Are SD cards dying out

Recently we have had the new Nikon ZF appear with a choice of SD or Micro SD cards, A lot of reviewers have noted this and said DS cards are easily available anywhere. While compact flash died out and you will probably never get a CF express card in a supermarket or gas station, how easy is it to obtain a SD card anywhere but the internet or camera shop, Lately in several national supermarket brands I can only obtain Micro SD, I can't recall seeing cards available in gas stations. The easiest cards to obtain are micro SD from Phone shops. Is the inclusion of a Micro SD card a trend we will see from many manufacturers due to the impending disappearance of SD sized cards, I live in England so I would be interesting to find out the recent availability of cards around the world in retail outlets.

--
Mike.
"I say we take off and nuke the entire site from orbit, it's the only way to be sure."

cosmicnode said:

Recently we have had the new Nikon ZF appear with a choice of SD or Micro SD cards, A lot of reviewers have noted this and said DS cards are easily available anywhere. While compact flash died out and you will probably never get a CF express card in a supermarket or gas station, how easy is it to obtain a SD card anywhere but the internet or camera shop, Lately in several national supermarket brands I can only obtain Micro SD, I can't recall seeing cards available in gas stations. The easiest cards to obtain are micro SD from Phone shops. Is the inclusion of a Micro SD card a trend we will see from many manufacturers due to the impending disappearance of SD sized cards, I live in England so I would be interesting to find out the recent availability of cards around the world in retail outlets.

Click to expand...

There is a move toward microSD in a SD carrier, which seems to be the way of covering both bases.

I am not comfortable with microSD because it's so small and fragile. Not so much a problem in phones, because you tend to leave them in place... but with cameras you take them out all the time.

I use a couple of micro-in-a-carrier SDs in my cameras, have not had trouble.

jxh said:

There is a move toward microSD in a SD carrier, which seems to be the way of covering both bases.
I am not comfortable with microSD because it's so small and fragile. Not so much a problem in phones, because you tend to leave them in place... but with cameras you take them out all the time.
I use a couple of micro-in-a-carrier SDs in my cameras, have not had trouble.

Click to expand...

While microSDs are definitel small, they aren't fragile at all. Full size SDs have a body glued out of several smaller parts - I had several of them disintegrating over time. microSDs look more like a solid mold, one piece - I believe they have way less chances to break mechanicaly.

cosmicnode said:

Recently we have had the new Nikon ZF appear with a choice of SD or Micro SD cards, A lot of reviewers have noted this and said DS cards are easily available anywhere. While compact flash died out and you will probably never get a CF express card in a supermarket or gas station, how easy is it to obtain a SD card anywhere but the internet or camera shop, Lately in several national supermarket brands I can only obtain Micro SD, I can't recall seeing cards available in gas stations. The easiest cards to obtain are micro SD from Phone shops. Is the inclusion of a Micro SD card a trend we will see from many manufacturers due to the impending disappearance of SD sized cards, I live in England so I would be interesting to find out the recent availability of cards around the world in retail outlets.

Click to expand...

People want tiny cameras. One way to make that happen would be to use micro SD.

It's been two years since I purchased my last SD cards. I checked out Amazon just now and it looks like there may be more micro SD card offerings than SD. I truly dislike micro SD cards. They are a pain to handle. My Go Pro requires them.

Small is not always a good thing.

CF cards were just big enough to write notes/descriptions on them, SD cards are already too small to do that, (and more easily lost -- I have already lost one 128gig SD card).

But I hope they are not dying out ... MicroSD will be infinitely worse and easier to lose.

When I bought my new phone last year, I was surprise to find it has NO removable storage at all.

There is a large and growing chain of stores here in the US called Dollar General that still carry SD cards near the check out registers. They are usually just a little more expensive than Walmart but if you are in a bind and need one they are a solution.

I really dislike microSD cards because of their size. For people with problems with their finger/hands, nerve issues or unsteadyness they can be a real pain. I have a Kodak WPZ2 that uses one. I can see the need because it has sealed ports. I have also had cameras reject miscroSD cards in adapters before.

Some folks (myself included) like to use old cameras from time to time. Many of these cameras cannot use a 1GB SD card. That's why I see these cards sometimes more expensive. Also those big MediaCards are getting more pricey, around $30 to $40 for the big 128MB.

I, too, hope the SD doesn't die off anytime soon. Maybe we should start picking up a few here and there just in case.

SD cards are overpriced but available in every Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Best Buy, and Staples store, plus may others. Full-sized Target stores have SD cards, but smaller City Target stores may only have micro SD. BJs has SD cards, but Costco only has micro SD. Amazon has everything, including fraudulent knockoffs that pretend to be SanDisk.

CFExpress is only at camera shops and Amazon, plus two cards for sale at Best Buy.

I think over time all removable media will be harder find. Expansion storage for most devices has moved to the cloud, taking the dedicated retail shelf space with it.

Phones used to take micro SD but they no longer do (much to my personal disappointment). Laptops used to have SD lots as a standard feature, now they mostly don't. The only very popular devices I can think of that use SD cards are gaming systems. The Switch uses micro SD, which is a big reason that seems to be everywhere. Retail displays are shrinking, but I do think it will be a number of years before SD cards disappear altogether from places like Walmart and CVS. Even then camera shops, Best Buy, and Amazon will be likely to offer SD cards because cameras and a handful of other electronics will continue to use them.

leorimkus said:

jxh said:

There is a move toward microSD in a SD carrier, which seems to be the way of covering both bases.
I am not comfortable with microSD because it's so small and fragile. Not so much a problem in phones, because you tend to leave them in place... but with cameras you take them out all the time.
I use a couple of micro-in-a-carrier SDs in my cameras, have not had trouble.

Click to expand...

While microSDs are definitel small, they aren't fragile at all. Full size SDs have a body glued out of several smaller parts - I had several of them disintegrating over time. microSDs look more like a solid mold, one piece - I believe they have way less chances to break mechanicaly.

Click to expand...

You might think that, but you'd be wrong. You're correct that they are piece - nothing more than circuit board with memory and support chips and coated with a protective material. Sure they can withstand some abuse, but if they are scraped on the wrong side (say, dropped ground, stepped on with some sliding involved) the actual components could be damaged directly. At least with an SD card there is a plastic layer that will take any initial damage and should protect the internals in the scenario above.

On the other hand, an SD card does not have that coating, if the plastic case to were to break apart then its circuit board is completely exposed.

I guess what I'm saying is they both have their strengths and weaknesses. I take basic care and don't worry about.

Icee258 said:

SD cards are overpriced but available in every Walmart, CVS, Walgreens, Best Buy, and Staples store, plus may others. Full-sized Target stores have SD cards, but smaller City Target stores may only have micro SD. BJs has SD cards, but Costco only has micro SD. Amazon has everything, including fraudulent knockoffs that pretend to be SanDisk.

CFExpress is only at camera shops and Amazon, plus two cards for sale at Best Buy.

I think over time all removable media will be harder find. Expansion storage for most devices has moved to the cloud, taking the dedicated retail shelf space with it.

Phones used to take micro SD but they no longer do (much to my personal disappointment). Laptops used to

Click to expand...

Ironically although generally higher-end phones tend to have more features than the cheaper ones, these days a micro SD card slot is mostly available on low-end and midrange phones and almost completely absent on high-end phones (Sony's high-end phones are at least one exception).

Like you, I've never had an issue with my V60 or v90 micro SDs with the appropriate high speed SD adapter. I don't feel like they're fragile, but as I get older they seem to be shrinking in size every year! Eventually I'm going to be handling the micro sd cards with a pair of tweezers and a loupe!!

My current laptop only has micro sd, so I have a belts and suspenders approach, I have mostly micro SDs with adapters in my cameras, but I also have a regular SD card reader I can plug in via USB next to the micro SD slot.

cosmicnode said:

Recently we have had the new Nikon ZF appear with a choice of SD or Micro SD cards, A lot of reviewers have noted this and said DS cards are easily available anywhere. While compact flash died out and you will probably never get a CF express card in a supermarket or gas station, how easy is it to obtain a SD card anywhere but the internet or camera shop, Lately in several national supermarket brands I can only obtain Micro SD, I can't recall seeing cards available in gas stations. The easiest cards to obtain are micro SD from Phone shops. Is the inclusion of a Micro SD card a trend we will see from many manufacturers due to the impending disappearance of SD sized cards, I live in England so I would be interesting to find out the recent availability of cards around the world in retail outlets.

Click to expand...

No, they are not dying out in the USA.

Just one of my local stores, Target, has four web pages of listings for them.

Not to mention several recently released cameras that use them.

For higher end SD cards, majority are still in the classic size.

For lower end SD cards, e.g. USH-I in U3 Class 10 rating, most are moved to mirco format comes with an adapter. This can serve both of the phone, dash camera, action cam, drone and also the camera market. It is the direction of the market that we have to accept.

A few years ago a few failed adapters scared me away from mirco SD cards, but they are much better. I am now shooting with a few mirco cards in adapter without problem.

leorimkus said:

While microSDs are definitel small, they aren't fragile at all. Full size SDs have a body glued out of several smaller parts - I had several of them disintegrating over time. microSDs look more like a solid mold, one piece - I believe they have way less chances to break mechanicaly.

Click to expand...

Strange... I've used 4 SD cards for 8 years and they look brand new.

alcelc said:

A few years ago a few failed adapters scared me away from mirco SD cards, but they are much better. I am now shooting with a few mirco cards in adapter without problem.

Click to expand...

Why use a micro card with adapter when you can use a regular SD card?

--

Richard
http://www.rsjphoto.net/

I have a more extreme case.

Last year, a rainy day, across a plaza I rushed to a subway station. I accidentally saw a SD card on the road, submerged in a small pond of water. I picked up it, back home, dried it, not readable by card reader and forgot it. A few months later found it inside my drawer, inserted into my camera and it works. I still use it occassionally nowadays.

I am still having an old SD card, 2Gb class 2(?) probably bought 13~14 years ago for my old digital camera, as my travelling document folder. I have copy of my travelling documents, credit card and photo of my gear there inside my luggage in case I needed it.

As long as we can handle these cards correctly, they should be very durable.

It is now more common in the market.

As my latest backup camera accept mirco card only, why not buy it to share among all of my cameras at no extra disadvantage?

It is interesting that occassionally I can find bigger discount on mirco cards (to attract phone etc users?) too.

I own four cameras that only use micro SD. Except for the trail camera, these cameras are nearly 10 years old nowadays. My 12" Windows convertible, bought 2015, all my Android devices and even my new 14" notebook for work only support micro SD without an external card reader. So I went micro SD with adapter for my other cameras a long time ago.

robgendreau said:

cosmicnode said:

Recently we have had the new Nikon ZF appear with a choice of SD or Micro SD cards, A lot of reviewers have noted this and said DS cards are easily available anywhere. While compact flash died out and you will probably never get a CF express card in a supermarket or gas station, how easy is it to obtain a SD card anywhere but the internet or camera shop, Lately in several national supermarket brands I can only obtain Micro SD, I can't recall seeing cards available in gas stations. The easiest cards to obtain are micro SD from Phone shops. Is the inclusion of a Micro SD card a trend we will see from many manufacturers due to the impending disappearance of SD sized cards, I live in England so I would be interesting to find out the recent availability of cards around the world in retail outlets.

Click to expand...

No, they are not dying out in the USA.

Just one of my local stores, Target, has four web pages of listings for them.

Click to expand...

Many of the large UK supermarkets have also got them available on the web but not in store. Many reviewers are saying you can walk into a store, gas station etc and buy them off the shelf in a emergency, something I would no longer be able to do in the UK, many stores are much smaller due to land prices than in the USA, so stock has to sell quickly, Perhaps what I see is simply the beginning of the disappearance of SD cards. I can only think that cameras are the remaining mainstream use for them, laptops, tablet's etc have all moved to micro SD.

robgendreau said:

Not to mention several recently released cameras that use them.

Click to expand...

I have used Micro SD cards in adaptors for years. Over a decade. The Micro SD card as a storage medium has SD beat. It is possible to destroy a SD card. Micro SD? Give it a try. Not so easy to destroy the data. Superior storage system.