[Solved] Which SD card fits the GoPro HERO 8 Black?

/ From / Photo, Entertainment / 7 comments

The new GoPro HERO8 Black was introduced in early October 2019. In addition to Hypersmooth 2.0 image stabilization and 4K video recording, it also offers automatic horizon straightening and other advantages. In order to be able to use this to the full, a storage medium is of course required on which the videos or photos are stored. So: which SD card fits the GoPro HERO 8 Black? In this guide I have prepared the answer for you along with further information about the HERO8. 

Which SD card fits the GoPro HERO 8 Black? And what microSD is recommended for the HERO8? You can find the answers here!
Which SD card fits the GoPro HERO 8 Black? And what microSD is recommended for the HERO8? You can find the answers here!

 

GoPro HERO8 Black uses microSD memory cards

All kinds of technology is built into the compact action cam, which of course means that there is no space for normal-sized memory cards. This is why Black SD cards in micro format are used for the GoPro HERO8; more precisely microSDHC and microSDXC. The HC stands for High Capacity and the XC for Extended Capacity. We recommend 8 GB to 32 GB of storage space for the GoPro HERO256 microSD cards. Smaller cards with 8 or 16 GB and cards with 512 GB or 1 TB should not be used. There are adapters from microSD to SD for reading on Mac, MacBook, with a reader and the like.

My recommendation: SanDisk SD card for GoPro HERO 8 Black

As always, I would like to point out the best brand for me: SanDisk. From experience with this and some other manufacturers, I can say that the SanDisk SD cards are the most reliable. You can find more information and reasons for my recommendation here: You should keep this in mind when buying memory cards. 

In addition to my personal experience, the camera manufacturer GoPro itself recommends some SanDisk card models for its devices. In the following I have listed the individual suggestions and - if they can be found on Amazon - linked them:

Note: The model numbers shown are recommendations; the linked products may have different numbers.

Update 20.04.2020/XNUMX/XNUMX: Mbps is not the same as MBs!

I have just received a comment from a reader who shows me that the abbreviations in the technical data of SD cards and GoPro cameras cause a certain amount of confusion. My reader had found out that the GoPro 8 writes with a bit rate of 100 Mbps and assumed that an SD card that can manage a maximum of 90 MBs would be overwhelmed here.

However, the two abbreviations are different because “Mbps” means that the camera wants to write 100 megabits per second. MBs at the memory card means, on the other hand, that it can be written with up to 90 megabytes per second.

We see: once it's about bits and once about bytes. If you convert the Mbps into MBs, you have to divide the 100 Mbps by 8 (1 byte = 8 bits) and you get 12,5 MBs.

That means: The GoPro 8 needs an SD card that can write at least 12,5 megabytes per second. In order to compensate for dropouts and other "little problems", the selected SD card should be significantly faster than the camera, otherwise there may be missing frames in the recording.

Since the cards recommended above are all in the range of 90 MBs (equivalent to 720 Mbps), they are a good 7x as fast as they should technically be. This gives us plenty of buffer upwards.

I hope that you can understand how you can reconcile the two details of the bit rate and the write rate of the cards.

Other compatible SD cards: Lexar, PNY, Samsung and Sony

In addition to the above, the manufacturer describes Lexar, PNY, Samsung and Sony microSD cards for the GoPro HERO 8 Black as compatible. Personally, I wouldn't necessarily recommend it - but neither would I strongly advise against it. Therefore, for the sake of completeness, here are the corresponding memory card models:

Note: The model numbers shown are recommendations; the linked products may have different numbers.

Memory cards for older action cam models

For the lists in this guide I have the SD card suggestions of the official website used by GoPro. There you will also find the compatible and recommended storage media for the previous GoPro HERO7 and HERO (2018) models as well as some information on memory expansion for the HERO (2014), HERO3 Black, HERO3 +, HERO + and HERO4 models. You can also find a preparation of information about the older GoPro models here in the blog:

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7 Responses to "[Solved] Which SD card fits in the GoPro HERO 8 Black?"

  1. Mica

    Well if the gopro 8 is filming with 100mb / s at full 4k resolution, a card with 90mb / s is not enough to write, which card should you take?

    Reply
    1. sir appleot

      Hello Micha! I think the problem here is in the acronym. According to the GoPro data sheet, the GoPro 8 writes with a bit rate of 100Mbps. That is 100 megabits per second, which is converted (8 bits = 1 byte) 12,5 megabytes per second. The fast SD cards that I recommend here (Class 10, U3, V30) manage about 90 megabytes per second. So the equivalent of 720 Mbps. The GoPro 8 shouldn't really make these SD cards work up a sweat. : D Conclusion: You can use any of the SD cards recommended above. They are really all more than good enough for it.

      Reply
  2. Mica

    The problem I have, with some shots, the footage in the 4k jerks, although the film runs smoothly ???????? ‍♂️

    Reply
    1. sir appleot

      Does it always jerk in the same place? If so, it stands to reason that a frame was dropped here. This can happen if the card cannot keep up with the writing of the data. Which camera, which SD card and which operating system do you have? Is your computer fast enough for 4K recordings? Sometimes it also helps to change the playback program - of course not when the jerk is already in the film.

      Reply
    1. sir appleot

      So in terms of reliability, I would generally rate SanDisk as positive. The speed of the card is of course much, much faster than the GoPro actually needs. When buying, however, I always tend to choose high capacity and speed so that I can still use the card in newer camera models that want to write more data in 2-3 years' time.

      Reply
  4. Tobias Claren

    Let's not forget, even if it is only 12,5MB / s, such cameras usually require U3 cards.
    Unfortunately, this is the case with the Sony AX-43 camcorder.
    The Hero8 doesn't record at 4GB ("3,81GB") though, does it?
    That is what the DJI Osmo Action does, although it uses exFat (where the limit is 512TB per file) and allegedly the Mavic-2 drones from the same manufacturer have no restrictions.
    For me an exclusion criterion.
    Doesn't mention any video about Osmo Action, whether the video is positive or critical.

    Reply

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