CFexpress cards are here now (available and for preorder)

Ton14

Just info, Sandisk made CFexpress cards now. The new Type B CFExpress utilizes the same form factor as Sony’s XQD cards, CFexpress Type B cards but the cards are much faster at reading and writing with speeds of 1700MB/s and 1400MB/s with the 512 GB model.

In the video, the new cards are used in a Nikon Z Series camera. That’s one big advantage for Nikon choosing this type of media.

Here the article with links.

https://www.newsshooter.com/2019/09/04/sandisk-reveals-new-speedy-type-b-cfexpress-media/

tc88

Did Nikon release the new firmware to support that? I thought they announced half a year ago that they were going to release a new firmware with CFexpress support. But I haven't heard a peep after that. Maybe I missed something.

Ton14

@tc88 That was my question too. Nothing can be found on the Nikon firmware page, but in this artcle they say: The new Type B CFExpress utilizes the same form factor as Sony’s XQD cards, maybe that is it. The new cards are used in a Nikon Z Series camera here, so I will test it in the shop first, when they become available.

mhedges

No firmware updates out yet. Everyone is waiting for it.

tc88

@Ton14, please keep us posted. If you get a chance, can you also test out on D850 as well when you are there? Thanks.

Ton14

@tc88 Wilco, I don't have a D850, but I can always ask in the shop, but I did not see them in the big shops here in Holland at the moment.

EricBowles

Last I heard Nikon was planning on releasing firmware to support CFExpress by the end of the year. It's not a big deal until there are actually cards available.

Ton14

Today at Calumet I talked with a Nikon representative the CF Express card. Nikon has had problems with the Lexar XQD card for the Nikon D500 in the past. At this moment there are a few different types of CF express cards, one of which seems to be compatible with the XQD cards and therefore also works in the Nikon Z6 and Z7, but definitely not authorized by Nikon, so own risk when used.

Now the new announced CF cards are still not available here in Holland, the prices are about the same as the current XQD cards, but they are 4 times as fast, which is an easy reason for me to wait until Nikon has the official firmware available .

mhedges

It's still pretty uncertain whether the CF will be faster in camera. But yes I'd say it makes sense to wait unless you really need a card right now.

They will certainly be faster reading the data off the card provided your computer can handle the speeds and you are writing to something that is very fast.

retread

I have Lexar XQD cards in my D500 and have had no problems. XQD cards are from before the brand was sold. I have SD 11 cards from SanDisk and ProGrade. I wish I knew how fast the camera could write to each card so I did not buy cards faster than I need too. Save a few bucks then. Cards are the fastest I could get when I got them.

I wonder if a XQD reader will read a CF Express card.

Ton14

The shop where I buy my cards here in Holland writes that the reader can be used for the type CF express we need for our camera. Sony raised the prices for ther XQD cards. I have already seen lower prices then XQD.

They are still not available here, but I'am not in a hurry.

mhedges

retread said:

I wonder if a XQD reader will read a CF Express card.

That's a good question. If CF express cards have built in USB emulation (like the latest XQD cards) than the cheaper Sony adapter should work. I don't know if a true XQD card reader will work.

tc88

There is no mention of CFexpress in the latest firmware that's released. Honestly, this glacier pace of Nikon engineering development is no longer a surprise anymore.

mhedges

Yeah it's kind of ridiculous. The practical effect of adding CFexpress support right now would be pretty negligible, because there are very few if any cards actually out there, but it would show that they were trying to actually lead for once.

Ton14

Just saw this one, for preorder by B&H, cheaper then the Sony XQD's.

The Wise CFexpress Type B memory cards and card reader (WA-CX01) are now available now in limited quantities. They have been specifically designed to work with the Canon EOS C500 Mark II, Nikon Z6 and Z7.

CFexpress cards are relatively new, but I think we will start to see more and more cameras starting to use the technology, especially with increased resolutions and frame rates now being offered by camera manufacturers.

They come with 2-year manufacturer warranty and are available in capacities of 128GB, 256GB, and 512GB.

They are priced as follows:

512GB $499 USD
256GB $339 USD
128GB $179 USD

tc88

Looks like sandisk is also in stock. Let's see how long it will take Nikon to update its firmware.

Ton14

Firmware is updated in the last version, but only for Sony Cards.
Other cards will follow, the question is, when Nikon updates the list for compatible cards.

tc88

Yes, I mean how long Nikon will update the firmware to use the sandisk cards. More importantly, when will we see the firmware updates for the DSLR to use cfexpress.

Ton14

Another thing, the only reason these cards are useful at this moment is that you can copy your photos fast to your computer. The Nikon camera don't even use the full write speed from the XQD yet.

I think XQD cards are out, because the max speed is 4 times less then CFexpress and they only go to 256gb, further XQD's are more expensive and when they become cheaper, I will use them also as drives for my laptop.

mhedges

Ton14 said:

Another thing, the only reason these cards are useful at this moment is that you can copy your photos fast to your computer. The Nikon camera don't even use the full write speed from the XQD yet.

I think XQD cards are out, because the max speed is 4 times less then CFexpress and they only go to 256gb, further XQD's are more expensive and when they become cheaper, I will use them also as drives for my laptop.

Meaning CFe vs. XQD? Yes agree on the current cameras I don't think CFe will be any better. And even for the case of copying over you need to be copying to a fast SSD to take advantage of the CFE read speeds.

I'd probably go CFe for any new purchase, unless you have DSLR's you need to use the cards in too.

WestEndFoto

On the main blog, a reader said this in a discussion about SD, XQD and CFExpress:

If UHS-1 is slower to the point where it affects performance, I take it back and I guess there's no choice but to pay the price...
I did 3 hours of continuous video on the Z6 starting again every 30 minutes and it didn't overheat at all. It may have overheated if it would be writing to an uhs-1 SD...
Now I feel better spending $340 for an xqd card.

To which I responded:

I think that you should feel good about that. Because of XQD and CFExpress, buffers will be essentially unlimited. I can remember being frustrated with the buffer on my D800 when I was shooting portraits. Now I don't have that frustration with portraits on my D850, but I do with action on occasion: I leave the SD card in as a backup, because forced to choose between speed and safety, I will take safety.
That will disappear forever with CFExpress and you will be able to shoot 8k video with no overheating (except maybe the sensor and the sensor is the limiting factor today). Canon got a jump on Sony here.
I actually sympathize with the landscape shooter (like me sometimes) where speed is almost irrelevant and almost any SD card will do as long as it is safe. Now, I think that Nikon recognizes this and the Z50 and probably the Z5 will have an SD card. However, even regarding safety, XQD and CFExpress provide a huge improvement.
So everyone gets improvements regarding safety and speed and some have to pay more than they would otherwise choose. But the bar on performance is constantly being raised, so this is the cost of partaking in this hobby (if you are a professional and complaining, I have zero sympathy for you - even if the only benefit is safety, that trumps everything).
And since everyone or almost everyone is moving to CFExpress now and more manufacturers are making the cards, I think that you will see the price come down, especially the current generatyion when the next generation that will be faster comes out.

mhedges

Main blog is saying there will be another firmware update soon which will add support for a whole bunch more CFexpress cards.

Gotta say I am surprised to see how many different brands of cards are out or coming soon. The market still has to be pretty tiny.

PB_PM

These high end cards have much larger profit margins built in, compared to SD cards, so the interest from manufacturers will be high at first. In the long run the big players will be the ones to survive, since they make the flash chips and controllers, allowing them more price control.

mhedges

That's a good point. I'm wondering how many of these companies actually make (as in assemble) the cards themselves, vs. rebadging someone else's card.

retread

Another question is how many buy and assemble the parts as apposed to making parts them themselves?

PB_PM

There aren’t many flash sellers with fabs out there, Intel, Samsung, Sandisk which is part of Western Digital, Micron (used to own Lexar), Sony, Toshiba, which sold the flash division to another brand which I cannot recall, but I think it was from Taiwan. There are a bunch of smaller Chinese fabs coming online as well, but they are, for the time being, behind the Japanese and American owned companies.

The majority of the brands out there are buying parts from a range of OEMs, putting them together and slapping custom firmware on them, then put them in a box and ship them. Typically that is reflected in the price, so those brands will more often than not be cheaper once the launch period is over.