CFExpress Card (Type B) Capacity Question

[Whiskeyman]

With CFExpress Type B being fairly mature, and really high-capacity cards now available, what is the greatest capacity card size you are comfortable with using? Have you had any failures with them, and if so, what size was it?

I've held my limit at 325GB so far, but I'm beginning to consider going to a higher capacity card, say to 650 GB, but I'm not ready to go to the 1.2 GB + cards.

 

[EricKlees]

What file format are you using lossless, HE* or jpg? Shooting a lot of video? Are you filling your current card up on a single shoot?

I use HE* and my main card is a Cobalt 325GB and that holds 8.5k images. A normal day is 1500-2000 images for me.

 

[pnbarne]

I have never filled my Delkin Power 512G card. Maybe I haven’t pushed it hard enough but in the Z8, it has never gotten hot, a little warm sometimes but not hot.

 

[Cameron T]

I've got angelbird 512 gig cards, and eventually want a couple 1tb cards for long event days.

0 failures or problems to date

 

[wotan1]

I have one 650gb card and a 165 in the second slot on a z9.

I have filled the 165 in a single day but have never come close on the 650.

I don't do video but do shoot a lot at 20fps. It can get out of hand if I don;t exercise restraint.

 

[Whiskeyman]

What file format are you using lossless, HE* or jpg? Shooting a lot of video? Are you filling your current card up on a single shoot?

I use HE* and my main card is a Cobalt 325GB and that holds 8.5k images. A normal day is 1500-2000 images for me.

Eric, I really doesn't matter to me what file type I'm saving, although I shoot almost exclusively in RAW.

My inquiry is really about card performance and how comfortable you are about putting all of your images onto a single card. Of course, that answer might change if you're using a second card in the camera to store backup files of those on the primary card.

So far, my biggest cards are Delkin Black 325 GB cards, but I see 512 GB CFE-B cards with sustained write speed of 2400MB/S for about $180 US each, or a pair of them for about $330 US. (Although they aren't my preferred Delkin Black cards.) I'm just wary of putting that many files on a single card.

 

[ajrmd]

With CFExpress Type B being fairly mature, and really high-capacity cards now available, what is the greatest capacity card size you are comfortable with using? Have you had any failures with them, and if so, what size was it?

I've held my limit at 325GB so far, but I'm beginning to consider going to a higher capacity card, say to 650 GB, but I'm not ready to go to the 1.2 GB + cards.

There is a balance between performance, cost, and application. If I were shooting commercial video, or going on a long trip where ability to download or carry multiple cards was difficult, I would probably opt for the largest cards possible. As is, I've been very fortunate to use high quality cards (Delkin and Prograde). The largest that I own is 1TB and have never experienced a failure of any kind. Of note, the v4 CFE's are now appearing and I don't have any longevity information to provide as my first v4 card is a 512GB Prograde Gold.

 

[John Navitsky]

With CFExpress Type B being fairly mature, and really high-capacity cards now available, what is the greatest capacity card size you are comfortable with using? Have you had any failures with them, and if so, what size was it?

I've held my limit at 325GB so far, but I'm beginning to consider going to a higher capacity card, say to 650 GB, but I'm not ready to go to the 1.2 GB + cards.

i currently use 650GB cards, but i’d have no issue going to 2TB cards, and have considered it, but was kinda waiting to see how the market breaks in terms of fast cards before selecting new cards

 

[ButlerKid]

From recent personal experience.... (I only shoot raw - no video.)

Normally I download images each night to two separate external HD'.s On a recent trip to Europe I shot only about 500 images per day (NOT the 600-1,500 images/day I might shoot in Africa or Costa Rica, LOL!).

I had three 325gb ProGrade Cobalt CFe type B cards. This time I decided to NOT reformat the card each night, but to use the card as one of my back ups. I downloaded the images each night to one external HD, but did not reformat the card.

By the 3 day, I notice that it was taking longer and longer each night for the card reader to read the card, then back up that days images. Each day there were more and more images on the card, and therefore taking longer to read the card at night before I could back up that day's images. I finally went to a new card for shooting so it wouldn't take so long to back up to an external HD each night.

For me, I think the answer is to get cards that will cover your expected usage in a day, then back up to 2 external HD's and reformat the card. For the Europe trip, I would have been better off with smaller cards, say 256 gb. However, for Africa, the 325 gb cards would be fine.

 

[EricKlees]

Eric, I really doesn't matter to me what file type I'm saving, although I shoot almost exclusively in RAW.

My inquiry is really about card performance and how comfortable you are about putting all of your images onto a single card. Of course, that answer might change if you're using a second card in the camera to store backup files of those on the primary card depending on how much you shoot in a day. So in HE* that same card is going to get you 8.5k images.

So far, my biggest cards are Delkin Black 325 GB cards, but I see 512 GB CFE-B cards with sustained write speed of 2400MB/S for about $180 US each, or a pair of them for about $330 US. (Although they aren't my preferred Delkin Black cards.) I'm just wary of putting that many files on a single card.

The reason for the file format is going to be the file size that you're recording. If you're shooting raw lossless on 325GB you're only going to get about 3.4k images on a card so you're going to want a larger capacity.

As far as putting all of your images on one card or using smaller capacities and swapping out cards really doesn't matter that's just a personal preference. The failure rate on CF Express type B cards is very very low. I use two cards as well but my second card is generally only for video.

So it's more of a preference. If you shoot enough that you would have to replace a card before offloading then get a larger capacity if you're not filling the card with what you're doing now then you're just buying a larger capacity card just to have a larger capacity card it's not a need

 

[Whiskeyman]

From recent personal experience.... (I only shoot raw - no video.)

Normally I download images each night to two separate external HD'.s On a recent trip to Europe I shot only about 500 images per day (NOT the 600-1,500 images/day I might shoot in Africa or Costa Rica, LOL!).

I had three 325gb ProGrade Cobalt CFe type B cards. This time I decided to NOT reformat the card each night, but to use the card as one of my back ups. I downloaded the images each night to one external HD, but did not reformat the card.

By the 3 day, I notice that it was taking longer and longer each night for the card reader to read the card, then back up that days images. Each day there were more and more images on the card, and therefore taking longer to read the card at night before I could back up that day's images. I finally went to a new card for shooting so it wouldn't take so long to back up to an external HD each night.

For me, I think the answer is to get cards that will cover your expected usage in a day, then back up to 2 external HD's and reformat the card. For the Europe trip, I would have been better off with smaller cards, say 256 gb. However, for Africa, the 325 gb cards would be fine.

Thank you, Karen.

So you were not deleting the files from the cards after downloading them onto your two external hard drives? I hadn't thought about it before, but it doesn't surprise me that it would take longer to download each days files as the card was populated with more files as your trip went on.

So far, I've only once filled a 325GB card to capacity and had to swap cards while out shooting a water ski tournament. (I shoot a lot of shots at the request of the skiers, so they can review the shots for technique review.) I always have loaded my files to hard drives overnight, but had an issue with my computer recently that kept me from doing so, which makes me consider getting more cards. If the reliability of cards larger than the 325GB are really good, it makes them a bit more attractive, especially at some of the prices I'm seeing them offered. I just don't want to rely on one card with too many files.

 

[Whiskeyman]

The reason for the file format is going to be the file size that you're recording. If you're shooting raw lossless on 325GB you're only going to get about 3.4k images on a card so you're going to want a larger capacity.

As far as putting all of your images on one card or using smaller capacities and swapping out cards really doesn't matter that's just a personal preference. The failure rate on CF Express type B cards is very very low. I use two cards as well but my second card is generally only for video.

So it's more of a preference. If you shoot enough that you would have to replace a card before offloading then get a larger capacity if you're not filling the card with what you're doing now then you're just buying a larger capacity card just to have a larger capacity card it's not a need

Good points, Eric. You're correct about it being a want right now. I just don't want to be caught short when it might become a need.

 

[ricardo00]

With CFExpress Type B being fairly mature, and really high-capacity cards now available, what is the greatest capacity card size you are comfortable with using? Have you had any failures with them, and if so, what size was it?

I've held my limit at 325GB so far, but I'm beginning to consider going to a higher capacity card, say to 650 GB, but I'm not ready to go to the 1.2 GB + cards.

I take a fair amount of video so my first CFexpress card was 512 GB (Delkin black). I bought a second one a year later and it actually was 650 GB (they sent that one even though I ordered the 512 GB). Before a trip where I knew I would take a lot of pics, I bought a 2 TB card (Power Delkin). So far no problems with any of my cards. On my trips I still occasionally back up but don't delete the photos and video on the cards. On my last trip I took more than 2 TB of pics/video.

 

[IainD]

I have just started using a 1Tb card in my Z9 and a 512 Gb in my D850. I don't shoot video or large numbers of images as a rule, but we are travelling to Iceland after in the year and I would like to keep my images on the cards as well as downloading during the trip. My desktop is my real photo computer. I have had no problems so far, but I have only shot about 20 images with either card! Early days.