Best Canon Rebel T5I SD Memory Card

SD, SDHC, and SDXC memory cards are meant to function with the Canon T5I. For video and continuous shooting, it is important the SD card you use is fast enough.

The performance of your camera can be greatly decreased by using the wrong memory card.

Don’t want the technical specs? Here is my suggestion on the memory card for use with the Canon T5I:

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SanDisk Ultra 64GB SD Card
SanDisk Ultra 64GB SD Card
Check prices on: Amazon
  • UHS-I, U1, and Class 10 Speed Rating. Can sustain 10MB/s write speeds.
  • Excellent choice for photos.
  • Capable of recording Full HD (1920x1080) Video.
  • Inexpensive with more than good enough performance.
  • Larger capacities are available for a reasonable price.

Like all things tech, the cost of memory cards has greatly fallen since the release of the Canon T5I.

With the cost being quite cheap, it is not going to be sensible to purchase anything other than a high-quality memory card.

The best cards I own have been the SanDisk Extreme Pro, Lexar Professional, and PNY Elite Performance models. I have under no circumstances suffered from a card failure or corrupted data with any of those memory cards.

Every issue I have had has been with cheap unbranded SD cards. Hoping to save a little bit of money isn’t worth it if your T5I does not operate correctly.

To save money, get a lower storage capacity SD memory card from a quality supplier. By making that choice, you will know your images are safe on the SD memory card.

SanDisk Ultra 64GB SD Card
SanDisk Ultra 64GB SD Card
Check prices on: Amazon
  • UHS-I, U1, and Class 10 Speed Rating. Can sustain 10MB/s write speeds.
  • Excellent choice for photos.
  • Capable of recording Full HD (1920x1080) Video.
  • Inexpensive with more than good enough performance.
  • Larger capacities are available for a reasonable price.

PNY Elite-X 128GB SD Card
PNY Elite-X 128GB SD Card
Check prices on: Amazon
  • UHS-I, U3, V30, and Class 10 Speed Rating. Can sustain 30MB/s write speeds.
  • Good for burst shooting photos and recording 4K video.
  • Larger capacity cards are available.
  • Reliable & Durable: Magnet Proof, Shock Proof, Temperature Proof, Waterproof.

SanDisk Extreme PRO 128GB SD Card
SanDisk Extreme PRO 128GB SD Card
Check prices on: Amazon
  • Comparatively expensive for faster read speeds.
  • UHS-I, U3, V30, and Class 10 Speed Rating. Can sustain 30MB/s write speeds.
  • Only makes sense for professional use or if you need the largest storage capacity available.
  • Temperature-proof, waterproof, shock-proof, and X-ray-proof.

Only SDXC, SDHC, and SD cards can be used by the Canon T5I. Check to ensure that your camera is using the most up to date firmware.

The newest SDUC (Secure Digital Ultra Capacity) memory cards, can not be used with the T5I.

There are four different specifications of Secure Digital (SD) cards that you need to know about. SD cards can be identified based on their storage size.

  • SD (Secure Digital) - 128MB to 2GB.
  • SDHC (Secure Digital High Capacity) - 4GB to 32GB.
  • SDXC (Secure Digital eXtended Capacity) - 64GB to 2TB.
  • SDUC (Secure Digital Ultra Capacity) - 4TB to 128TB.
SD Card Contacts
SD Card Contacts

Below is an approximation of how many large JPEGs shots you should expect to fit on a memory card:

  • 16GB - 4,640 images
  • 32GB - 9,280 images
  • 64GB - 18,560 images
  • 128GB - 37,120 images

Speed ratings of an SD card is determined by the continuous read and write transfer speeds. The transfer speed of a SD card is important for video and continuous shooting.

Slows memory cards can reduce the number of continuous photos the Canon T5I can take. This is because the buffer in the camera is not able to write data to the memory card quickly enough.

With video, a slow card can cause an unexpected end to recording. The video file may also end up being corrupted. If you are going to shoot video, it is important the SD card you use meets the required minimum continuous write speed for video.

Read speed is important for transferring files to a computer. If you are filling up cards with images or video, a memory card with a fast read speed will cut down on the transfer time.

SD Card Speed Class
SD Card Speed Class

The continuous write speed of a card is what determines the Class rating. SD cards that have a write speed of 10MB/s are labeled as Class 10.

  • Class 2 - 2MB/s
  • Class 4 - 4MB/s
  • Class 6 - 6MB/s
  • Class 8 - 8MB/s
  • Class 10 - 10MB/s or faster

Every brand-name memory card that you can buy will have a Class 10 rating. To discover the class rating of a card, look for a number inside of the C on the label.

Example of UHS Rating
Example of UHS Rating

The Ultra High Speed (UHS) bus can be found in SDHC, SDXC, and SDUC cards. UHS cards to have increased write speeds.

Three different versions exist. The versions are UHS-I, UHS-II, and UHS-III.

You can figure out the UHS rating of a card by examining the front of the SD memory card. If the card has UHS, a Roman numeral I, II, or III can be found on the SD card label.

  • UHS-I - Maximum transfer rate of 104 MB/s
  • UHS-II - Maximum transfer rate of 312 MB/s
  • UHS-III - Maximum transfer rate of 624 MB/s

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