Best CFexpress card brands/models?

[Spencer14]

I’m planning ahead for when I eventually upgrade to a Nikon Z8 (or a D500 in the interim), and I’ve been looking for good CFexpress cards. Out of Delkin, ProGrade, and Lexar, which brand has the best performing cards? I’ve found several Lexar cards with >1000 MB/s sustained write speeds that cost under $200, and the Lexar reader is only $55-$75 depending on where I get it from. I’ve heard Delkin is good, but those are a little more expensive, and I’m trying to save as much as possible.

 

[Butlerkid]

It really depends on what your needs are. If you shoot BIF's and 20 FPS, you will want the best performing (write speed!) CFe cards you can get. Those are ProGrade Cobalt, Delkin Black, etc. which are rated about 1400. And yes, they are expensive.

First identify what you need - then choose a card to match those requirements.

Depending on when you plan to get a Z8, prices and offerings may change from today. During Oct - Dec a lot of cards have been on sale. Many of those sales are now expiring.

 

[Fishboy1952]

I personally am a fan of Delkin. Price depends a lot on what and how you want to shoot. If you are interested in just stills, then the Delkin Power card is a more economical option. But if you want to shoot high resolution video, then you’ll need the Delkin Black which can be pricey if you don’t find them on sale.

I have not used the other brands you mentioned, but I’ve heard the ProGrade Cobalt is on par with the Delkin Black. I have not heard great things about the ProGrade Gold, or Lexar cards. This would apply for something like the Z8. Any of these would probably be overkill for a D500.

If you do get a Z8, not only do you need to consider the speed of the card, to prevent hitting the buffer, but also the heat generated. I use a Z9 which has a much larger heat sink when compared to the Z8. So you would need a card that not only does the job for speed, but also runs cool enough to prevent hot card issues in the Z8. Good luck.

 

[John Navitsky]

imo, just get delkin and you don’t have to waste anymore brain cells or time. but prograde is fine too. the only lexar model i’d consider os their diamond

 

[DRwyoming]

FWIW, I'd recommend Delkin Black cards if you're shooting video and Delkin Power G4 cards if you're not. The Delkin Black cards are a bit faster, run cooler and a better choice for video, especially when shooting 4K or above, the Power cards are fine for stills work or less intensive video work where heating isn't as big a concern.

Also FWIW, I'm personally shooting Delkin Power cards and have been very happy with them even when shooting raw at 20 FPS in either the Z8 or Z9 but I'm primarily a stills shooter and only dabble with video.

 

[IainD]

Not a bad idea to get ready with CFExpress. I still have some XQD cards which work in my Z9, but CFe is the future, I think.
I have had trouble with Lexar XQD cards, but I have had excellent service from Delkin CFEx cards. I would just stick with Delkin too.

 

[IainD]

I have just ordered a 1Tb and a 512Gb Delkin Power G4 card. I will see how they work in my Z9. I am also interested to see how they work in my D850 and D5. They might be too large in capacity for the older bodies.

 

[fulltimewanderer]

My recommendation would be the Delkin Black. First used them in my D850 no problems no complaints. Liked them so much have two in the Z9. Don’t forget the 48HR Replacement Guarantee. Also the 325 is on sale $50 off, for $375. Not cheap but they work.

 

[Spencer14]

FWIW, I'd recommend Delkin Black cards if you're shooting video and Delkin Power G4 cards if you're not. The Delkin Black cards are a bit faster and a better choice for video, especially when shooting 4K or above, the Power cards are fine for stills work or less intensive video work.

Also FWIW, I'm personally shooting Delkin Power cards and have been very happy with them even when shooting raw at 20 FPS in either the Z8 or Z9 but I'm primarily a stills shooter and only dabble with video.

I very rarely shoot video, so the Delkin Power G4 would be the best option it seems. The 512 GB Delkin Power is only $175 on B&H and has fast enough write speeds for both the D500 and Z8; 805 MB/s sustained is enough to achieve max framerate on the D500 and adequate on the Z8, although it says it goes up to 1700 MB/s too.

@Butlerkid My needs are something that’ll improve my success with fast-moving targets: BIFs, hyperactive songbirds like Warblers and Kinglets, etc. My D5600 + 200-500mm setup, while adequate and capable of getting some great shots, simply isn’t fast enough a decent chunk of the time. I unfortunately missed some great shots of two Golden-Crowned Kinglets today because the AF and buffer are sub-par, even with a decently fast SD card. Upgrading to a camera with a far better AF system, larger buffer, and faster continuous shooting while paired with a good CFexpress card will help improve my hit rate.

 

[wotan1]

I agree either delkin black or prograde cobalt. I have been using prograde because at the time I bought them there was a better deal than Delkin. My cards have been just fine.'
IF you regularly upload your images and then format your card you don't need a huge capacity unless you are shooting a lot of video. I did fill a 165 gb card in a four hour session however. I was doing a lot of 20 fps bird tracking and got carried away. You can control that by limiting your 20 fps to short bursts.

 

[Spencer14]

I agree either delkin black or prograde cobalt. I have been using prograde because at the time I bought them there was a better deal than Delkin. My cards have been just fine.'
IF you regularly upload your images and then format your card you don't need a huge capacity unless you are shooting a lot of video. I did fill a 165 gb card in a four hour session however. I was doing a lot of 20 fps bird tracking and got carried away. You can control that by limiting your 20 fps to short bursts.

I try to stay under 1000 photos per session because whenever I hit 1000, it starts the file naming back at 0001, which is annoying; I don’t want to have multiple files with the same name. In theory something like the Delkin Black 150 GB should be large enough, even for the Z8 with its ~65 MB RAWs. Although I imagine I’d surpass 1000 shots per session more often with such an improved fps and buffer over my D5600 with a measly 5 fps. I download all the photos off my card right after each session so under most circumstances I don’t need a gigantic card capacity.

 

[IainD]

I try to stay under 1000 photos per session because whenever I hit 1000, it starts the file naming back at 0001, which is annoying; I don’t want to have multiple files with the same name. In theory something like the Delkin Black 150 GB should be large enough, even for the Z8 with its ~65 MB RAWs. Although I imagine I’d surpass 1000 shots per session more often with such an improved fps and buffer over my D5600 with a measly 5 fps. I download all the photos off my card right after each session so under most circumstances I don’t need a gigantic card capacity.

The lower capacity cards tend to have slower sustained writing speeds, but they may well not be a consideration for you.

 

[wotan1]

To get tack sharp images we are taught to shoot bursts at 20 fps RAW. If I did the math correctly that would take all of 50 seconds to shoot 1000 pictures.

I can state from experience it is very easy to get carried away in the heat of the battle. You suddenly have a gorgeous predator cruising the killing field. You don't want to miss the critical moment so you keep the pedal down. Doesn't take too much for that sort of thing to get out of control.

Steve Perry has some excellent pointers for dealing with these situations. He includes great pointers on how you can edit through the mass of images and only import the good stuff. I followed his advice and was able to weed through that massive collection of images to cull things down
to a reasonable number in an afternoon.

I have a Z9. I have a 650 gb card but I realized after I got to the shoot that I had left the card in the card reader at home. Fortunately the Z9 holds two cards and my smaller 165 gb card was still in the camera. I thought I was fine, but a couple of hours later I realized I was close to running out of space on the card.

These Z8 and Z9 cameras have capacity I could not imagine was possible when I was in the DSLR world.

 

[EricKlees]

I personally am a fan of Delkin. Price depends a lot on what and how you want to shoot. If you are interested in just stills, then the Delkin Power card is a more economical option. But if you want to shoot high resolution video, then you’ll need the Delkin Black which can be pricey if you don’t find them on sale.

I have not used the other brands you mentioned, but I’ve heard the ProGrade Cobalt is on par with the Delkin Black. I have not heard great things about the ProGrade Gold, or Lexar cards. This would apply for something like the Z8. Any of these would probably be overkill for a D500.

If you do get a Z8, not only do you need to consider the speed of the card, to prevent hitting the buffer, but also the heat generated. I use a Z9 which has a much larger heat sink when compared to the Z8. So you would need a card that not only does the job for speed, but also runs cool enough to prevent hot card issues in the Z8. Good luck.

Actually you have that backwards. Video at 8k even only needs 800-850MB/s min sustained write speeds.

Stills on the other hand for 20fps for the largest buffer and the visitors instant clearing of the buffer once you release the shutter requires 1300MB/s min sustained write speed or higher.

 

[EricKlees]

I try to stay under 1000 photos per session because whenever I hit 1000, it starts the file naming back at 0001, which is annoying; I don’t want to have multiple files with the same name. In theory something like the Delkin Black 150 GB should be large enough, even for the Z8 with its ~65 MB RAWs. Although I imagine I’d surpass 1000 shots per session more often with such an improved fps and buffer over my D5600 with a measly 5 fps. I download all the photos off my card right after each session so under most circumstances I don’t need a gigantic card capacity.

Never seen my Nikons restart the file naming until after 9999, so that's basically 10,000 files, not 1,000

 

[wotan1]

I have read up on video a bit but have not actually done more than a few minutes with the Z9. The Thom Hogan guide for the z8/9 has detailed explanation of how video works. From what I understand, a picture captures a single image in a single point in time. By contrast video theoretically shoots the frame rate number of images every second continuously. The way it does it is really complex but you end up not in fact recording every single image but pieces of them as it goes along.

If I understand it correctly the speed of transfer is not as fast as with a high frame rate still camera, but there are so many images in video that it takes up a huge amount of space on the card to store it all.

I think if you are going to shoot lengthy videos at a 8k and at a high frame rate you are either going to need a super large capacity card or a device that streams the live video feed into a remote recording device.

Anyway video is a whole other world for me. I have enough on my plate with still photography to keep me busy. I don't at this point plan to do more than record a couple minutes here and there.

 

[Nimi]

I have read up on video a bit but have not actually done more than a few minutes with the Z9. The Thom Hogan guide for the z8/9 has detailed explanation of how video works. From what I understand, a picture captures a single image in a single point in time. By contrast video theoretically shoots the frame rate number of images every second continuously. The way it does it is really complex but you end up not in fact recording every single image but pieces of them as it goes along.

If I understand it correctly the speed of transfer is not as fast as with a high frame rate still camera, but there are so many images in video that it takes up a huge amount of space on the card to store it all.

I think if you are going to shoot lengthy videos at a 8k and at a high frame rate you are either going to need a super large capacity card or a device that streams the live video feed into a remote recording device.

Anyway video is a whole other world for me. I have enough on my plate with still photography to keep me busy. I don't at this point plan to do more than record a couple minutes here and there.

The rate-limiting-step for recording video on hybrid cameras is the heat generated, and some cards run hot and some cameras run hot. If you're planning on video on the Z8, get the cooler card and pick less intensive codex (which result in bigger files).

 

[BillW]

I very rarely shoot video, so the Delkin Power G4 would be the best option it seems. The 512 GB Delkin Power is only $175 on B&H and has fast enough write speeds for both the D500 and Z8; 805 MB/s sustained is enough to achieve max framerate on the D500 and adequate on the Z8, although it says it goes up to 1700 MB/s too.

@Butlerkid My needs are something that’ll improve my success with fast-moving targets: BIFs, hyperactive songbirds like Warblers and Kinglets, etc. My D5600 + 200-500mm setup, while adequate and capable of getting some great shots, simply isn’t fast enough a decent chunk of the time. I unfortunately missed some great shots of two Golden-Crowned Kinglets today because the AF and buffer are sub-par, even with a decently fast SD card. Upgrading to a camera with a far better AF system, larger buffer, and faster continuous shooting while paired with a good CFexpress card will help improve my hit rate.

If I recall, the Delkin Power G4 650 gb card (and larger versions) are faster than the 512 gb (and smaller versions). I have one of the 650 gb versions (along with a number of Delkin Black Cards) and like it. Speed is quite relevant if you want to do long bursts with lossless compressed raw at 20 fps.

 

[wotan1]

I ended up getting the 650 GB Prograde Cobalt version and that is my regular card.

I have not yet tested it out to see how long I can run at 20 fps. The other day when using the 165 gb Prograde the camera burst did slow down after a bit but I was using the least compressed RAW format on the Z9.

Before i got the Z9 and going after birds I only rarely shot multiple FPS. Since getting the Z9 I have found the power of rapid shooting is addictive.

They say power corrupts. The Z9 is a powerful camera. I probably should get into therapy.

 

[IainD]

If I recall, the Delkin Power G4 650 gb card (and larger versions) are faster than the 512 gb (and smaller versions). I have one of the 650 gb versions (along with a number of Delkin Black Cards) and like it. Speed is quite relevant if you want to do long bursts with lossless compressed raw at 20 fps.

I have just ordered a Delkin Power G4 1Tb and a 512Gb card. The 1Tb is headed for the Z9, and the 512 for the D850. I will play with both and swap them around, but speed is the least important feature for my shooting. I want capacity and convenience first. An XQD is probably fast enough for my needs, but I also enjoy the new stuff!

 

[RichF]

I got ProGrade Cobalts and they work flawlessly for me. About the same speed as Delkin Blacks, .. I have found that I can get around 175 shots on my Z 9 (20 FPS, manual mode, ...) before it starts to slow down.

 

[Spencer14]

Never seen my Nikons restart the file naming until after 9999, so that's basically 10,000 files, not 1,000

My D5600 only allows 1000 photos per file folder in my memory card. Once that folder fills up, it creates a new one and restarts the count. I got a new card and it’s doing the same thing. I’m not sure how to change it, if I can.

 

[RichF]

My D5600 only allows 1000 photos per file folder in my memory card. Once that folder fills up, it creates a new one and restarts the count. I got a new card and it’s doing the same thing. I’m not sure how to change it, if I can.

ON my cameras, never had a D5600, I get 10,000 images per folder. Not sure if you set your file name to only have a 3 digit number at the end???

 

[Spencer14]

ON my cameras, never had a D5600, I get 10,000 images per folder. Not sure if you set your file name to only have a 3 digit number at the end???

My files have 4 digits and can go up to 9999, it’s just that it won’t let a folder in the memory card go past 1000 total images.

Right now I’m at DTA_1434. If I were to take 999 new photos, I’d get up to DTA_2433 before it creates a new folder in the card and restarts the count at DTA_0001. I’d have to keep each session’s photo count under 1000 and continuously download my photos onto my computer (except for the final one of each session) to reach DTA_9999. I hope this helps to show what’s happening.

 

[EricKlees]

My D5600 only allows 1000 photos per file folder in my memory card. Once that folder fills up, it creates a new one and restarts the count. I got a new card and it’s doing the same thing. I’m not sure how to change it, if I can.

I have had a D40, never paid attention to the file folder on this, a D90, D200, D300s, D500 and D850 before my Z9 now. I think all went to 9999 before a new folder was made so I can't speak for the D5600. Maybe a setting for the folders? I only see a new folder after 9999