When people ask me for advice on buying an SD card, I usually say something counterintuitive: don’t just grab the biggest one you can find.
Here’s why:
- Size sweet spot – Bigger cards feel convenient, but in practice I rarely need more than 64GB per travel day (and that’s shooting RAW on a modern sensor). A 64GB or 128GB card is usually the best balance, depending on your style of photography.
- Carry more cards – They weigh almost nothing, and having backups protects you from loss or failure. Losing a smaller, cheaper card hurts a lot less than losing a giant one filled with a week’s worth of shots.
- Longevity – Cards don’t last forever. Their lifespan is measured in read/write cycles. Spreading your usage across multiple cards makes your whole setup last longer.
- Avoid microSD + adapter – They’re slower, more fragile, and worse with heat. Stick to full-size SD cards.
- Speed matters – If your camera supports it, go with UHS-II. Faster write speeds mean less waiting and better burst performance.