Why Are SD Card Prices So High Lately?

[Gary RV_Wizard]

I'll stick with the name brand companies that actually produce the items.

Nothing wrong with that, but I'll bet you if you look through your brand name possessions you might be surprised at how few of those are manufacturers of every product that carries their name. Nor does "name brand" necessarily equate to "high quality" or even "consistent quality".

 

[Mark_K5LXP]

Your camera doesn't have an SD card?

Nope. Compact Flash.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

 

[jymbee]

Sequel - that grandson has a thriving photography business.

Excellent. Not many photographers these days can say that given so many markets have been been negatively impacted by technology changes.

For example, I had commercial clients that hired me to do aerial photography, typically for pending development sites. Flash forward to today and virtually every such company has their own drone and drone operator that can do in minutes for next to nothing what used to take me hours at considerable expense (hiring pilots, flying to sites, etc.).

But there's still a profitable niche in that market for higher end aerial services such as geo rectified highly accurate mapping. Many operators that embraced the new tech are thriving.

 

[jymbee]

Nope. Compact Flash.

Mark B.
Albuquerque, NM

Compact flash? How primitive...

 

[gwinger]

Compact flash? How primitive...

Wait a minute. I still have an Olympus that uses a CF.
It was my first digital camera. Still works. Jut not high def.

 

[gwinger]

Nothing wrong with that, but I'll bet you if you look through your brand name possessions you might be surprised at how few of those are manufacturers of every product that carries their name. Nor does "name brand" necessarily equate to "high quality" or even "consistent quality".

OK. Now, how many off brand Chinese or no name generic parts did you buy for your RV?
At least the name brand, whether they actually made it or not, pass their specs.
Wait, maybe I'll put the China bombs back on my trailer and pitch the Goodyear's that are made in the US. Stamped right on the tire.

 

[Seilerbird]

OK. Now, how many off brand Chinese or no name generic parts did you buy for your RV?
At least the name brand, whether they actually made it or not, pass their specs.
Wait, maybe I'll put the China bombs back on my trailer and pitch the Goodyear's that are made in the US. Stamped right on the tire.

I buy almost exclusively from Walmart and Amazon. A large percentage of which is Chinese and not name brands. I have been very happy with the quality of the things I buy. I am not a bigot so I don't have a built in hatred of foreigners. Nor do I think that things made in the US are superior to foreign made items. My Hyundai Veloster, my 3D LG TV and my Pixel 7 pro phone were all made in South Korea. They have all performed excellently for me and rarely had a problem with any of them. I even root for South Korea at the Olympics.

 

[Tom]

But there's still a profitable niche in that market for higher end aerial services such as geo rectified highly accurate mapping. Many operators that embraced the new tech are thriving.

Yes, our Grandson has several niches besides his main business, including some aerial stuff, although it's not his main focus. I'm sometimes surprised by some of the stuff that he's approached to do.

 

[gwinger]

I buy almost exclusively from Walmart and Amazon. A large percentage of which is Chinese and not name brands. I have been very happy with the quality of the things I buy. I am not a bigot so I don't have a built in hatred of foreigners. Nor do I think that things made in the US are superior to foreign made items. My Hyundai Veloster, my 3D LG TV and my Pixel 7 pro phone were all made in South Korea. They have all performed excellently for me and rarely had a problem with any of them. I even root for South Korea at the Olympics.

I never said ALL Chinese products were bad.
Some of the Chinese companies roots are from the US. My BIL worked for a large engineering company and traveled to China and Korea many times to help startup companies, or US companies opening facilities there.
We had a Kia Sportage (Korean) and now a Hyundai Tucson (Montgomery, Alabama) and both are far and above some American brands.
I doubt if would ever own a Chinese car though. They do not pass our safety standards and probably never will.
You also named three big name brand (Not Chinese) foreign companies.
Also, I did not say I was against all foreign manufactures. Big difference between China and South Korea, Taiwan, India, Vietnam, Mexico, Japan, Germany, and most other countries that supply us with goods.
We taught most of these countries.

 

[Seilerbird]

I never said ALL Chinese products were bad.

I did not infer that you did say that. I said I am not a bigot. Huge difference.

 

[jymbee]

Wait a minute. I still have an Olympus that uses a CF.
It was my first digital camera. Still works. Jut not high def.

Yep, I still have 2 Canon SLRs one of which takes only CF cards, the other has 2 slots for CF and SD.

I think "high def" is a bit oversold (surprise, surprise) by manufacturers given many (most?) owners mainly use their digi cameras to post pics on social media where even it you put up a high def, it gets "shrunk" by the platform.

Even when printing where it's supposed to be all about pixels, I've seem some amazing LARGE prints produced from quite old DSLs.

Bottom line: bigger is not always necessarily better!

 

[gwinger]

Yep, I still have 2 Canon SLRs one of which takes only CF cards, the other has 2 slots for CF and SD.

I think "high def" is a bit oversold (surprise, surprise) by manufacturers given many (most?) owners mainly use their digi cameras to post pics on social media where even it you put up a high def, it gets "shrunk" by the platform.

Even when printing where it's supposed to be all about pixels, I've seem some amazing LARGE prints produced from quite old DSLs.

Bottom line: bigger is not always necessarily better!

I have to agree. You may have a camera with a 20 megapixel resolution. That means the picture is composed of 20 megapixels. A huge file. Almost 20 megabytles.
You may not even be able to post a picture of that size.
I know my email ISP limits file size to under 5 MP.

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

I would - a readily recognizable name that has a stable company backing it. It does not mean they actually make the product or design it. Other, similar "name brands" examples might be LL Bean, Coleman, and Interstate.

My point exactly. Amazon is not a manufacturer. They put their name on a lot of products. Mostly from the lowest cost supplier.
I'll stick with the name brand companies that actually produce the items.

Well, one of the largest and most trusted names in computing, most of us would know with Wifi routers, Cisco, doesn't make anything themselves either. Cisco farms out the early design of their products, their engineers worldwide will improve and adapt them to their product lines, and then they source out manufacturing. They build nothing; they are more like an intellectual company.

 

[gwinger]

Well, one of the largest and most trusted names in computing, most of us would know with Wifi routers, Cisco, doesn't make anything themselves either. Cisco farms out the early design of their products, their engineers worldwide will improve and adapt them to their product lines, and then they source out manufacturing. They build nothing; they are more like an intellectual company.

BUT, all of these are made to Cisco's specs and standards.
Same with any other large, reputable computing company.
Do you think Cisco, Nvidia, IBM, HP etc., buy from Amazon?

 

[RayIN]

Yikes! The 3-pack of Lexar 128GB microSD cards I bought last October has doubled in price! Lexar has factories in Chine, Taiwan & South Korea, so tariffs are surely one factor but nowhere near double.

MSN explains.

 

[Adventurous Traveler]

Do you think Cisco, Nvidia, IBM, HP etc., buy from Amazon?

No, but I bet Amazon buys from them.

 

[gwinger]

No, but I bet Amazon buys from them

The companies I mentioned do not make them. They buy them from the major manufacturers made to their standards.
Again, Amazon buys the least expensive ones they can find. Since they only have a 30 day warranty, they don't care. Quality control is not one of Amazons priorities.
I have used ones from many different companies. Even some of these are better than others.

 

[LarsMac]

I ran across a 1 Tb SD card at Walmart selling for 14.25 .
I'm thinking that I will pass on that.

Most 1 Tb Cards are running 140-150.
I don't think that I want to trust more than 32 Gb on a single storage device that I can lose in my wallet.

 

[gwinger]

I ran across a 1 Tb SD card at Walmart selling for 14.25 .
I'm thinking that I will pass on that.

Most 1 Tb Cards are running 140-150.
I don't think that I want to trust more than 32 Gb on a single storage device that I can lose in my wallet.

The largest one I use is a 64gb in my dashcam but I make sure it's a class 10 name brand. All others are 32gb. Music, file storage and maps for my Garmin GPS.

 

[jymbee]

I don't think that I want to trust more than 32 Gb on a single storage device that I can lose in my wallet.

I tend to buy cards as large as the device will accept. For example, the dashcam goes up to 256 and the pocket OSMO 512. Various other cameras/devices the same strategy. No worries about storing a full day's high res video with dash cam or having enough room on the OSMO.

But if one doesn't come anywhere near maxing out a card, your method definitely makes sense.