Published: March 3, 2017
The Nikon D5600 is an update to the D5500 DSLR camera. It features a 24.2-megapixel DX (APS-C) CMOS sensor. It adds SnapBridge and Bluetooth communication over the previous camera model. Like its predecessor the swivel 3.2 LCD screen can be controlled by touch. The D5600 is capable of 4 frames per second continuous shooting 14-bit RAW and 5 fps in 12-bit RAW and JPEG. Its 39-point auto focus system enables action photography. Video specs include HD 1080 resolution at up to 60p.
The D5600 uses Secure Digital (SD/SDHC/SDXC) memory cards and supports UHS-I. While UHS-II cards can be used in the camera, it lacks the high speed interface so the cards will operate only at UHS-I speed. To compare memory cards and find the fastest card for the D5600, 102 SD cards were tested in the camera. Write speed was calculated using 14-bit RAW images, while continuous shooting results show the number of images captured in 30 seconds in RAW+JPEG, RAW and JPEG modes. Following the tables, an analysis contains more details observed during the tests. From these tests, the fastest SD cards for the D5600 are presented.
The test setup consists of a D5600 mounted on a tripod and aimed at a detailed test scene. Controlled lighting is used and the lens is manually focused with manual aperture. The shutter is actuated using a remote release which also controls 30 second intervals. Write speed is determined during the buffer full condition during which the camera is limited by the write speed of the card. The amount of data in bytes written to the card divided by the write time gives the write speed and is calculated in MB/s (1 MB = 1,048,576 bytes). The write speed results in the table below are for RAW image format (RAW+JPEG and JPEG modes result in lower write speed).
The table below shows the number of shots taken in 30 seconds with the D5600 using continuous high release mode. The time does not include the write time (buffer clearing). Three different image modes are used (RAW+JPEG, RAW, and JPEG). The RAW image setting is 14-bit NEF while the JPEG setting is large, fine quality. The test subject produces 29.0 MB RAW files and 12.8MB JPEG files.
The Nikon D5600 performed slightly better than the D5500 which was tested previously. The highest average write speed measured in the D5600 was 80.3 MB/s. While the test settings varied slightly from the previous model (slightly smaller RAW file size and slightly faster shutter speed), the write speed and buffer-limited shooting measurably improved. (Non-buffer limited JPEG shooting with fast cards was only different due to the shutter speed difference over 30 seconds of shooting.)
Using UHS-II cards in the D5600 provided no real benefit because they operate at UHS-I speed in the camera and have the same performance limitations. However, in a UHS-II card reader UHS-II cards can provide much faster download speed.
Buffer capacity is is very small and similar to the D5500. Because the D5600 is limited by its buffer, memory card speed has a big impact on how the performs during continuous shooting. Faster cards clear the buffer faster and allow a higher frame rate with the buffer full. The image subject and camera settings affect camera performance, including the number of shots that can be taken in a given time interval and frame rate during extended shooting. With more detailed subjects the file size increases which means more data must be written, effectively reducing the frame rate in buffer-limited shooting. Fast memory cards clear the buffer quickly and allow more shots to be taken in a given time interval.
In continuous shooting RAW+JPEG mode the D5600 was only able to capture 5 at full frame rate at which point the buffer was at capacity. This number was constant with all memory cards tested. Faster cards allowed a higher frame rate with the buffer filled: 1.8 fps for the fastest card versus 0.3 fps for the slowest card.
In 14-bit RAW mode faster memory cards allowed up to 10 shots at full frame rate, while slower cards reduced this number to as low as 6 shots before the buffer reached capacity. The difference is due to fast cards clearing the buffer at a faster rate while the camera continues to shoot. The difference between a fast card and a slow card meant getting 4 additional images before the camera paused to clear the buffer. This rate will vary with camera settings and image subject which can affect the image size and the ability of the camera to process images. With the buffer full, the frame rate was 2.8 fps with the fastest card and 0.5 fps with the slowest card.
During JPEG shooting a several cards were able to sustain full frame rate for the duration of the 30 second shooting test. The JPEG setting and image subject affects this, for this test the setting was large, fine quality and produced 12.8MB file size with the detailed test subject. Slower cards reduced the number of images at full frame rate before the buffer limited shooting. The slowest card reached 15 shots before it was limited because it could not clear the buffer fast enough and it slowed to 1.1 fps.
During testing a number of Samsung cards exhibited unexpected write speed behavior. These include 32 and 64GB capacity SD and microSDXC cards of the Samsung PRO (U3), Samsung PRO Select and Samsung PRO Plus. Their write speed sometimes was cut in half, and affected the results for JPEG shooting for all the cards, and RAW shooting for several 32GB capacity cards and sometimes affected RAW+JPEG shooting. While these cards did not cause errors, there is apparently a compatibility issue which causes the D5600 to occasionally revert to a slower UHS-I mode with some Samsung PRO cards. The two 128GB capacity cards did not exhibit this issue.
The fastest SD card in the Nikon D5600 was the Lexar Professional 2000x UHS-II card which reached 80.3 MB/s write speed. While it is a UHS-II card, it operates in UHS-I mode in the D5600 and is not signifiantly faster than the SanDisk Extreme Pro 95MB/s UHS-I card that was runner up at 79.1 MB/s. The advantage of the UHS-II card would be its much higher read speed in a UHS-II card reader for downloading images to a computer.
Kingston 90/80 U3 cards performed very well up to 75.6MB/s average at a slightly lower price point compared with the SanDisk Extreme Pro.
The D5600 has a micro USB 2.0 port that can be used to download images directly from the camera with a USB cable. To test the transfer rate 85 RAW images were downloaded from the camera to a computer with a SSD drive. Both the Lexar 2000x UHS-II 64GB card and Sandisk Extreme Pro UHS-I 64GB card were tested. The 2.4GB transfer took just over 83 seconds and averaged 29.6MB/s with the Lexar card and 29.8MB/s with the SanDisk card. This is about what should be expected with USB 2.0, however much faster transfers are possible using a separate USB 3.0 card reader. The UHS-I card is capable of above 90MB/s, while a UHS-II card can transfer over 250MB/s in a UHS-II card reader. Card reader benchmark tests are available in the Card Reader Reviews.