xqd card: Recently acquired a d500 and I love it. My question is; other than backup, am I losing anything by not using xqd card? I am not very 'tech savvy'. Never even heard of xqd...

lwheeler54

Recently acquired a d500 and I love it. My question is; other than backup, am I losing anything by not using xqd card? I am not very 'tech savvy'. Never even heard of xqd card until I got this camera. Been using sd card only,as xqd's are quite pricey. Appreciate any help you more experienced and knowledgeable people can give.
Thanks, Len

CindyHouk Loc: Nw MT

I got the D500 a few months ago and am wondering the same thing. I didn't purchase the xqd card because of price, curious as to what everyone will say.

jak86094

XQD cards are quite a bit faster (read/write speeds) than SD cards, so if you take a lot of multi-shot blasts, it may allow for more shots per second and longer sustained blasts. I think that’s the main benefit, but I’m the same as you and have not used anything but SD cards in my D500. jak

Bear2 Loc: Southeast,, MI

jak86094 wrote:

XQD cards are quite a bit faster (read/write speeds) than SD cards, so if you take a lot of multi-shot blasts, it may allow for more shots per second and longer sustained blasts. I think that’s the main benefit, but I’m the same as you and have not used anything but SD cards in my D500. jak

Can you use an SD card in the XQD slot, or are you just using the one SD card in the SD card slot?

Duane

MT Shooter Loc: Montana

lwheeler54 wrote:

Recently acquired a d500 and I love it. My question is; other than backup, am I losing anything by not using xqd card? I am not very 'tech savvy'. Never even heard of xqd card until I got this camera. Been using sd card only,as xqd's are quite pricey. Appreciate any help you more experienced and knowledgeable people can give.
Thanks, Len

XQD card is only really necessary for 4K video.
If you use a UHS II SD card it is fast enough for full 10fps shooting of stills, as well as 1080p video. UHS I SD cards won't buffer fast enough for much 10fps shooting.

jeep_daddy Loc: Prescott AZ

lwheeler54 wrote:

Recently acquired a d500 and I love it. My question is; other than backup, am I losing anything by not using xqd card? I am not very 'tech savvy'. Never even heard of xqd card until I got this camera. Been using sd card only,as xqd's are quite pricey. Appreciate any help you more experienced and knowledgeable people can give.
Thanks, Len

As Jak stated, they are extremely fast read/write cards. The benefit is that when you are shooting a burst of shots for a sustained amount of time, say 3 seconds or longer, the raw files that are extremely large compared to a jpg file, can be written very fast to the card so that you can take long bursts of pictures before the buffer fills up slowing the camera to a crawl. I usually only take long bursts when I encounter some kind of wildlife that is a first for me and take a long burst of pictures so if that bird or animal gets away I've not blown the chance to get all the pictures I can in hopes to get a really nice sharp image of it.

One other benefit is that the cards will also transfer the pictures to your computer faster since they have a fast read speed as well. So if you have a card with 1200 pictures on it you can upload them all to your computer in a minute or so instead of 10 minutes or more if you have a fast USB and fast card reader.

Madras Linda

I have the D500 and I love it. I have noticed a big difference on my action shots with the XQD card and since that is what I usually shoot I am very happy with it.

CDcobra Loc: Virginia

Bear2 wrote:

Can you use an SD card in the XQD slot, or are you just using the one SD card in the SD card slot?

Duane

The SD and XQD cards have 2 separate card slots and only fit in their slots respectively. And an idea for a cheaper alternative to getting XQD cards/ Card readers, but much faster read/write speeds then normal SD cards would be SONY SF-G series SD cards (approaching XQD card speeds at 300MB/s read and 299 MB/s write)
https://www.adorama.com/sosfg32t1.html

Bear2 Loc: Southeast,, MI

CDcobra wrote:

The SD and XQD cards have 2 separate card slots and only fit in their slots respectively. And an idea for a cheaper alternative to getting XQD cards/ Card readers, but much faster read/write speeds then normal SD cards would be SONY SF-G series SD cards (approaching XQD card speeds at 300MB/s read and 299 MB/s write)
https://www.adorama.com/sosfg32t1.html

Thanks, I have a D7200 and a D7000, obviously dual SD slots.
Happy with both, but someday???

Duane

grandpaw

I have the D500 and always use the XQD cards. They are much faster and allow you to take almost unlimited shot without a buffer problem. Isn’t that one of the reasons for choosing this camera in the first place. Would you buy an exspensive race car and put recap tires on it? Just my 2 cents worth.

CDcobra Loc: Virginia

grandpaw wrote:

I have the D500 and always use the XQD cards. They are much faster and allow you to take almost unlimited shot without a buffer problem. Isn’t that one of the reasons for choosing this camera in the first place. Would you buy an exspensive race car and put recap tires on it? Just my 2 cents worth.

I 100% agree grandpaw, while Im the same with my D500, I was trying to give another option for faster memory cards to go with if others don't want to make the jump to XQD cards yet. XQD cards are pricey but completely worth the money.

Strodav Loc: Houston, Tx

I have a Sony G-Series 400MB/s XQD 64GB mem card in one slot of my D500, which has been tested in the camera at 280.2MB/s and costs about $217. I have a Sony G-Series 300MB/s SDXC UHS-II 64GB mem card in the SD card slot at $107. I don't have the tested speed on that exact card, but the fastest tested SD card in the D500 is a Lexar Professional 2000x UHS-II at 163.3MB/s and costs about $101.

ChristianHJensen

Also D500 here. I use both cards. RAW on the XQD and JPEG on the SD card. That way I have both Raw files for editing in an editor (if necessary) and JPEGs readily available as well as having a backup of shots if one card fails

cameraf4 Loc: Delaware

I was in the same boat when I bought my D850. Had never heard of XQD cards until then and was shocked at the cost, but I bought one and a reader anyway. Although I never had any trouble with SanDisk SD cards, I am now a huge fan of XQD. Much faster, much easier to handle, more reassuring solid "feel" when handling one.

BJW

cameraf4 wrote:

I was in the same boat when I bought my D850. Had never heard of XQD cards until then and was shocked at the cost, but I bought one and a reader anyway. Although I never had any trouble with SanDisk SD cards, I am now a huge fan of XQD. Much faster, much easier to handle, more reassuring solid "feel" when handling one.

REPLY:

I haven’t found a better action camera than the D500 with the xqd card. Would be grateful though if I could find a xqd card reader that can be inserted into the thunder plug of an iPad Pro which I now use for post processing. Does anyone know of one? Thanks