Whether you’re shooting with the classic Olympus TG-5, the updated Olympus TG-6, or the OM System TG-7 that replaced it in 2023, none of these rugged cameras come with a memory card as standard. Some retailers might offer bundles that include one, but chances are you’ll have to buy a memory card separately.
So what’s the best SD card for the Olympus TG-5, TG-6, and OM System TG-7?
Because the core imaging tech inside these three generations is practically identical, they all share the exact same memory card requirements: a UHS-I SDHC or SDXC card with a U3 or V30 speed rating. If you want to make sure you get an SD card that can take full advantage of your camera’s features, the most important criterion to look for is sequential write speed.
Specifically, you need a card fast enough to handle the 102 Mbps bitrate of the 4K video recording mode and the high-speed 20fps burst photo mode. If the card isn’t fast enough to keep up with that data pipeline, you can end up with video recordings that stop prematurely, missed photos in the buffer, and maybe even camera lockups. So it’s worth getting the right card from the get-go.
Top picks for the TG-5, TG-6, and TG-7
If you just want some quick recommendations, here you go:
- 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
Detailed version
So which SD card should you actually get? If you go looking for the answer in the official manuals, you’ll come up pretty empty-handed. The documentation for all three models offers a vague variation of this:
Cards compatible with this camera: SD/SDHC/SDXC/Eye-Fi card (commercially available) (for compatibility card details, visit the Olympus website.)
OK, then… If you dig into the manufacturer’s website, you’ll find a compatibility table that includes some older SanDisk and Toshiba cards, but it rarely takes into consideration the newer, faster models that are actually on store shelves today.
It’s also worth ignoring the Eye-Fi part of that manual line. Those were Wi-Fi cards that uploaded photos as you shot, and Eyefi began shutting the service down back in 2016. The cards that are left behave as ordinary SD cards, so there’s nothing there you need to go looking for today.
So what I’m aiming to do here is provide some practical recommendations on which SD cards to get for your Tough camera so you can spend less time searching online and more time out shooting in the water. I’m not trying to list every SD card that works in the TG series — there are others that will work just fine as well. I’m focusing here on ones that offer a reliable combination of meeting the high-bitrate video requirements, are readily available at major retailers, are cost-effective, and come from major manufacturers with track records for durability. In putting these recommendations together, I’m combining official technical guidance, my testing of a large number of SD cards, and my own real-world shooting experience.
The good news is that SD cards that work flawlessly in the TG-5, TG-6, and TG-7 are readily available and relatively inexpensive. The two functions that are most demanding of the memory card are the 20fps burst photo mode and high-bitrate video recording. While the 4K video mode on these cameras produces a bitrate of up to 102 Mb/s — which strictly requires a solid UHS-I card with a U3 or V30 speed class rating — it’s nowhere near as demanding as some professional mirrorless cameras that shoot up to 400 Mb/s and require the absolute fastest cards available.
One thing worth knowing before you spend more: the card slot in all three cameras is UHS-I only. A UHS-II card will still work — it just falls back to UHS-I speeds, because the second row of contacts on the back of the card has nothing to connect to. So the extra money you’d pay for a V60 or V90 card buys you nothing in the camera itself, though it does still help when you’re offloading files with a UHS-II card reader.
So here are some more specific recommendations:
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
SD Card Compatibility & what size to use in the TG-5, TG-6, and TG-7
All three generations are compatible with SDHC and SDXC formats. That means you can use cards ranging from 4GB all the way up to the massive 512GB or 1TB cards currently available.
The current sweet spot for a combination of convenience, availability, and cost-effectiveness is usually around the 64GB to 128GB capacity. But you can use larger or smaller ones if you prefer — it’s mostly a matter of how much 4K video footage or RAW photo data you want to store on a single card before downloading it to your computer.
How to format memory cards in the Olympus TG series
This is something I’ve covered in detail separately here (the menu systems remain largely identical across the TG-5, TG-6, and TG-7). The cameras feature both an “All Erase” and a “Format” function. If you’re completely wiping a memory card to start fresh, you want the “Format” option. The “All Erase” function deletes everything except for the specific photos and video clips that you’ve manually tagged as protected.
