CF-Express Card Manufacturers - Which One?

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Graham Clark

Graham Clark

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Looking at getting a couple of CF-Express cards. On first take the ProGrade Gold series look good value vs spec but not used them before.

Anyone got an opinion or experience of ProGrade vs SanDisk for example?

Edit: Will be used primarily in a D5 but also D850 and D500
 
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I have a ProGrade CFe reader that has been problematic. Because of that I'll be sticking with Sony or Sandisk for future CFe card purchases. I think I have a pair of Sony CFe's for the D6. I've always had good experiences with SanDisk.
 
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Warren D said:
I have a ProGrade CFe reader that has been problematic. Because of that I'll be sticking with Sony or Sandisk for future CFe card purchases. I think I have a pair of Sony CFe's for the D6. I've always had good experiences with SanDisk.
Click to expand...

Thanks @Warren D, my finger was hovering over ordering a SanDisk when I saw the ProGrade. Only used Sony for XQD and SanDisk for SD in the past.
 
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Graham Clark said:
Looking at getting a couple of CF-Express cards. On first take the ProGrade Gold series look good value vs spec but not used them before.

Anyone got an opinion or experience of ProGrade vs SanDisk for example?

Edit: Will be used primarily in a D5 but also D850 and D500
Click to expand...
Last week I just got a pair of ProGrade CF Express 128 GB 1700MB/s cards to feed my new D6. The reviews and specs and relative value drew me to them. I did get the accompanying ProGrade dual-slot card reader (type B and SDHC/SDXC). Initial performance on all pieces has been quick and completely problem free...long may that continue.
 
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Thom Hogan notes the list of Nikon approved CF-E cards on his website today.

I use Lexar XQDs on my D500 and D850 (made before Lexar exited the XQD business) and Sony XQDs on my Z7 and Z6. Ordered this week a couple of Sandisk Extreme Pro CF-E cards and a Sony CF-E/XQD reader (don't have them yet). I would have probably picked Sony for the cards, but I wanted to get 64 GB cards rather than 120/128 GB and Sandisk seemed to be the only approved choice at that size. I have used Sandisk Extreme Pro SD UHS-II cards in the past and liked them.

Thom notes that the approved Sandisk cards have ANCNN at the end of the part number (in the US). Apparently there were issues with an earlier version.
 
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Warren D said:
I have a ProGrade CFe reader that has been problematic. Because of that I'll be sticking with Sony or Sandisk for future CFe card purchases. I think I have a pair of Sony CFe's for the D6. I've always had good experiences with SanDisk.
Click to expand...
Just curious if you are using it with thunderbolt 3 or USB C ports. The product description I read said it requires thunderbolt 3 and doesn’t work with USB-C. At least the ProGrade CFe + XQD reader I looked at stated this.
 
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abc123brian said:
interesting. I read about issues with the first Sandisk CFe reader too. One of the reasons I haven’t bought any CFe cards yet. 🤷‍♂️
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The issue with the early Sandisk readers was that the spring was too strong. I got mine about a month ago and it's fine, problem solved. Just get one from B&H or other large retailer as some of the smaller stores might still have older stock.
 
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I use Sony for both XQD and CFExpress. Very reliable. I think in all of the hundreds of thousands of shots I've used those cards fro (mostly XQD of course), I've only had one 16GB card fail - the original one that came with my old D4. Other than that, I don't recall any failures.
 
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I've had one Sony XQD card fail. It was about 2 years ago, their new "120 GB Extreme" card that replaced the older but more reliable 128 Gb card. The 120 failed while I was out shooting steam trains at night. At first it wouldn't read, then it failed to write. Lost several images. It was cold, around 32F but not ultra-cold. When I got home and inside, it functioned normally. Stuck the camera in the freezer and after a few hours, sure enough, card failed. I used a second card to be sure the camera was ok and it was fine. Turns out the "extreme" card couldn't handle moderate cold where the non-extreme card worked flawlessly in temps down to single numbers F. Sony swapped it out and I will say they were VERY interested in getting that card back for testing as they had just hit the market. I made several inquiries as to what they found but never heard anything back. The replacement has worked fine for 2 years now.
Like Steve, I've been using Sony XQD since the D4.
 
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Lexar 2933x and Sony G XQD cards
Sony CFe cards
All cards 128GB but the Sony XQD 120GB
Sonnet SF3 XQD/CFe reader (TB3)

@FM forums there’s a thread about CFe and general consensus overthere is the Prograde offering is slower than Lexar and Sony.
 
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There are only few (and big) flash memory manufacturers worldwide. Almost all card manufacturers, like SanDisk (now WD), Lexar (now owned by a Chinese company as far as I know), A-Data, Kingston, Sony, etc. do not use their own flash memory in their cards. But they may use their own flash memory controller, and actually this could make a difference. But no card manufacturer publishes reliability information about cards from their production process, even if they have this information for sure. Difference is made only by marketing. I remember a manufacturer showing their cards surviving under the wheels of a car. For sure impressive. Probably they could charge much higher price for their cards after publishing that marketing video clip. But that had nothing to do with the reliability of the flash memory inside :).

That said, the fact that it happened to me that a Lexar card failed whereas another A-Data or SanDisk card never failed is statistically totally irrelevant. The same - any "review" you may read on the net; statistical value = 0,00.

"Backup" is the best brand for critical work :).
 
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I bought the Delkin XQD 120GB Memory Card in October 2019 (with the Sony MRW-E90 reader). I wasn't aware of this brand before, but reviews were good. So far so good ;)
 
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I know the OP has already made a choice (and a good one) but for others reading this here are a few resources with some data. CFexpress varies a lot and probably will be different in Nikon vs some of these tests being in the R5. But still any data helps. My preference if I was to buy to maximize value for performance would be a Delkin Power Card. Especially if looking to buy in the 128GB size as a lot of the other 128GB cards are relatively poor (Sandisk, Prograde).
www.thessdreview.com

The SSD Review

The Worlds Dedicated SSD Education and Review Resource |
www.thessdreview.com www.thessdreview.com
camnostic.com

CFexpress Cards - Camnostic

Using the Canon EOS R5, the best selling CFexpress cards are measured and compared against real-world performance factors.
camnostic.com camnostic.com
 
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I use Delkin XQD and SD in D850 and D500 my wife uses Delkin Black SD in her Z50. A pro photographer friend who also owns two Nikon, Canon and Sony pro line camera stores put me onto Delkin a while back and they are now the only cards he carries. I see the reviewers that @arbitrage posted were impressed with t he Delkins.
 
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