00:00Let's talk memory cards. If you're a Sony a7R5 owner or will be purchasing one and you're thinking
00:04about what types of memory cards you'll want to buy, there are a number of factors you'll want
00:08to consider. Because yes, it is entirely possible that you may spend more on a card that you don't
00:12need or that you might not spend enough on a card that you do need. So without further ado,
00:16a simple guide of five things you're going to want to consider when picking up memory cards
00:19for your a7R5. Now when we're talking about memory cards, arguably the first thing we have
00:23to consider here is number one, the supported card types. So the Sony a7R5 has two card slots,
00:29both of which support CFexpress Type-A and UHS-II SD cards. And ultimately this is very similar to
00:34Sony's other top-of-the-line alpha cameras like the a7S III, the FX3, and the A1. But there is
00:39a
00:40distinction here, because with cameras like the a7S III, as I mentioned before, you're going to
00:43have certain resolutions, frame rates, and codecs that will not be supported unless you're shooting
00:48with CFexpress Type-A cards. But this is not the case for every Sony camera, because as my video
00:52on memory cards for the Sony a7IV on my channel shows, there are newer cameras in the Sony system
00:57that allow you to use only SD cards and get the full range of capabilities of that camera.
01:01And all of that comes to point number two, which is, do you need CFexpress Type-A cards?
01:05That answer is more than likely, no. With a photography-oriented camera like the a7R5,
01:10really the biggest advantage you're going to get with CFexpress Type-A cards is the ability
01:13for the camera to clear its buffer a bit quicker than with SD cards. But unless you're
01:17someone that's typically shooting very high frame rate bursts on the order of hundreds if not
01:20a thousand plus photos, this is something you're really not going to notice any appreciable difference
01:24with. And in fact, for certain photo quality options like lossless uncompressed raw, you will
01:28still be able to get close to a thousand shots before hitting the buffer on this camera. But this
01:32is even more so worth talking about on the video side, because much like the a7IV, when it comes
01:37to CFexpress Type-A versus SD cards, the a7R5 supports shooting all resolutions, frame rates,
01:43and codecs using only SD cards. But this is not true necessarily of all SD cards. And if there is
01:48one
01:48differentiating factor between what different types of SD cards will support, it is the V or video speed
01:53class rating that is going to determine this. Because yes, while the a7R5 supports shooting
01:58video in HD, 4K, and all the way up to 8K24P, and does so across a range of Sony codecs
02:03including
02:05XAVCHS, XAVCS, and XAVCSI, and offers this in the regular movie recording mode as well as the
02:10SNQ or slow and quick mode, depending on whether the SD card that you're using is a V30, a V60,
02:16or a V90 rated card, this is going to ultimately determine which of those different resolutions,
02:20frame rates, and codecs that you can shoot in. Which speaks to point number three, which is,
02:25V30 cards get you some things. Now while you will be able to film in HD and 4K using Sony's
02:30XAVCS and XAVCHS codecs with V30 cards, you will not be able to film in Sony's highest quality
02:35all-intra or XAVCSI codec in HD or 4K, nor will you be able to film in 8K using the
02:42XAVCHS codec.
02:43Now as an interesting caveat to XAVCHS 8K, you technically can record in the 200 megabits bitrate
02:48option using a V30 card, but because you cannot record with the 400 megabits version of that
02:52codec with a V30 card, this particular resolution and codec option isn't officially supported by
02:56Sony for the a7R5. But perhaps the largest limitation with V30 cards will come with SNQ mode,
03:02because you will not be able to shoot in any of the different video recording modes using SNQ mode
03:06with a V30 card. But that might beg the question of what V60 cards offer over V30 cards, which is
03:11to
03:12point number four, V60 cards get you most things. Yes, much like the HD and 4K options you got in
03:17regular movie
03:17recording mode with a V30 card, you will now gain the ability to shoot 8K footage in XAVCHS using a
03:23V60 card. But perhaps an even greater advantage with V60 cards is that when it comes to SNQ mode,
03:28all of those different movie recording options you saw that were available with a V30 card,
03:32you're now going to get in SNQ mode with a V60 card. But of course what you might still notice
03:36is
03:37that for both movie recording and SNQ mode, when it comes to the XAVCSI codec, these are still not
03:42available even using a V60 card. Which means yes, to shoot in Sony's highest quality all-intra codec,
03:47you will still need to look a card level above a V60 to achieve this. Which all brings us to
03:51point
03:52number five, which is V90 cards get you everything. Yes, every resolution, frame rate, and codec option
03:58when it comes to the movie recording mode in the a7R5, including XAVCSI, and yes, the same when it
04:03comes to the XAVCSI codec using SNQ mode. With V90 cards, you effectively unlock the ability to use
04:08the full range of video capabilities with this camera. Now, I believe there is one small caveat in
04:13that on the XAVCSI 4K SNQ mode side. If you choose a very particular frame rate and recording frame
04:19rate combination, you may still need a CFexpress Type-A card. But this is such a minute corner case
04:23in the grand scheme of things that if we're utilizing, say, a 99 to 1 rule, V90 SD cards really
04:28get you just about everything you need. Which yes, V90 SD cards are what I use in my Sony Alpha
04:32cameras,
04:33and that might beg the question of what SD cards I would recommend. So I use and have been using
04:37the
04:37Prograde V90 UHS-II SD cards in my Sony a7S III, my a7 IV, and now my a7R5 for the
04:44better part of
04:45two years or so. I now have six of these cards and have shot countless professional gigs using them,
04:49and in fact, just about any piece of content that you can find on this YouTube channel. And in the
04:53time that I've had these cards, I have had zero, yes, zero issues with them. Need I say more? To
04:58me,
04:58when it comes to SD cards, I think Prograde has struck the perfect balance between affordability and
05:02quality. And so I highly, highly recommend these. That said, if you're someone that thinks a V60 SD
05:07card or even a CFexpress Type-A card is worthy of considering, they offer both of these models as
05:12well. And I will leave links in the description below to all of these. But one of the things
05:15that no one seems to talk about is card size. And in a camera that shoots as high resolution stills
05:20in
05:208K video like the a7R5, this is going to have some interesting implications. So for one more thing,
05:25let's talk about memory card size considerations for the a7R5. So for reference, each of my Prograde
05:30V90 SD cards are 256 gigs. Now when it comes to shooting raw stills with this camera, using
05:35uncompressed raw, I can get a little bit less than 1850 photos on that 256 gig card. Yet at the
05:42other
05:42end of the spectrum, shooting small lossless compressed photos, I can get a little bit less
05:46than 6500 photos with that same card. And if you're someone that shoots compressed raw, this falls in at
05:51around 3400 photos or roughly in the middle between these two values. And again, in a camera like the a7R5,
05:56where you have a 61 megapixel sensor, this is really a case where that is going to impact
06:00card size. Because if we were to compare those numbers to a camera like my Sony a7R4, which
06:05utilizes a 33 megapixel sensor, that is a camera where I can get roughly 3300 uncompressed raw photos,
06:11going all the way up to just shy of 10,000 small lossless compressed raw photos, with lossy
06:16compressed raw photos again coming in and around the middle at around 6100. So yes, I would highly consider
06:21how many shots you typically take on a particular outing or gig, and weigh that against what card size you
06:25think you'll need and how often you want to be changing memory cards.
06:28But when it comes to video and card size, while the megapixel count isn't going to be a factor here,
06:33both the resolution and even more so the codec is going to play a pivotal role in how long you
06:37can record for.
06:38So if you're someone that typically shoots in 4k 24 frames per second like I do,
06:42you're going to be able to yield around 2 hours and 17 minutes in the highest quality XAVC-SI codec.
06:47Now using Sony's tried and true middle-of-the-road XAVC-S codec will get you around 5 hours and
06:5218 minutes of record time,
06:53but if you're someone that prefers the smaller file sizes and more compressed nature of the XAVC-HS codec,
06:58this can get you as much as 10 hours and 4 minutes in 4k 24. Now if we take that
07:03same comparison and
07:04apply to 4k 60 frames per second, this is a case where with the XAVC-SI codec you will get
07:09around
07:0955 minutes of record time. However, go to the XAVC-S codec and you will get 2 hours and 39
07:15minutes,
07:16and going to XAVC-HS you will get 5 hours and 2 minutes. And yes, for those that want to
07:20shoot
07:208k 24 frames per second in this camera, while you can only do that with the XAVC-HS codec,
07:25this will get you around 2 hours and 43 minutes using the same 256 gig card size.
07:30Now again, depending on what card size you're looking at, you can take these numbers I've
07:33outlined here and say roughly half them if you're looking at a 128 gig card, or perhaps double them
07:38if you want to look at a 512 gig card. At the end of the day, the choice is really
07:42yours,
07:42but because this camera shoots 61 megapixel resolution stills and up to 8k video, I really do think you
07:48would not want to go any smaller than a 64 gig card. And frankly, whether you intend to use
07:52the a7r5 for photo and or video, I really do think the 128 or the 256 gig card size are
07:58what will be
07:58your best bet for this camera. So that is my take on a simple memory card guide for the Sony
08:02a7r5.
08:03Hopefully this video has been of some help to you. Feel free to leave a like and subscribe if it
08:07has.
08:07A lot more content to come on the a7r5 on this channel, so definitely be on the lookout for that.
08:11For now, that is all I have to say, so thanks for watching.
