Recommended Memory Cards for the Nikon D7100

The Nikon D7100 doesn’t come with a memory card as standard. Some retailers put together bundles that include a few accessories–sometimes including a memory card–but if you haven’t gotten one of those bundles, chances are you’ll need to pick up an SD card separately.

But you’ll find that the instruction manual isn’t especially helpful in guiding you to a good choice in SD cards. So I’m hoping to make things easier by giving a rundown of what to look for in SD cards for the Nikon D7100, along with providing some practical recommendations.

Best SD Cards for the Nikon D7100: Quick Recommendations

If you’re just after some quick recommendations so you can get on with shooting asap, here you go. These are usually pretty easy to find at major retailers, come from reliable manufacturers, and are cost-effective.

Recommended Memory Cards for the Nikon D7100: The More Detailed Version

First, the basics. The Nikon D7100 takes SD cards. That’s the larger of the SD sizes; there’s a smaller microSD size that often used in action cameras, smartphones, and gaming devices.

The D7100 has two memory card slots (or dual slots), and you have some options in how those slots are used. You don’t have to fill both slots if you don’t want to–it’ll work just fine with only one memory card–but using two opens up some useful features.

For example, the “overflow” option uses them in sequence, automatically rolling over to the card in slot 2 when the card in slot 1 is full. The “backup” option lets you create duplicate copies at the time you take the photo, one on each card. And, finally, Or you can designate a JPEG version of the image to save to one card while a RAW version is saved to the other (the “RAW slot 1 – JPEG slot 2” option). You can also designate which slot is used for recording video.

The D7100 is compatible with both SDHC and SDXC memory cards. When it comes to buying memory cards, the practical difference is that SDHC cards are 32GB or smaller, while SDXC cards are 64GB or larger. In fact, the difference is more technical–those two specifications refer to the filesystem they’re formatted with–the SDHC specification uses FAT32 formatting, while the SDXC specification uses exFAT–but when it comes to buying memory cards, the practical difference is that cards 32GB and smaller will be labeled SDHC and cards 64GB and larger will be labeled SDXC.¹

The D7100 is an older camera now, and compared to newer cameras it’s not especially demanding on the speed requirements of the memory cards you put in it. The most intensive process is when it’s recording video. When shooting photos, the camera will take advantage of its own internal buffer memory. This is a temporary memory space where photos can be stored while they’re waiting in the queue to be written to the memory card. Depending on the file format you’re saving the photos in, you can get up to 100 photos in the memory buffer (or as few as 6 if you’re shooting in NEF lossless compressed 14-bit mode). Once the buffer is full, you’ll notice a slowdown as the camera has to wait for images to be written to the memory card (writing to the memory card is much slower than writing to the internal buffer).

With video, it works a little differently. That’s because there’s no opportunity for the camera to stop and wait with video. If the internal buffer were to fill up, there’s no way to slow down the shutter speed to wait for the card to catch up. So you’ll need a card that can handle a constant stream of data being written to it quite quickly (known as sequential write speed).

Put another way, when shooting still photos, having an SD card that’s fast enough is mostly about convenience. But when it comes to shooting videos, it’s essential.

That said, the D7100 was released back in February 2013. Since then, memory card manufacturers have been releasing ever faster cards. The upshot is that it’s easy these days to find a card that’s fast enough, and you don’t need to stress the wallet to do it.

It’s also worth pointing out that there’s no need to get the latest and greatest (and that usually means expensive) SD cards for the D7100. By all means, use them if you want or if you already have them on hand–you won’t do any harm, but you also won’t see much meaningful benefit from it in the camera.²

Nikon’s Officially Approved Memory Cards for the Nikon D7100

Nikon’s instruction manuals (or those from many camera manufacturers, for that matter) are not especially helpful in suggesting which memory cards work best in the camera. It’s not really their fault–they can’t keep the manual updated constantly as new memory cards come out.

For the D7100, this is their guidance for Approved Memory Cards (from p.347 of the manual:

Finding a card that’s class 6 or faster is easy these days because memory card specs have moved well beyond class 6. In fact, you’ll be hard-pressed to find a card that’s not at least class 10 now.

Recommended Memory Cards for the Nikon D7100

With Nikon’s guidance in mind, combined with the findings from my own real-world speed tests of SD cards, here are some specific, practical recommendations for memory cards to use in the Nikon D7100. I’ve updated this to account for current models of memory cards that you should be able to find pretty easily.

My emphasis here is on cards that meet the requirements to use all of the camera’s features, are readily available at major retailers, and are cost-effective. But these are by no means the only SD cards that will work in the D7100. My objective here, after all, is to help choose a good card that works so you can get on with the fun stuff, not to catalog every possible card that works in this camera. I have, however, tried to include a few different brands in case you have your own preferences for brands or some are easier to find in some locations than others.

Q&A

What Size Memory Card Works Best in the Nikon D7100?

You can use cards from 4GB up in the D7100, including some of the larger SDXC cards available these days in the 256GB+ range. Which size you choose to use comes down to convenience, your budget, and your own preferences. The larger the card, obviously, the more you can shoot before filling it up. That is one area where the dual slots of the D7100 come in handy, especially if you’re using the overflow setting. You can quite often find that two smaller cards are less expensive than one larger one.

The size of the photo and video files created by the D7100 depends on what settings you’re using. For instance, if you’re shooting photos in the JPEG Normal setting, the files will be much, much smaller than if you’re shooting in the 14-bit NEF mode.

The same goes for video. The top-end 1080p video modes are recorded at higher bitrates than lower-resolution modes, so those files will be much larger for a corresponding duration of footage.

Here are some estimates. These are based on Nikon’s own figures, but bear in mind that they’re only estimates. Any compressed formats will vary slightly from file to file–that’s the nature of how these types of image compression work. So it’s possible you might get a few more or a few less, and it’s always a good idea to leave yourself some wiggle room. These figures refer to using the DX crop mode, the larger of the two crop modes available on the D7100; the files when using the 1.3x crop mode are significantly smaller.

Quality Setting	Size Setting	File Size MB (approx)	16GB	32GB	64GB	128GB	256GB	Buffer Capacity
NEF (RAW), Lossless compressed, 12-bit		22.7	191	382	764	1528	3056	7
NEF (RAW), Lossless compressed, 14-bit		28.5	148	296	592	1184	2368	6
NEF (RAW), Compressed, 12-bit		20.2	260	520	1040	2080	4160	9
NEF (RAW), Compressed, 14-bit		24.9	217	434	868	1736	3472	8
JPEG Fine	Large	12	507	1014	2028	4056	8112	33
	Medium	7.4	853	1706	3412	6824	13648	100
	Small	3.8	1600	3200	6400	12800	25600	100
JPEG Normal	Large	6.2	1000	2000	4000	8000	16000	100
	Medium	3.7	1600	3200	6400	12800	25600	100
	Small	1.9	3200	6400	12800	25600	51200	100
JPEG Basic	Large	2.9	1900	3800	7600	15200	30400	100
	Medium	1.9	3200	6400	12800	25600	51200	100
	Small	1	6000	12000	24000	48000	96000	100

Estimates are calculated from Nikon's estimates (p.348 in D7100 product manual). Refers to DX crop mode; files when using 1.3x crop mode are smaller.

Do You Need to Fill Both Memory Card Slots in the D7100?

No, it will work just fine with only one SD card inserted–you don’t need to fill both slots. Obviously, though, you won’t be able to take advantage of some of the added features that depend on two cards, such as the overflow or backup recording features.

Do the Memory Cards Have to be the Same?

No, you can mix and match sizes and brands of the SD cards in each slot.

How to Format the SD Card in a Nikon D7100

While it’s possible to format SD cards in a computer, it’s much better practice to format them in the camera. That way the camera can set the card up exactly how it wants it, and it greatly reduces the risk of something going wrong.

There are two ways to format the memory cards in the d7100. The basic way is to use the menu system (Setup / Camera Setup > Format Memory Card).

There’s also a two-button shortcut. I’ve outlined that method in detail for the D7500 here. The process is the same for the d7100, with the exception that you can choose which slot to format on the d7100 because it has two slots to the D7500’s one.

How to Recover Photos if You’ve Accidentally Deleted Them

If you format the card before you’ve backed up the photos from it, it might still be possible to recover them. To do that you’ll need to fire up the computer–it’s not something that you can do in the camera. I’ve put together an overview on how to recover deleted photos from a memory card here.

Is it Normal for the Memory Cards to Get Hot?

Yes, it’s quite normal for the SD cards to get hot after some intensive writing, such as when happens when shooting photos rapidly or recording video.

Popular Accessories for the Nikon D7100

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