SD Card Choices for A7S III: A Comprehensive Guide

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The Sony A7S III supports 4K 50/60p 10bit 4:2:2 I-frame encoding recording format, and can go up to 4K 120p for slow-motion. It has a dual card slot design that supports both SD cards and the latest CFexpress Type A storage cards. CFexpress Type A cards are relatively more expensive than SD cards, so many friends worry that while they can afford the A7S III, they cannot afford the storage cards.

In fact, the Sony A7S III must use a CFexpress Type A card only in one situation: when recording S&Q slow-motion video in XAVC S-I 3840×2160 10bit 4:2:2 H.264 intra-frame compression format. In other cases, a more cost-effective SDXC V60/V90 storage card will suffice.

XAVC S 4K 3840x2160 H.264 inter-frame compression recording format can use SDXC V60 cards for recording, whether it is 10bit 4:2:2 or 8bit 4:2:0, for frame rates from 24-120p, or for recording S&Q slow-motion video. As shown in the image, a 256GB V60 card costs less than a thousand yuan and supports UHD 4K 10bit 4:2:2 inter-frame compression recording formats, including slow-motion shooting. The bitrate is relatively lower than other recording formats of A7S III, saving long-term storage space on hard drives, and the real-time performance for post-editing is also good. I recommend using this method for daily recording.

H.265 encoded XAVC HS 4K 3840x2160 inter-frame compression recording format can also use SDXC V90 cards for recording, whether it is 10bit 4:2:2 or 10bit 4:2:0, for frame rates from 24-120p, or for recording S&Q slow-motion video. As shown in the image, there is a significant price difference among different brands of V90 cards.

It is worth noting that SD cards have a long history, and the related markings are very complex. When choosing an SDXC V60/V90 storage card suitable for the A7S III, you need to pay attention to the following three details:

1.

The capacity must be greater than 32GB, which means starting from 64GB. The SDHC standard capacity is 2-32GB, while the SDXC standard capacity is 32GB-2TB. Since no manufacturer produces storage cards with capacities between 32-64GB, the minimum capacity SDXC storage card that the A7S III can choose is 64GB.

2.

It must support UHS II or higher standards. As shown in the image, UHS II standard has two rows of gold contacts. UHS II usually appears in combination with the SDXC logo.

3.

The storage card must clearly indicate V60 or V90. The so-called V60 and V90 mean that these storage cards can stably record at 60MB/S (480Mbps) and 90MB/S (720Mbps) for a long time when recording video. Unlike the peak bitrate that the storage card labels itself, V60 and V90 emphasize stable data transmission performance during long recordings.

The SanDisk storage card on the left in the image, although its capacity is greater than 32GB and has the SDXC and UHS II markings, and indicates a speed of 300MB/S, which is higher than the maximum bitrate recorded by the A7S III, it does not have the V60 or V90 labels. After testing, it cannot support various recording formats well in the A7S III.

If you have a 32GB SDXC V90 storage card, when formatting it in the A7S III, it defaults to FAT32 format, which limits the maximum size of a single file to 4GB, unable to meet the needs of the A7S III for various high-bitrate formats. To achieve smooth recording, format it to exFAT on a computer, which also supports various V90-level video formats.