Quick recommendations
If you just want some quick recommendations, here you go.
Any of these will work well in the D750.
These aren’t necessarily the fastest SD cards money can buy, but you don’t need that for the D750.
These offer a good combination of meeting the requirements of the D750’s features, have a strong track record of reliability, are readily available, and are usually 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
Any of these makes for a good choice. If you’re after more detail, you can find it below.
Nikon D750 memory card compatibility & requirements
A memory card is an essential accessory for the Nikon D750. Without it, you’re not going to be able to take many photos or shoot much video.
But the D780 doesn’t come with a memory card by default. There are some bundles that retailers put together that might include a memory card, but chances are it’s something you’re going to have to pick up separately. Or maybe you want something bigger with larger storage capacity — the cards that are included in bundles are often on the small side and might fill up quickly, especially if you’re on a trip. So which card should you get?
That’s where this post comes in — hopefully, to help you get out shooting sooner and take full advantage of your new camera’s features rather than spending your time searching the web and 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 SD cards on the market through their paces. You can find my main SD card tests here.
The Nikon D750 is a 24-megapixel DSLR with a full-frame FX sensor.
The Nikon D750 has two SD card slots with UHS-I interfaces. It’s compatible with SDXC, SDHC, and SD cards.
The D750’s instruction manual isn’t especially helpful on the topic of which SD card to get. This is what is buried on page 491 of the reference manual:
Approved Memory Cards
The camera supports SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards, including SDHC and SDXC cards compliant with UHS-I. Cards rated SD Speed Class 6 or better are recommended for movie recording; using sower cards may result in recording being interrupted. When choosing cards for use in card readers, be sure they are compatible with the device. Contact the manufacturer for information on features, operation, and limitations on use.
The benefits of using both memory card slots
The D750 has double memory card slots, but you don’t have to fill both to make the camera work. However, using both slots has advantages.
The second slot can be used for overflow — or, put another way, to use the cards in series for maximum storage space — or you can specify that either NEF (RAW) or JPG file versions can be saved to one card and the other format to the other card.
There’s also a built-in function to copy images from one card to the other.
Recommendations in detail
There are several different types of SD cards. So which SD card should you get for your Nikon D750? Here’s the more detailed version.
What I’m aiming to do here is provide some practical recommendations on which SD cards to get for the Nikon D750 so you can spend less time searching online and more time out shooting.
I’m not trying to list every SD card that works in the D750 — there are others that will work just fine as well. I’m focusing here on ones that offer a good combination of meeting the requirements of all of the D780’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.
Tip: Don’t buy an SD Express or SDUC card. Both might look just like regular SD cards, but they’re emerging standards, and this camera isn’t compatible with those types of cards.
As a technical matter, SD Express cards are designed to be backward compatible and will function in this camera, but the camera won’t be able to use any extra speed benefit, and it may, in fact, perform slower than a non-SD Express card. SDUC cards require a different interface and will not function in this camera.
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
Making sense of SD card specifications
You’ll find a range of different acronyms and codes on SD cards. Here’s a quick overview of which ones to look for.
SDHC vs. SDXC
Most of the cards you’ll see available now have either SDHC or SDXC printed on them.
The Nikon D750 will work with both SDHC and SDXC cards (and, for that matter, just plain SD cards, but they’re hard to find these days and have impractically small storage capacities). In general, I’d recommend SDXC cards.
These aren’t performance categories, as such. An SDXC card isn’t necessarily any faster than an SDHC card, and vice versa. But they’re important for compatibility with the camera and also in terms of storage capacity.
They’re categories assigned by the SD Association, which is the organization that oversees and develops the standards for SD and microSD cards. The difference between those two specifications is in 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.
UHS-I vs. UHS-II
The current generations of SD cards also have UHS-I or UHS-II on them (or often just an I or II). This refers to the type of interface that’s used to connect to the cards. It stands for ultra-high-speed bus.
Aside from whatever is printed on the card or packaging, you can tell UHS-I and UHS-II cards apart just by looking at them. UHS-I cards have a single row of contacts on the back. UHS-II cards have a second row of contacts.
UHS-I is the older, simpler bus interface. UHS-II is newer and potentially faster. But putting a UHS-II card in a UHS-I slot — as the D750 has — will result in it rolling back to UHS-I speeds.
Video Speed Classes
The SD Association has come out with various rating systems over the years to help buyers choose a card that’s suitable for use in cameras. Because recording high-resolution video (or, more specifically, high-bitrate video) is often the most demanding operation in terms of a camera and its memory card, it’s known as a video speed class rating system.
Most cards available now have a mix of old and new speed class codes printed on them. And while it’s helpful, it’s still an imperfect system for judging the speed of an SD card.
As a practical matter in the Nikon D750, cards that have any of these on them will be fast enough:
- U3
- V30
- V60
Cards with the V90 rating will also work well, but they’re overkill for the D750, and the camera won’t be able to take full advantage of their UHS-II speed.
There’s a separate rating system that you might also see on some cards. They might have an A1 or A2 on them. You can ignore that when choosing an SD card for a camera. It’s designed for the kinds of operations that gaming devices and smartphones do.
What size SD card to use in the Nikon D750
The D750 is compatible with SDHC and SDXC cards.
That means you can use cards from 4GB all the way to the largest cards currently available, which are 512GB and 1TB cards.1
There’s really no right answer when it comes to what size, or storage capacity, to get — it’s mostly a matter of convenience so that you don’t keep running out of space. As is probably obvious, you can fit twice as many photos on a 64GB card as on a 32GB card. And with a 128GB card, you can fit four times as many photos as on a 32GB. And so on. And that’s especially handy when you’re traveling; even more so if you’re shooting any video. The most logical sizes for this camera in terms of convenience and price are probably the 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB sizes. But if you want to use a larger or smaller one, say 64GB or even 1TB, go right ahead — they’ll work just fine because of the way that the SDXC spec is designed.
Do you really need to get a good memory card?
A better memory card is not going to help you take better photos or improve image quality. But it can let you take advantage of all of the camera’s features. A card that’s not fast enough to keep up with the camera can cause issues like locking up, dropped frames, and overheating.
There’s also the issue of reliability. There are plenty of junk memory cards on the market. Not only do they have flaky performance, but they’re also more likely to fail. And that means the risk of losing your photos and videos.
At the same time, you don’t want to pay extra for a high-performance SD card that’s overkill for the camera. This is why I’m trying to provide some practical examples here.
How to format SD cards
When you buy a new SD card, you should format it before use and then regularly after that. If you’re formatting a card that you’ve already been using, make sure that you’ve downloaded any photos and videos you want to keep, because formatting deletes everything on the card.
Here’s some information on how to format the memory card.
How to format SD cards in the Nikon D750
It is best practice to always format memory cards in the camera that you’ll be using them in. That sets the card up with the filesystem, folder hierarchy, and, in some cameras, a database file, so that the card is just how the camera expects. That greatly reduces the risk of unexpected errors and unpleasant surprises.
Always be sure you’ve backed up everything you want from the card, because formatting it will wipe everything. (If you’ve formatted accidentally, it still might be possible to recover data from the memory card, but it’s not always guaranteed, and it can incur the expense of buying recovery software; more on that below.)
On the Nikon D750, you can find the format memory card function under:
MENU button > Setup (wrench icon) > Format Memory CardThere’s also a shortcut method of formatting the memory card that you can use without going through the menu system. Press and hold the Trash Can and the ISO buttons together for 2 seconds. Then press them again to format the current memory card. You can switch which card is formatted by rotating the main command dial.
How to format SD cards with a computer
Having said that, it is still possible to format memory cards using a card reader and computer. You get a lot more flexibility that way, but also some extra risk if things aren’t set up just how the camera wants them. It’s also sometimes a good troubleshooting step if you’re having issues with a memory card.
There are some things to watch out for, particularly when it comes to choosing which filesystem to use. So 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.
Backing up images & videos
While memory cards are remarkably resilient, just like any electronic product, they can and do fail. So regular backups are highly recommended. Ideally, that should include a mix of local backups and off-site or cloud backups.
Notes & References:
- It’s also technically compatible with SD cards. But I’m ignoring those here, because that spec maxes out at 2GB, and they’re slower. So they’re not a practical choice for the D750. [↩︎]
