If you’ve invested in a DSLR or mirrorless camera, then you’ve got an exciting photographic journey ahead of you – but there’s one thing that you’ll definitely need to get up and running, and that’s an SD card.

These days, with frame rates, resolutions and bitrates increasing at a rapid pace, our need for speedy, reliable storage with a high capacity is greater than ever.

Of course, many modern devices use the smaller microSD card standard, and if you need one of those we have a dedicated guide for exactly that. Most professional cameras opt for full-size SD cards, though, and that’s what we’ll be focusing on here.

Whether you need a blazing-fast card that can handle ProRes and 8K video, or just an affordable place to store your holiday snaps, we’ve got you covered. Here are the best SD cards available today.

If you’re hoping to shoot in the highest quality codecs or shoot super-fast image bursts, then you’ll need to invest in a seriously fast SD card. The SanDisk Extreme Pro is one of the fastest cards you can find, offering up to 300MB/s speeds and classified to the V90 standard for sustained performance.

It doesn’t come cheap, but it’ll unlock all the shooting modes you could require, and that makes it worth the asking price, in our view. It’s also a very reliable option, featuring a shockproof, temperature-proof, waterproof and X-ray-proof design.

If you don’t need quite as much speed but still want the utmost reliability, then you’ll want to check out the Samsung Pro Plus. It comes at a great price, and is V30 certified, ensuring great performance for 4K video shooting in standard bitrates.

When it comes to reliability, Samsung is a trusted name in flash memory with a great reputation. It goes one step further than SanDisk, adding wear-out-proofing to its list of resistances.

If storage capacity is what you need, then our top pick is again the SanDisk Extreme Pro, this time in its 1TB variety. Unfortunately, the 300MB/s V90 variant isn’t available in this capacity yet, so you’ll have to make do with 200MB/s speeds and V60 certification – but that’s still faster than most people would need.

In our view, the Extreme Pro is the most appealing option in this capacity, it offers great speeds, without the excessive pricing that can come with the territory.

The Sabrent Rocket SD card is an alternative to the ultra-speedy Extreme Pro V90. It’s not quite as quick, maxing out at 280MB/s rather than 300MB/s, but it carries the same V90 badge, so it’s likely to be usable in all the same scenarios as our top pick.

So, why would you choose this over the more popular SanDisk option? Well, there’s one simple reason, it’s significantly cheaper. And if you’re buying more than one card, that cost saving really starts to add up.

The PNY Elite-X SD card is available at a very attractive price point, especially if you opt for one of the multipack options, where the savings multiply further.

It might be the slowest card in our roundup, but it’s still no slouch, and V30 classification ensures that it’ll work for 4K video recording in less demanding codecs.

How to choose an SD card

If all these specifications have you confused, don’t worry, we’ll explain a few things to make your buying decisions easier.

Capacity

This one’s pretty straightforward, modern SD cards typically come in sizes ranging from 32GB to 2TB. If you know you’ll need a lot of storage, then it’s best to go for the largest capacity you can afford. The higher the storage, the higher the price, in most cases.

An alternative option is to buy multiple smaller cards and swap them out when they’re full. This can be useful if you want to separate different shoots, for example.

Speed

Speed classification is where things get a little more confusing, as there are three main standards and they’re all trying to communicate the same thing – the minimum sequential write speed.

We’ve mainly focused on the Video Speed Class (V10, V30 and so on) in this article, as this is the most recent and up-to-date classification.

This handy chart breaks down how what the different classifications mean. But your camera manufacturer will likely have speed recommendations listed on their website, too.

Anything else to consider?

The capacity and speed are the most important factors when choosing an SD card, but there are other factors to consider, too.

All reputable brands will offer some degree of resistance against shock and damage, but it’s the warranties that will differ the most. If you’re concerned about your investment in the long term, it’s worth checking how long the manufacturer’s warranty period is, as it might be the deciding factor between two similarly specced cards.