These instructions are based on the Sony A7 III, but can be applied to the other Sony Alpha cameras, with two memory card slots, as their menus are probably similar. e.g. A7RIII, A9, A7R IV, A7SIII, A7 IV
I only need the RAW photos/images, so the JPEG are only as a backup. I don’t write RAW to both slots, because the write speed of Slot 2 is slower than Slot 1, on the Alpha 7 III, and may hinder continuous photo speed when the buffer fills up, although I haven’t been in such a situation as yet.
- Go to the Camera: Quality/Image Size menu (1st tab), Page 1/14
- Select “File Format” and set it to “RAW & JPEG“
- Go to the Setup Menu (The tab that looks like a toolbox.)
- Go to Page 6/7
- Select Record Media Settings
- Set “Prioritize Rec. Media” to “Slot 1“
- Set “Recording Mode” to “Sort(RAW/JPEG)“
Below “Auto Switch Media,” you should now see:
- Slot 1: RAW/Video
- Slot 2: JPEG
Recording Mode Choices
| Sort (RAW/JPEG) | Writes RAW to Slot 1 and JPEG to Slot 2 | Video in Slot 1 only |
| Simult. (P/V) | Writes the same file to both Slot 1 and Slot 2. | . |
Notes
- Import the RAW images, and exclude the JPEG unless you absolutely need them. You’ll be wasting space by importing the JPEG. If you do need JPEG, just export the RAW to JPEG.
- Photos are located in : DCIM \ 100MSDCF
- Videos are located in: PRIVATE \ M4ROOT \ CLIP
SD Memory Cards
The Sony A7 III has two SD Memory Cards slots that are different speeds. To get the best performance for RAW photos and 4K video in Slot 1, it’s recommended to use a Class 10 U3 300MB/s UHS-II Memory Card.
For example
- SanDisk SDSDXPK-064G-ANCIN Sandisk Extreme Pro – Flash memory Card – 64 GB – SDXC UHS-II
- Sony SF-G64/T1 High Performance 64GB SDXC UHS-II Class 10 U3 Memory Card Read Speeds up to 300MB/s
For Slot 2, you can use UHS-I memory cards, rated at 95 MB/s.