AI Supply and Demand

One of the things I didn't like about the Sony α6700 was that it has only one slot for an SD card.

On my Nikon D750 (and also the D7200), I have two card slots. This was convenient because I had lots of room for storing image files. I also have the camera configured so that one card captured still images whilst the other card captured video.

I mostly shoot still images with my cameras, and the second slot also provided an overspill spot if I filled up the first card. I've never run out of room capturing video so that's never been an issue.

Now that I have the α6700, I'm thinking I'll use it for vlogging. It's so lightweight and small that it's much easier to use for video capture than my D750 with the 24–70mm lens.

When I bought the Sony, I didn't give any thought to storage. I had two 128 GB SD cards, so I'd have plenty of room to capture images. I'd just have to switch cards if I want to shoot video.

But as I read up on the user's guide for the α6700, I learned that I needed a different type of card to capture 4K video, which the camera offers. And when I looked online to price out some faster SD cards, my jaw hit the floor.

I remember when I could get a fast card—a 256 GB microSD card for my Insta360 camera—for about $60. To get the card I need for the Sony, with the same storage capacity, I'm looking at almost $320.

And just look how much a 512 GB card costs!

I did some digging into why the price of storage cards has exploded and we have AI to thank, apparently. It seems that the same flash-memory supply used in SD cards is being pulled into AI data centers, SSDs, and other storage products, tightening supply and pushing prices up.

And we can see this upward trend to continue into 2027, when the memory production catches up with demand. But even then, there's little hope that prices will fall to the level when I'll want to buy a card.

In the meantime, I'm using the cards that I have. Currently, I'm cycling through the Laurentians and have my Sony α6700 with me. I'll see how my existing cards handle 4K video but I'll have my phone and my Insta360 camera with me for backup.

I'll let you know how it went when I get back.

Happy Monday!