CF Express B not reading on a Mac?

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James.Olsen

James.Olsen

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Has anyone else had an issue with CF Express cards not being read by photo programs on a Mac? How did you solve it?

I'm using a Delkin 128 CF Express card, Sony MRW-G1 XQD/CF Express B reader on an older Macbook Pro with 10.15 OS. The CFE card shows up as a disk image on the desktop, but is not available in any photo program for import. If I switch to an XQD card, everything works. I'm using a D850 upgraded to read/write CF Express (Firmware 1.21).

I can drag and drop images from the disk image, but that's less then ideal. I tried reformatting the card on the Mac, but then the D850 won't read it, so reformatted back in the D850.

Anyone else having this problem? Seems to be several complaints on the Apple forums, but no answers. Sony and Apple have been less than helpful so far....

Any suggestions and solutions are welcome!!!
 
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I now pretty much only upload to my Mac using the usb-c cable. I’ve only xqd cards, and the ready, Sony made, works fine.
i did have issues with prograde cards and reader, all incredibly slow, which went back to the maker… but that wasn’t anything to do with the Mac.
 
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I have a MacBook Pro (13”) and a 27” iMac, both running the current version of Ventura and have no problems with my CF express cards or reader. Mac OS does see a CF Express card as a SSD disk and not as a camera memory device. I use Lightroom Classic and Photo Mechanic with no issues. However, MAC OS does not auto-dismount CF Express cards after imports (it does auto-dismount XQD cards on the same reader). Hope you can resolve your issues.
 
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I have no issues with either of my iMacs, but haven't tried with the MacBook Pro, which is an Early 2011 model using Mac OS High Sierra (10.13.6). I'll charge the MBP and attempt to upload images from a CFE card in about an hour.

Can you use the Mac Finder to move files from the card/card reader onto a hard drive associated with the Mac?
 
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Thanks for all the suggestions,

It appears that some of the Mac OS versions see the CFExpress cards as an SSD drive when attached with a card reader. It shows up on the desktop as a HD but programs don't see it to import. So I can drag and drop photos from the desktop folder, but the files won't show up for import in the photo applications that I have. Apple has a forum with people complaining about the same issue with the CFExpress cards and the M1 chip.

I also tried directly downloading photos from the D850 with the supplied UC-E22 USB cable which surprisingly works well and reads the CFExpress card in the photo programs as it should. But having to remove the L-bracket to connect is also a pain and extra wear-and-tear on the camera tripod socket.

I may try another brand of card reader. The Sony CFExpress reader may be the issue. It does read XQD cards fine, just not CFExpress.

An annoyance I guess I'll have to deal with until I update my laptop in a couple months?
 
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I do have a similar issue (MacBook Pro running the latest version of macOS Ventura). I have a card reader that can read both XQD and CF Express cards. In Windows, the reader works fine with all my XQD cards and also with the one CF Express card I own. macOS reads all my XQD cards w/out any issues, but fails to read the CF Express card. In fact, the card does not even show up as a disk drive in macOS' Disk Utility. Since I have only that one CF Express card and only the one reader, I cannot experiment a lot, but found that different USB-C cables to connect the reader to the Mac lead to different results (from "card not even seen in Disk Utility" to "card shows up in Disk Utility / Finder, but cannot be read, written or formatted"), but nothing works. Again, everything works flawlessly in Windows, which suggests that all the hardware is working fine. I have not yet tried to read the CF Express card with the camera - instead of a card reader - attached to my MacBook ...
I have posted my issue in another forum, but did was not yet able to resolve it. There, some people reported that reading CF Express cards works well for them on their Macs.
 
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My MacBook Pro M1 recognizes the CF Express card as a drive, but Adobe Bridge does not, so I cannot "get photos from camera." I have to create a folder and then copy the files and paste them into the new folder. It takes a little longer and is slightly irritating, but not really a big deal. Using an XQD card doesn't make any difference.

With my Dell laptop CF Express cards are not recognized, but XQD cards are. Kind of weird.

Also, the built-in SD card reader on the Mac laptop is really, really slow, much slower than on my older Dell XPS 17.
 
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Whiskeyman said:
... I'll charge the MBP and attempt to upload images from a CFE card in about an hour. ...

.
Click to expand...
I took me more than an hour to get back to this, but now I have done so.

I was able to connect my MacBook Pro (MBP) to both a Delkin and Sony card reader with a CFExpress card loaded. I was able to move files between the card/reader and the MBP hard drive.

But, I was not able to import the images into Lightroom, since the LR version is not updated for NEF files from either the Z9 or the D850. Lightroom does see the files on both the CFExpress card and on the hard drive after they are transferred.

I don't know if this answered the mail, but since the stamp only cost me $0.02...
 
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James.Olsen said:
Has anyone else had an issue with CF Express cards not being read by photo programs on a Mac? How did you solve it?

I'm using a Delkin 128 CF Express card, Sony MRW-G1 XQD/CF Express B reader on an older Macbook Pro with 10.15 OS. The CFE card shows up as a disk image on the desktop, but is not available in any photo program for import. If I switch to an XQD card, everything works. I'm using a D850 upgraded to read/write CF Express (Firmware 1.21).

I can drag and drop images from the disk image, but that's less then ideal. I tried reformatting the card on the Mac, but then the D850 won't read it, so reformatted back in the D850.

Anyone else having this problem? Seems to be several complaints on the Apple forums, but no answers. Sony and Apple have been less than helpful so far....

Any suggestions and solutions are welcome!!!
Click to expand...

Are you using the correct card reader? I've never had a problem with either type of card, except for the one time I used the wrong card reader. I am on a Mac. I don't think its the computer.
 
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There is a small application from Apple called ImageCapture that I think is part of MacOS. It has been helpful in getting my MacBook Pro to recognize and transfer .NEF files off the CF Express card from both a Z9 and Z7ii, whether in a card reader or connected by Usb directly from the camera. Maybe try that?
 
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I have the Sony MRW-G1 card reader too, and use it on my iMac. I have the Delkin one for my laptop/travel. Both of them work when I use them, but I am running Ventura 13.1 on both machines. It may be possible that an earlier MacOS might not recognize the CFExpress, just like we had to upgrade the firmware on our D850s to use the CFexpress.
 
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jim0379 said:
I have the Sony MRW-G1 card reader too, and use it on my iMac. I have the Delkin one for my laptop/travel. Both of them work when I use them, but I am running Ventura 13.1 on both machines. It may be possible that an earlier MacOS might not recognize the CFExpress, just like we had to upgrade the firmware on our D850s to use the CFexpress.
Click to expand...
That's very likely. I'm hoping/waiting for the next version of MacBook Pro due out in the next couple months to upgrade. Hopefully that will solve lots of issues including this. My current MacBook has reached the end of its ability to upgrade the OS from Apple.
 
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James.Olsen said:
That's very likely. I'm hoping/waiting for the next version of MacBook Pro due out in the next couple months to upgrade. Hopefully that will solve lots of issues including this. My current MacBook has reached the end of its ability to upgrade the OS from Apple.
Click to expand...
Also, the Sony website did say it would work with my Mac and OS version. Lost my faith in Sony.
 
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I was just trying to install new firmware into my R5 MKll on my new MAC using an Angelbird CF express card. I could not drag and drop the file into my Angelbird card. Tried everything without success. Local camera shop said there was troubles with Mac’s.
 
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