What capacity SD card are you using for video?

I'm playing with a D7200 that I picked up in refurbished condition from Adorama a few weeks ago. I was testing the video features and videoing birds at various feeders in the yard. I quickly discovered video fills up a 32gb Sandisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s card after a few long videos and 150 NEF pictures on the card. I use two cards for a total of 64gb's. I'd like to know what the largest capacity card I can use with this camera and which brand you suggest. I'm thinking about picking up a couple of 128MB/s Sandisk Extreme Pro cards but if there are higher capacity cards that'll work I'll consider those too.

I use 64 gig Samsung 'Pro' cards. They seem a bit more robust than other makes and offer probably the best trade-off between capacity and economy.

 

However, I'm not really into video, and a 400+ RAW & fine JPEG capacity per card is plenty for me.

 

The D7200 is fully SDXC compatible AFAIK, and so should accept cards up to 256 GB, or whatever is the current highest capacity on the market.

 

You do realise there's an artificial 30 minute limit on DSLR video though? So there's not much point in buying cards that'll hold more than that amount, since the camera will need attention after a 30 minute take. Swapping cards takes only seconds in any case, and the battery will probably die before a 128GB card is filled.

I use mainly 64 GB, 90 MB/s cards, which were the "sweet spot" with regard to cost per gigabyte at the time. I think focus has moved on to 128 GB. There are 256 and 512 GB cards, but you pay a premium for the high density. Video chews up a lot of memory, so larger cards give you more flexibility when combined with still shots, and fewer changes in the field.

 

A 64 GB card will record 160 minutes at 50 Mb/s (MHz) or 80 minutes at 100 Mb/s (4K or 4,2,2 10-bit HD). Canon and Sony recommend 60 Mb/s cards at a minimum, which gives you a comfortable margin for capture. Faster cards download to a computer faster, and clear the buffer more quickly in the camera. A lot depends on the camera and subsequent card reader. In a random test R/W test (Quickbench by Intech) a 90 MB/s card gets 83 write and 150 read connected to a USB 3 port, but only about 36 when reading photos.

 

The 30 minute limit is imposed to avoid the 15% tariff (US) for video cameras. that is ample for vacation or family shots, even cinematic use, where clips seldom exceed 5 minutes, usually less. All it takes is a momentary stop to reset the clock for event photography (concerts, etc.). I have never experienced overheating. Perhaps that warning is misdirection from the real issue, MONEY. A well-known photographer told me his Canon 1D would get too hot to hold, shooting video in equatorial Africa.