Olympus E-PL3 Memory Card Compatibility

The Olympus E-PL3 may use SDXC, SDHC, and SD memory cards. A memory card with fast write speeds is crucial for video and continuous shooting.

You can mess up the overall performance of your camera by using the wrong card.

If you are in a hurry, here’s the best SD card you can buy for the Olympus E-PL3:

• 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

SD cards have come way down in price since the release of the Olympus E-PL3.

Due to prices being quite cheap, it would not be smart to pick anything besides a professional-quality SD card.

SanDisk Extreme Pro, Lexar Professional, and PNY Elite Performance cards have superb speed and dependability. I have under no circumstances endured data errors or a card become inoperable with those memory cards.

Every last complication I have encountered has been when using low-cost unbranded cards. Trying to save around a buck isn’t worth it if your E-PL3 is going to experience trouble.

A good way to spend less money is to pick a lower storage capacity SD memory card from a quality company. By doing this, you will not have to be concerned about the images stored on the memory 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-PL3 SD Card Compatibility

The cards that are compatible with the Olympus E-PL3 are SD, SDHC, and SDXC. Check to ensure that your camera is using the latest firmware.

The newest memory cards, SDUC (Secure Digital Ultra Capacity), are not able to be used in the E-PL3.

Four separate versions of Secure Digital (SD) cards that you need to be aware of. They are separated by 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

The following is a fast estimation of how many max-quality JPEGs photos you can be expecting to fit on a 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 memory card is determined by the continuous write and read speeds of the card. Card speed is important for clearing the buffer for continuous shooting as well as recording video.

A slow card can cause a drop in the number of continuous images the Olympus E-PL3 can capture. This is due to the camera’s buffer not being able to write data to the memory card quickly enough.

With video, a slow card can cause a sudden end to the recording. The video file might also end up being corrupted. If you intend to capture video, it is critical the SD card you use meets the minimum requirements of the E-PL3.

Card read speed is nice to have for file transfers to a computer. If you are filling up cards with images or video, a SD card with a fast transfer speed will cut down on the time it takes the transfer to finish.

Speed Class Rating

A memory card receives a Class rating depending on its continuous write speed. Cards that have a write speed of 10MB/s will be labeled 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 of SD memory card that you can buy online will be Class 10. To locate the class rating of a SD card, try to find a number inside of the C on the front.

Ultra High Speed (UHS)

The Ultra High Speed bus (UHS) is built into SDUC, SDXC, and SDHC memory cards. The UHS bus allows provides a way to increase file transfer rates.

Three different specs have been specified. They are UHS-I, UHS-II, and UHS-III.

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

If you needed choose one, the 64GB SanDisk Extreme Pro is the best memory card for the Olympus E-PL3. It also has excellent compatibility with other cameras.

Listed below are more pages on digital cameras with the same specs as the E-PL3: