Olympus E-P3 Memory Card Compatibility
The Olympus E-P3 may use SDXC, SDHC, and SD memory cards. Burst shooting and video need memory cards with high write speeds to the card.
The wrong SD memory card can greatly decrease the overall performance of your camera.
If you are in a hurry, here’s the best SD card you can buy for the Olympus E-P3:
- 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.
Best SD Cards
Memory cards have greatly reduced in price the time since the release of the Olympus E-P3.
Due to the cost being quite low, it is not going to be wise to invest in anything other than a pro-level SD card.
The best cards I use have been the SanDisk Extreme Pro, Lexar Professional, and PNY Elite Performance models. I have under no circumstances suffered from data errors or a card physically fail with those SD cards.
Each and every issue I have had has been due to no-name unbranded SD memory cards. Hoping to save around a dollar is not worth the cost if your E-P3 will not work correctly.
To save money, pick a smaller storage capacity SD memory card from a high-quality manufacturer. Because of this, you’ll know your shots are secure on the SD card.
Recommended SD Cards
- 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.
- 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.
- 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.
Olympus E-P3 SD Card Compatibility
Only SDXC, SDHC, and SD memory cards can be used by the Olympus E-P3. Ensure you have the current firmware installed on your camera for the best overall performance.
The newest SDUC (Secure Digital Ultra Capacity) cards, are unable to be used with the E-P3.
You should know the four different kinds of Secure Digital (SD) cards that exist. You can recognize the cards according to their 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.
Image Capacity
Listed here is a quick approximation of the total number of max-quality JPEGs photos you can be expecting to be saved on a SD memory card:
- 16GB - 4,640 images
- 32GB - 9,280 images
- 64GB - 18,560 images
- 128GB - 37,120 images
Speed, Class, & UHS Ratings
Card Speed
Speed ratings of an SD card is based on the sequential write and read transfer speeds. SD card speed is important for clearing the camera buffer for continuous shooting and recording video.
A slow card can cause a drop in the number of continuous frames the Olympus E-P3 can take. This is because the camera’s buffer will not be able to write data to the card fast enough.
When shooting video, a slow memory card can cause recording to stop. The video file may also be corrupted. If you are going to capture video, it is important the card you use meets the required minimum write speed for video.
Read speed is important for file transfers to a computer. If you are filling up cards with images or video, a card with a fast read speed will save you time.
Speed Class Rating
An SD memory card receives a Class rating based on its sustained write speed. SD cards that have a minimum write speed of at least 10MB/s are rated 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 SD card that you can find for sale today will be Class 10. To locate the class rating of a SD card, search for a number inside of the C on the sticker.
Ultra High Speed (UHS)
The Ultra High Speed (UHS) bus is a feature often found in SDUC, SDXC, and SDHC memory cards. UHS cards to achieve faster transfer rates.
There are three separate versions. The versions are UHS-I, UHS-II, and UHS-III.
Look at the label to determine the UHS rating of a SD memory card. If there is a Roman numeral I, II, or III on the front of the SD memory card, that is the rating of your memory card.
- 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
Related Cameras
Taking the details into consideration, the 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro is the best memory card for the Olympus E-P3. Any future camera you own, you will know what memory card to get.
Here are more posts on cameras similar to the E-P3: