CF Express Type B card in Nikon D5 and Z7?

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Karl Gillard

Karl Gillard

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Hello all! I currently have Nikon D5 (12-14fps, (2)-32gb XQD cards) and Nikon Z7 (7-9fps, (1)-64gb XQD card) cameras. I'm using Sony XQD cards in both cameras and have never had a problem with either. It is my understanding that both cameras are able to use the newer/faster CF Express Type B cards (R:1700MB/s, W:1100-1700MB/s depending on card manufacturer) in place of the XQD cards (R: 440MB/s. W:400MB/s). I do realize that my XQD card reader will not work with the CF Express Type B cards.

So, I went Amazon.com to look at cards. There are Sony, Sandisk, ProGrade, Delkin, etc., etc. I have only ever used Sony and Sandisk cards and am not familiar with the others, other than hearing their names. We are planning some vacation trips and I plan to take abunch of photographs. If I can bring a computer to download onto daily, that would work fine. But if not, I want to have several cards available. Since they are a bit expensive, I plan to just buy some as I go along before the trip so as not to get hit so hard at one time.

Now that I've written a book on plans, here's my questions: Which brand of CF Express Type B card is best (keep in mind that I'm not planning to spend $500 per card. I'd like to keep it around $100)? I don't machine gun every shot and my "big" burst are mostly only 10-20 shots at a time, so does it make sense, other than it's the newest, to use CF Express Type B over XQD? I'll probably go with 128gb or 256gb cards.

Again, I certainly appreciate and value your responses! Thanks much!!
 
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Delkin has a line called Power that are a little slower than Black line but still fast but much more affordable. I have a couple of them and have had no issues with them. If you aren't in a rush I would wait until you see a deal on them as they do have them time to time. Nice thing about CF express is there are more options which is helping a little with pricing. I think if you stick with one of the main manufactures you will be fine.
 
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There will certainly be varying opinions on this with brand preference and such. Prior to buying a Z camera, I used Sandisk cards almost exclusively. All my XQD cards were Sony. When I ordered the Z9, I decided to switch all my cards out for CFExpress cards. All the early reviews talked about two specific cards working best, Delkin Black and Prograde Cobalt. The Cobalt cards were all higher capacity so I ordered a Delkin Black. Later other cards were getting good reviews, Delkin Power, Angelbird SX, Sony, and a few others. I hear good things about the Sony Tough cards, but they cost more and I don’t see any reason for me to pay more for them. I have heard the Sandisk cards generate more heat so I opted to avoid them. I ended up ordering Delkin Power and Angelbird SX cards. Performance wise, any of them work well. The Delkin cards, even the Power versions, seem to run the coolest. I really wanted to like the Angelbird cards, they have an SE version that is 512GB capacity for $179 which is a good price. My problem is one of the two SX cards I bought has areas where the black plastic has begun chipping away from the sides. One piece fell into the memory card slot on the camera and I’m fortunate it didn’t cause a bent pin and am reluctant to recommend them. While the Delkin Black cards perform really well and are my favorite (I now have four of them), I find the Delkin Power cards perform very well and are often significantly cheaper. The additional performance won’t be noticeable in your current camera and I find them sufficient for the Z9 so that would be my recommendation.
 
I don't know of any reason to eliminate a major brand. Saw this review page, but if it is fast enough for your use, and the company has a reasonable reliability reputation, I think it's all good. Let's hope that picture of Sawsquatch doesn't get corrupted by the cheapo brand.

www.popphoto.com

The best CFexpress cards for 2023

The best CFexpress cards provide unmatched speeds to keep up with the most data hungry and fastest cameras.
www.popphoto.com www.popphoto.com

www.digitalcameraworld.com

The best CFexpress cards in 2024: ultra-fast Type B and Type A cards compared

The best CFexpress cards are some of the fastest memory cards you can buy. Here are our top Type B and Type A picks
www.digitalcameraworld.com www.digitalcameraworld.com
 
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Thanks guys! I just haven't been keeping up with the newer cards. I didn't want to buy a handful of XQD cards just to have them become obsolete six months later. As always, your assistance and input are invaluable.
 
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the gotcha is neither of those cameras can take advantage of the cfe-b speed. however if buying more media, i'd definitely get cfe-b over xqd. you will get extra speed when reading them on the computer however.

next, you need to decide if you're going to cover your here and now needs or if you're going to try to future proof a bit in terms of card performance.

personally i prefer the delkin cards. i'm only buying the delkin blacks which are there high performance cards, but my understanding is their non black line is solid as well. one thing i like about delkin is they run cool. not really an issue in your cameras, but it is in the emerging cameras like the z9.

thing to note. your xqd reader won't read cfe-b, so you'll need another reader. there are a few readers like the sony that will read both, but most do either or, not both. if it doesn't say it does both then it doesn't. that said, no real reason to get a reader that can do both, just a matter of preference.
 
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Any of the CFe type B cards will be faster than your cameras so there isn't any concern there. If you think you might upgrade to a Z9 at some point, then it might matter. I've been liking the Delkin Black but it's overkill for your use. I have SanDisk and Sony cards as well and the Sony card works fine. The only glitch I had was with one of the Sandisk cards which refused to format after several uses. I was able to get it to work again and tests keep showing it's fine but I honestly don't trust it. I've noticed that the Sandisk cards run hotter than either the Sony or Delkin. Stay away from the Prograde CFe reader, it runs hot. I have 2 of the Sandisk CFe readers and both work fine.
 
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I no longer use the SanDisk card in my Z6ii, I had heat issues when shooting video. I also was not impressed with their customer support. I’ve used Angelbird SX, Delkin Black, and Prograde Cobalt with no issues in my Z9 or my Z6.

Choose a well known brand and watch for promotions. Delkin had a great deal on a 325Gb with reader for $249 during Christmas.
 
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I agree with most of the suggestions you have received. Delkin Black and ProGrade Cobalt are the fastest in the cameras with the Delkin Power and Sony Tough slightly behind. The Sandisk cards work fine with Canon cameras but have been a little hot with Nikon. Don't get a card smaller than 128GB as the card size can impact speed. The Lexar company that made XQD cards and earlier cards was closed (by Micron), and the brand name sold, so I rate them a bit lower based on recent reports.

You'll see some generic references on card speed - speeds quoted on the card and speeds using various measuring tools. The in-camera speeds are quite different, so don't rely on these other metrics unless you use them to avoid certain cards.

I would get a plain CFExpress reader rather than a hybrid version. Delkin has a nice reader that is inexpensive.

You won't see much if any improvement in speed in your cameras, but download speeds will improve. It's possible with some cards (like the ProGrade Gold) you see much slower speeds, so stick with the suggestions above. There is a secondary market for XQD cards, so if you wanted to transition a little faster, it's possible.

If you just need cards for this trip, it is possible to rent cards from the same places that rent cameras.
 
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I have been looking into this question too. I have a Z 9, D5, D500 and a D850, so all can use CF express B. Only the Z9 can use the extra speed in camera, but as people have mentioned you gain speed at ingestion into the computer. My main concern is that I read that the earlier models like the D5 may not be able to handle large capacity cards. CFe cards are available in huge capacities over 2 Tb. I have read that the D5 can’t handle a card of that capacity.
My largest capacity CFe cards are 325Gb Delkin Black. They seem to work fine in all my cameras. 335 Gb is a lot for the D5. About a bajillion shots! Well, lots.
 
IainD said:
I have been looking into this question too. I have a Z 9, D5, D500 and a D850, so all can use CF express B. Only the Z9 can use the extra speed in camera, but as people have mentioned you gain speed at ingestion into the computer. My main concern is that I read that the earlier models like the D5 may not be able to handle large capacity cards. CFe cards are available in huge capacities over 2 Tb. I have read that the D5 can’t handle a card of that capacity.
My largest capacity CFe cards are 325Gb Delkin Black. They seem to work fine in all my cameras. 335 Gb is a lot for the D5. About a bajillion shots! Well, lots.
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The user guide should give some guidance for what type of Card in what capacity and a chart of roughly how many images it will capture. I know on my Canon the raw is lossless compressed so the file size for a 45mp raw shot varies from 35-42mb, so each 64GB of card gives me about 1200 pics. I've read the z9 is also lossless compressed and around 55mb per shot, so still plenty of room on a 256GB card.
 
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bleirer said:
The user guide should give some guidance for what type of Card in what capacity and a chart of roughly how many images it will capture. I know on my Canon the raw is lossless compressed so the file size for a 45mp raw shot varies from 35-42mb, so each 64GB of card gives me about 1200 pics. I've read the z9 is also lossless compressed and around 55mb per shot, so still plenty of room on a 256GB card.
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The D5 was made before CFexpress cards had been released, so the Nikon user guide does not refer to them. A 325Gb card will hold thousands of images and seems to work with the D5, but I believe the cards with a capacity over 512Gb may be incompatible. I read on a different forum that someone had a D5 that could not use a 1Tb card. It was a slower card, certainly, but still faster than an XQD.
It seems to have been an issue like adding huge amounts of RAM to an older computer that was unable to work with it.
 
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For me personally, I prefer to use smaller cards 32gb-64gb-128gb and just change when nearing full. I’ve never been one to trust everything to one big card, so the XQD cards are apparently all I need. Since there’s basically no advantage using the CFe Type B cards with my D5 or Z7, might as well just stick with XQD.
 
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Karl Gillard said:
For me personally, I prefer to use smaller cards 32gb-64gb-128gb and just change when nearing full. I’ve never been one to trust everything to one big card, so the XQD cards are apparently all I need. Since there’s basically no advantage using the CFe Type B cards wdith my D5 or Z7, might as well just stick with XQD.
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Me too! Only reason I've started using CFe cards is they are now cheaper than XQD.
 
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dabhand16 said:
Me too! Only reason I've started using CFe cards is they are now cheaper than XQD.
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Also, for travel it is nice just to use a single card reader. I have always used multiple smaller capacity cards in the past, but CFe cards are very expensive here. I have bought mine from B&H, and with shipping it is still much cheaper than buying the equivalent here in Australia. And it is very difficult to get some of the good cards here at any price. When I travel, my plan is to download images to my computer and keep the card full until I get home and ingest images into my desktop. So I need larger capacity or more cards.
 
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Karl Gillard said:
For me personally, I prefer to use smaller cards 32gb-64gb-128gb and just change when nearing full. I’ve never been one to trust everything to one big card, so the XQD cards are apparently all I need. Since there’s basically no advantage using the CFe Type B cards with my D5 or Z7, might as well just stick with XQD.
Click to expand...
Absolutely true. I am trying to standardise my cards for travel but XQD is still very good.
 
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