Best Memory Cards for Nikon D5500

The Nikon D5500 is in many ways similar to the D5300, but it’s capable of reaching higher fast writing speeds with the same memory card.

It features 1 x SD/SDHC/SDXC memory card slot. With Full HD at 60fps and 5fps burst mode, it’s important you have a memory card that can easily write those files without creating any delay or stopping while recording videos (can happen if your card is too slow).

What Size & Speed?

The D5500 supports UHS-I type and will benefit from the faster speeds offered (the maximum you’ll get is around 70MB/s). Get a Class 10 or any of the higher classes and you’re good to go. Don’t buy a Class 4 or 6 as these are too slow and the price difference is so small it’s not worth it.

Since the D5500 has a 24 megapixel sensor, you need quite a big memory card, especially if you often travel or shoot long events. We recommend going with 32GB or 64GB, and perhaps buying a few if you think you need more than 1.

These are the best 3 SDHC/SDXC memory cards you can get:

• SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I U3
• Lexar Professional 95MB/s UHS-I U3
• Transcend R95/W60MB/s UHS-I U3

SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I U3

The SanDisk 64GB Extreme Pro 32GB U3 is our favorite card, seeing as it’s inexpensive and provides writing and reading speeds near 90MB/s.

The speed makes it perfect for whatever you’re doing; fast bursts with large megapixel cameras, 4K video, let alone Full HD. It comes in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB, 128GB and 256GB sizes.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Lexar Professional 95MB/s UHS-I U3

The Lexar Professional 32GB U3 95MB/s is cheaper than the model above, and reaches the same reading speed yet falls a bit short in the writing department. While the minimum for U3 cards is always 30MB/s, this Lexar series reaches around 60MB/s, whereas the Sandisk hits ~80MB/s.

Since the D5500 isn’t super fast in burst shooting and tops out at Full HD 6fps, the difference won’t be that noticeable, but if you always want to be on the safe side, the Sandisk above is better.

Lexar also gives you the code to download their Imaging Rescue software. It comes in 16GB, 32GB, 64GB and 128GB sizes.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Transcend R95/W60MB/s UHS-I U3

The most affordable on our list, yet still UHS-I, is the Transcend 64GB UHS-I U3. In terms of reading speed it goes up to 95MB/s, while for writing the maximum is 60MB/s just like Lexar above.

Transcend, just like Lexar above, gives you the option of downloading their free image recovery program and they both work pretty good in most cases. It comes in 64GB, 128GB and 256GB sizes.

You can buy it at Amazon or see more reviews here.

Comparison of the 3 Memory Cards

What Brands are the Best?

Your photographs and videos are stored on a memory card, so you should definitely not try to save any money here by buying from unknown, cheap brands. While you save a few bucks, you probably won’t even get the advertised speeds, and are at a bigger risk of losing your shots.

We see too many beginners choosing the cheap route here, but until you transfer your shots to a computer/online, this is where they’re stored at. You want the memory card to be the most reliable piece of your equipment!

Stick to Sandisk, Lexar, Transcend, Kingston, Sony and Toshiba. There may be a few other good brands out there, but the ones we mentioned are already more than enough and offer great prices.

Last Updated on September 14, 2021 by Nick Voorhees