The Canon EOS M50 doesn’t come with a memory card as standard. Even though it’s essential, it falls firmly into the “sold separately” category of accessories.
Some retailers put together bundle deals that might include a memory card, but chances are you’ll have to pick one up separately. Even if you got a bundle, those included cards are often on the small side and fill up quickly, especially if you are taking the camera on a trip.
Canon formally discontinued the EOS M system and the EF-M mount in October 2023 and put its mirrorless development into the RF mount. The EOS M50 is still an incredibly popular, lightweight travel and vlogging camera, and it’s now mostly bought used. Because it relies on slightly older memory card technology, you can easily overpay for a card if you don’t know exactly what to look for.
But what type of memory card should you get for the M50? That’s where this post comes in. I want to help you get out shooting sooner rather than spending your time searching the web trying to make sense of cryptic technical codes. I’ve been buying and testing numerous SD cards for several years and have put many of the most popular options on the market through their paces.
Canon M50 SD Card Quick Recommendations
If you just want some quick recommendations on which memory card to get for your Canon M50, here you go. Any of these will work beautifully. They meet the technical needs of the M50’s features, have a strong track record of reliability, are readily available, and are highly cost-effective.
- Type: SDXC / SDHC
- Video Speed Class: V30
- UHS Bus Interface Type: UHS-I
- Maximum Read Speed: 230 MB/s
- Storage Capacities: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Check current price and availability at:
- Video Speed Class: V30
- UHS Bus Interface Type: UHS-I
- Maximum Read Speed: 150 MB/s
- Storage Capacities: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB
Check current price and availability at:
- Type: SDXC
- Video Speed Class: V30
- UHS Bus Interface Type: UHS-I
- Maximum Read Speed: Up to 180 MB/s
- Storage Capacities: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Check current price and availability at:
Recommendations checked: August 2026
Canon M50 memory card compatibility & requirements
The Canon EOS M50 is a compact interchangeable lens camera with a 24.1-megapixel APS-C sensor. It shoots 4K video with a maximum video bitrate of 120 Mbps. It has a single SD card slot that uses an older UHS-I interface, and it is compatible with standard SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards.
The EOS M50 Mark II is the same story for card purposes. It uses the same 24.1-megapixel sensor, the same single UHS-I slot, and the same 120 Mbps maximum bitrate in 4K, so every recommendation here applies to it too. What Canon changed between the two was autofocus and livestreaming, not the card hardware.
Shooting video is the most demanding mode for memory cards. On the M50, when shooting in 4K, the camera writes data at up to 120 Mb/s. You absolutely need a card that can keep up with that stream, otherwise your recording will randomly stop. But it’s still well below some higher-end modern models that shoot at up to 400 Mb/s or more.
So the M50 needs a card that is relatively fast, but it doesn’t need the fastest SD card money can buy.
You can put a super-fast UHS-II V90 SD card in the M50 if you want, but because of the camera’s UHS-I interface, you won’t get any extra speed benefit when shooting. It won’t clear your photo buffer any faster, and it certainly won’t help you take better photos. So why pay a massive premium for high performance that your M50 physically cannot use?
By all means, if you already have a fast UHS-II SD card on hand, you can use it (it is backwards compatible). But if you are buying new, it makes much more sense to go with a highly reliable, cost-effective UHS-I card.
Canon’s guidance on memory cards for the EOS M50
If you go looking in the M50’s instruction manual, you’ll find it’s not very helpful. It essentially just says to use SD, SDHC, or SDXC cards and that UHS-I memory cards are supported. That clears up almost nothing.
I am focusing here on cards that offer a good combination of meeting the requirements of all of the M50’s features, are readily available at major retailers, are cost-effective, and come from major manufacturers with track records for good-quality cards. I’m also basing this on my own SD speed tests.
These cards are all rated V30 and work well in a very wide variety of cameras, with good versatility for shooting photos and 4K video.
My emphasis here is on cards that meet these criteria:
- They're fast enough for all the features of this camera.
- They're from a reputable and reliable brand, so you can count on them working well.
- They're readily available at major retailers, so you should be able to find them without much trouble.
- They're good value for money, so you're not paying too much for a card that is more than your camera can take full advantage of.
If you want to use a faster, fancier card, you can, but you won't see any extra benefit in doing so while you're operating the camera (but you might see some faster speeds when downloading the photos to a computer, depending on your computer and memory card reader combination). And, as always, I recommend buying from a major retailer to minimize the chances of getting burned with a counterfeit memory card.
SanDisk Extreme V30 UHS-I
- Type: SDXC / SDHC
- Video Speed Class: V30
- UHS Bus Interface Type: UHS-I
- Maximum Read Speed: 230 MB/s
- Storage Capacities: 32GB, 64GB, 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Check current price and availability at:
SanDisk's Extreme range are good bets for many cameras, and that's true here too. SanDisk has faster ranges, like the Extreme Pro line, but this Extreme line is both quick enough for most cameras and usually less expensive than those faster cards.
One thing to note with SanDisk cards is that they recycle their model names. So you can find Extreme cards that are older and slower. You'll probably find those older versions work just fine — it really depends how far back you go. I've used many SanDisk Extreme cards over the years in many different cameras and have found them to be very reliable. They're also often good value, and you can sometimes find them sold in 2-packs (it's always good to have a spare on hand!).
Lexar High-Performance 800x PRO BLUE Series V30 UHS-I
- Video Speed Class: V30
- UHS Bus Interface Type: UHS-I
- Maximum Read Speed: 150 MB/s
- Storage Capacities: 64GB, 128GB, 256GB
Check current price and availability at:
The Lexar 800x Pro range is a relatively new model that replaces the old 633x cards that were mainstays of Lexar's SD cards for a long time. This newer V30 card is still a good combination of speed, reliability, and value, and you can often find them in multipacks to have spares on hand.
Delkin Devices ADVANTAGE V30 UHS-I SDXC (180 MB/s)
- Type: SDXC
- Video Speed Class: V30
- UHS Bus Interface Type: UHS-I
- Maximum Read Speed: Up to 180 MB/s
- Storage Capacities: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB, 1TB
Check current price and availability at:
Delkin Devices have recently come out with a range of new SD cards of varying speeds and specs. This is one of their mid-range cards that is rated for V30 video recording speeds. This newer version is rated for read speeds of up to 180 MB/s (the older version of the Advantage maxxed out at 90 MB/s).
Nextorage Classic V30 UHS-I SDXC Card
- Type: SDXC
- Video Speed Class: V30
- UHS Bus Interface Type: UHS-I
- Maximum Read Speed: Up to 200 MB/s
- Storage Capacities: 128GB, 256GB, 512GB
Check current price and availability at:
Japanese brand Nextorage makes excellent memory cards, although they're not always easy to find in stores in the US. But if you can find them, in my experience they're a very good bet. This is their basic (or "Classic") model, rated for V30.
Recommendations checked: August 2026
What size SD card to use in the Canon EOS M50?
The M50 is compatible with both SDHC (up to 32GB) and SDXC (64GB and above) cards. The current sweet spot for a combination of convenience and price is usually a 64GB or 128GB SDXC card. It’s mostly a matter of how much video footage or photo data you want to store before needing to download it to your computer.
There’s a practical difference beyond capacity, too. SDHC cards (32GB and under) get formatted as FAT32, so a video file that passes 4GB is split and recording continues in a new file that you have to stitch back together later. SDXC cards (64GB and up) use exFAT, and the clip keeps going as a single file. Either way, the M50 stops a single clip at 29 minutes 59 seconds.
Things worth knowing about SD cards
Decoding the SD card codes
Most cards available now have a dizzying mix of speed class codes printed on them. Here is exactly what matters for the Canon M50:
- UHS-I vs UHS-II: This refers to the physical interface bus, which I’ve explained in more detail in UHS-I vs UHS-II on microSD & SD cards. Because the M50 has a UHS-I slot, there is no in-camera benefit to buying an expensive UHS-II card. Stick with UHS-I.
- Video Speed Classes (V30 / U3): Because recording 4K video is the most demanding operation the M50 does, you need a card with a guaranteed minimum sequential write speed. To handle the M50’s 120 Mbps bitrate, look for a card with a V30 or U3 logo. (V60 and V90 cards are fine, but overkill).
- Read vs. Write Speeds: The massive number printed on the front of an SD card box (like “200 MB/s”) is almost always the Read Transfer Speed. This is how fast you can download files to your computer. What the camera actually cares about while shooting is the Sequential Write Speed. Don’t be fooled by high read speeds if the write speed isn’t rated to at least V30.
The ratings are easier to compare once you convert the units. The M50’s 120 Mbps works out to 15 MB/s, and a V30 or U3 card guarantees a sustained 30 MB/s, so you have roughly double the headroom the camera asks for. A plain Class 10 or U1 card only guarantees 10 MB/s, which is below what 4K recording needs, and that’s the one rating to steer clear of even though the same card will handle stills without complaint.
How to format memory cards in the Canon EOS M50
It is best practice to always format memory cards in the camera you’ll be using them in. That sets the card up with the correct filesystem and folder hierarchy, which greatly reduces the risk of unexpected errors and corrupt files.
On the Canon EOS M50, you can find the format function here:
Menu (Wrench Icon) > Format Card > OKThe M50 also has a Low-Level Formatting function. That’s a much more thorough, deep-cleaning operation that takes longer. For day-to-day formatting, you can leave the low-level format box unchecked. Low-level formatting is best used for troubleshooting a misbehaving memory card or if you really want to securely wipe the data.
If you’re having trouble formatting a card in-camera, the first troubleshooting step is to try formatting the card on a computer. I’ve put together guides on how to format SD cards on Mac and how to use the free SD Card Formatter app for Windows or Mac to avoid file system errors.
Great info.