooklyn runs out of stock of the brand xyz 32 GB cards, the order may be filled from a warehouse in Harrisburg PA regardless of who has supplied the cards in any given bin.

It is my understanding by a neighbor (BB Manager) that Amazon sells the same "as labeled" product from many vendors, and the ordering system handles the sale. So let's say I give Amazon 100 counterfeit copies of a brand XYZ 32 GB SD card to sell for me. Amazon also buys direct from the importer 100 copies of the genuine brand XYZ 32 GB SD card for sale under the conditions "filled and shipped by Amazon". All the cards labeled as brand XYZ are placed in the same stock bin and the computer simply handles who made the purchase, the vendor supplying the purchase and a robot (most likely) draws the card from the bin. But in this example you have a 50/50 chance of getting a counterfeit card. So buyer beware on these small commodity type of items; you may not know what you get, until you get it!

Now my same neighbor tells me that Best Buy at the Corporate level purchases thousands of cards every year, and they purchase them direct from the importer. They are then disseminated downward to the individual stores based on the BB inventory system. There isn't any unknown middle person, the card is supplied from importer >> Best Buy Corporate >> local Best Buy store >> consumer. The odds are much higher in this scenario to get the genuine article.

I don't know for sure but I would speculate that B&H, Adorama or any of the other biggies also buy in sufficiently large enough quantities direct from the importer to avoid any middle man being involved in the distribution chain.

Here are a few things I've learned from the article, Google, and this thread:

- SDXC is important (vs. SDHC) to prevent video files from chaptering at the 4GB mark. First world problems, but I don't want to stitch together my files.
- UHS-II is important as it is a newer interface than UHS-I and offers higher speeds across the board. I know it is just one part of the speed equation, but the R and my Surface Book support it, and I think it'll lend itself to more consistent performance.
- SanDisk's SDXC UHS-II cards start at $100 so I've put them out of my budget.
- I've got a pile of Amazon credit that I'd like to use up, but I'll keep an eye out for unknown sellers. I also plan to test the performance of my card when I get it.

$33 Lexar is currently the frontrunner due to its price, capacity, and brand:
https://www.amazon.com …ack-Uhs-II/dp/B07NLWGKT4/

$35 Sony card is neck and neck:
https://www.amazon.com …60MB-SF-M64/dp/B01D8H087G

This $58 Sony TOUGH-M is only available in 128GB from Amazon but might be worth the premium. 128GB is an absolute pile of storage though. I can fit over 2500 50MB RAWs or ~35 minutes of 4K video at ALL I compression (highest quality) 2 hours with IPB compression. That's way more than I'll use.
https://www.amazon.com …SF-M128T-T1/dp/B07YNSS9X2

Similar to this $50 128GB Lexar:
https://www.amazon.com …7x-UHS-II-LSD128CBNA1667/

Somewhat unknown $37 Lexar card, but I could make use of some of the accessories including the card reader for my desktop:
https://www.amazon.com …-Microfiber/dp/B09VVJJ2​4B

beatle wrote in post #19371231
Here are a few things I've learned from the article, Google, and this thread:

- SDXC is important (vs. SDHC) to prevent video files from chaptering at the 4GB mark. First world problems, but I don't want to stitch together my files.
- UHS-II is important as it is a newer interface than UHS-I and offers higher speeds across the board. I know it is just one part of the speed equation, but the R and my Surface Book support it, and I think it'll lend itself to more consistent performance.
- SanDisk's SDXC UHS-II cards start at $100 so I've put them out of my budget.
- I've got a pile of Amazon credit that I'd like to use up, but I'll keep an eye out for unknown sellers. I also plan to test the performance of my card when I get it.

$33 Lexar is currently the frontrunner due to its price, capacity, and brand:
https://www.amazon.com …ack-Uhs-II/dp/B07NLWGKT4/

$35 Sony card is neck and neck:
https://www.amazon.com …60MB-SF-M64/dp/B01D8H087G

This $58 Sony TOUGH-M is only available in 128GB from Amazon but might be worth the premium. 128GB is an absolute pile of storage though. I can fit over 2500 50MB RAWs or ~35 minutes of 4K video at ALL I compression (highest quality) 2 hours with IPB compression. That's way more than I'll use.
https://www.amazon.com …SF-M128T-T1/dp/B07YNSS9X2

Similar to this $50 128GB Lexar:
https://www.amazon.com …7x-UHS-II-LSD128CBNA1667/

Somewhat unknown $37 Lexar card, but I could make use of some of the accessories including the card reader for my desktop:
https://www.amazon.com …-Microfiber/dp/B09VVJJ2​4B

I would suggest you do something to narrow down the actual vendor doing the shipping. For instance if you select that 1st Amazon offering, the Lexar 64 GB, then under “other sellers” you’ll find Adorama listed and shown as the seller and shipper. That will minimize your exposure to a counterfeit card. Similar choices may also exist with some of your other options and allow you to burn up the Amazon credits.

Looks like I can also buy the Sony Tough M in a 64GB size if I choose other sellers including Adorama. According to Amazon they have relatively slow shipping, delivery 5/4 - 5/10. That seems long, but I haven't ordered from Adorama in years and it wasn't through Amazon. If they ship out of NY that's only a few hours away. I'd think I'd get the card it sooner than that.

beatle wrote in post #19371231
Here are a few things I've learned from the article, Google, and this thread:

- SDXC is important (vs. SDHC) to prevent video files from chaptering at the 4GB mark. First world problems, but I don't want to stitch together my files.
- UHS-II is important as it is a newer interface than UHS-I and offers higher speeds across the board. I know it is just one part of the speed equation, but the R and my Surface Book support it, and I think it'll lend itself to more consistent performance.
- SanDisk's SDXC UHS-II cards start at $100 so I've put them out of my budget.
- I've got a pile of Amazon credit that I'd like to use up, but I'll keep an eye out for unknown sellers. I also plan to test the performance of my card when I get it.

$33 Lexar is currently the frontrunner due to its price, capacity, and brand:
https://www.amazon.com …ack-Uhs-II/dp/B07NLWGKT4/

$35 Sony card is neck and neck:
https://www.amazon.com …60MB-SF-M64/dp/B01D8H087G

This $58 Sony TOUGH-M is only available in 128GB from Amazon but might be worth the premium. 128GB is an absolute pile of storage though. I can fit over 2500 50MB RAWs or ~35 minutes of 4K video at ALL I compression (highest quality) 2 hours with IPB compression. That's way more than I'll use.
https://www.amazon.com …SF-M128T-T1/dp/B07YNSS9X2

Similar to this $50 128GB Lexar:
https://www.amazon.com …7x-UHS-II-LSD128CBNA1667/

Somewhat unknown $37 Lexar card, but I could make use of some of the accessories including the card reader for my desktop:
https://www.amazon.com …-Microfiber/dp/B09VVJJ2​4B

Check out ProGrade:

https://www.amazon.com …h_asin_title?ie​=UTF8&th=1

I use these and they handle endless bursts of fast FPS and 4k 60 FPS video without a hitch.

Very best,

beatle wrote in post #19371262
Looks like I can also buy the Sony Tough M in a 64GB size if I choose other sellers including Adorama. According to Amazon they have relatively slow shipping, delivery 5/4 - 5/10. That seems long, but I haven't ordered from Adorama in years and it wasn't through Amazon. If they ship out of NY that's only a few hours away. I'd think I'd get the card it sooner than that.

I use the Sony M cards and they work really well. With the Sony UHS-II card reader I get an average of about 250mb/s when copying to an SSD which is good enough for me.

This is the website I've used to gauge memory card performance for my cameras and there's a dedicated post to the EOS R. The M Tough is the fastest of the V60 in the EOS R.
https://alikgriffin.co​m …memory-cards-canon-eos-r/

When I was buying memory cards for my Fujifilm X-T3 I determined that the extra write speed of V90 cards wasn't worth the price increase and so far I don't have any complaints. Admittedly I was buying two 128gb cards which made a massive difference in price between the two. If I was only buying a single 64gb card, I probably would have gone for the V90 just because.

I was at my local camera shop yesterday and picked up a 64GB Sony Tough M for $45 (and a Slide camera strap). I know I'll end up spending those Amazon dollars on something eventually.