Memory Cards

Hello. I have a Nikon D7000 and a Nikon D5600. I am going to buy a Nikon D500 but I was wondering about the XQD card slot. Can only a an XQD card go in there or can I use an SD card? Since the XQD cards are so expensive I was wondering if I should just stay with the cameras I have.

Thank you for the help.

D500 has dual slots -- I only shoot on a SD card on mine

You could just use the SD for now and add the XQD later

Yeah, the XQD cards are expensive. The prices haven't come down as I'd hoped, and in fact, have gone up. A good SD card will still permit you to shoot quite a good number of consecutive shots. I bought my XQD cards one at a time as I found deals on open packages or sales and have 4 of them now. I would never let the cost of cards keep you from buying a D500. It's a fantastic camera.

The D500 has both an XQD and SD card. You don't need an XQD but you can get longer bursts (at 10 fps) before it slows down with the XQD than the SD because it is a much faster card. But speed comes a price......literally. I have a 128GB XQD in my D500 and it cost about $200.

If your going to shoot two cards using one as a back up the point of an XQDs speed surely becomes moot, the camera wright speed and buffer emptying will to a large extent be controlled by the SD card, i used both in mine and did a lot of burst shooting for BIF and never had a slowdown, so i don't see a problem with just using the SD if you can live without backup.

I want to thank all of you for your responses as they have helped me a lot. I will definitely buy the D500 and probably sell the D7000, even thought I can't get much for it. But it was my first Nikon and for the love of Nikon I might keep it.

Welcome aboard. Enjoy the ride.
We look forward to seeing more posts and samples of your work.

I would keep the D7000 as a backup.

Thank you, I will do that.