I have had my Z50ii for about a month now and have been testing it when I can. Having owned the Z6, Z6ii, Z6iii and the Z9, I have not used SD cards for any purpose other than overflow on my Z6s. I was curious how faster cards would behave in the Z50ii.
These are my simple tests, so take them for what they are worth. I tested my SanDisk V30 cards, a ProGrade V60, and a Kodak V90 SD card.
Video - I have a number of Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards that are V30 and according to Sandisk rated from 95 MB/s to 200 MB/s. In testing with Crystal Disk Mark the read speeds were close to the labeled speeds but the write speeds were all between 90 MB/s to 105 MB/s. The requirement according to Nikon for the 4K 60p NLOG H.265 10 bit is 340 Mb/s, which translates to approximately 43 MB/s so all of the Sandisk cards were fast enough for video. I tested my slowest measured Sandisk card and it recorded for over 12 minutes without issue so I stopped the test. The camera was only slightly warm,. I did not test it with my faster cards since my slowest cards performed fine.
It doesn't appear that there is much advantage to using V60 or V90 cards for video except possibly for heat issues which I did not test.
Stills - I tested stills with V30, V60, and V90 cards, using Lossless Compressed, HE*, and JPEG. I also tested with the Mechanical Shutter and in Silent Mode with the electronic shutter since the FPS is different for each. The burst is limited to 200 images when using the mechanical shutter but not when using the electronic shutter.
Using V60 cards provide pretty much endless shooting when using the electronic shutter and the only limitation for HE* or JPEG is the 200 images burst limit when using mechanical shutter. V90 cards perform almost the same but allow for almost instant buffer clear when using lossless compressed with mechanical shutter. In practical usage I don't think you would see much difference between V60 or V90 cards.
V30 Cards - I did not use any sophisticated timing methods but the data was consistent - the buffer showed 51 images to start
Lossless Compressed - Mechanical Shutter
113 images to buffer full in 10.6 seconds for 10.6 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 17 seconds to clear
Lossless Compressed - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
130 images to buffer full in 14.5 seconds for 9 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 17 seconds to clear
HE* - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.9 seconds for 10.6 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 15.4 seconds to clear
HE* - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
282 images to buffer full in 31.5 seconds for 9 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 16.3 seconds to clear
JPEG - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
JPEG - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
V60 Cards - I did not use any sophisticated timing methods but the data was consistent - the buffer showed 51 images to start
Lossless Compressed - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.66 seconds for 10.7 FPS - once the buffer was full it took about 5 seconds to clear
Lossless Compressed - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
HE* - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
HE* - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
JPEG - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
JPEG - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
V90 Cards - I did not use any sophisticated timing methods but the data was consistent - the buffer showed 51 images to start
Lossless Compressed - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.83 seconds for 10.6 FPS -buffer clears almost immediately
Lossless Compressed - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
HE* - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
HE* - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
JPEG - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
JPEG - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
These are my simple tests, so take them for what they are worth. I tested my SanDisk V30 cards, a ProGrade V60, and a Kodak V90 SD card.
Video - I have a number of Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards that are V30 and according to Sandisk rated from 95 MB/s to 200 MB/s. In testing with Crystal Disk Mark the read speeds were close to the labeled speeds but the write speeds were all between 90 MB/s to 105 MB/s. The requirement according to Nikon for the 4K 60p NLOG H.265 10 bit is 340 Mb/s, which translates to approximately 43 MB/s so all of the Sandisk cards were fast enough for video. I tested my slowest measured Sandisk card and it recorded for over 12 minutes without issue so I stopped the test. The camera was only slightly warm,. I did not test it with my faster cards since my slowest cards performed fine.
It doesn't appear that there is much advantage to using V60 or V90 cards for video except possibly for heat issues which I did not test.
Stills - I tested stills with V30, V60, and V90 cards, using Lossless Compressed, HE*, and JPEG. I also tested with the Mechanical Shutter and in Silent Mode with the electronic shutter since the FPS is different for each. The burst is limited to 200 images when using the mechanical shutter but not when using the electronic shutter.
Using V60 cards provide pretty much endless shooting when using the electronic shutter and the only limitation for HE* or JPEG is the 200 images burst limit when using mechanical shutter. V90 cards perform almost the same but allow for almost instant buffer clear when using lossless compressed with mechanical shutter. In practical usage I don't think you would see much difference between V60 or V90 cards.
V30 Cards - I did not use any sophisticated timing methods but the data was consistent - the buffer showed 51 images to start
Lossless Compressed - Mechanical Shutter
113 images to buffer full in 10.6 seconds for 10.6 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 17 seconds to clear
Lossless Compressed - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
130 images to buffer full in 14.5 seconds for 9 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 17 seconds to clear
HE* - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.9 seconds for 10.6 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 15.4 seconds to clear
HE* - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
282 images to buffer full in 31.5 seconds for 9 FPS - once the buffer was full it took 16.3 seconds to clear
JPEG - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
JPEG - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
V60 Cards - I did not use any sophisticated timing methods but the data was consistent - the buffer showed 51 images to start
Lossless Compressed - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.66 seconds for 10.7 FPS - once the buffer was full it took about 5 seconds to clear
Lossless Compressed - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
HE* - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
HE* - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
JPEG - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
JPEG - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
V90 Cards - I did not use any sophisticated timing methods but the data was consistent - the buffer showed 51 images to start
Lossless Compressed - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.83 seconds for 10.6 FPS -buffer clears almost immediately
Lossless Compressed - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
HE* - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
HE* - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
JPEG - Mechanical Shutter - 200 images max and buffer quickly reduces to 0 as the shutter count reaches 200
200 images to buffer full in 18.8 seconds for 10.6 FPS - buffer clears almost immediately
JPEG - Electronic Shutter - Silent Mode
Pretty much endless buffer
