Why Do 4K Cameras Need Special SD Cards
Why Do 4K Cameras Need Special SD Cards?
Most new cameras are capable of shooting 4K video. But your camera may refuse to record 4K video to some SD cards—fortunately, this is normal behavior. But why do 4K cameras require special SD cards? And which SD cards should you buy for your 4K camera?
High-Resolution Video Takes Up a Ton of Data
- Shooting in 4K gives your video more detail and clarity. After all, 4K video contains over 8,000 individual pixels—four times more pixels than you get when shooting in 1080p. But these extra pixels come at a cost; they take up more data.
- A video’s file size is determined by several factors. If you record in 4K at a low frame rate, for example, the resulting video file will be quite small. And a video that’s shot in 4K HDR will require more data than a typical 4K recording.
- However, if you shoot both a 4K and 1080p video with similar camera settings, the 4K video will require at least twice as much data. This may sound like a data storage problem. In reality, the problem is speed—your average SD card isn’t fast enough to write and save a 4K video file