XQD card

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JANuser said:
XQD has never been inexpensive, and I've not noticed much change price wise during it's entire life cycle. CFexpress likely won't change much price wise either. Part of the issue is that fast flash memory found in XQD and CFexpress requires a more powerful controller than what is found in SD/SDHC/SDXC cards, and that means it costs more to design, and make. Higher capacities also drives up price. XQD starts at 32GB, and I don't think there there is a CFexpress card smaller than 64GB on the market. Another reason the price is high is licensing fees. XQD uses the SATAIII standard (3.5' & 2.5' HDD & SSDs use this), which is licensed on a per device basis, and CFexpress is based on PCI-E (like NVMe SSDs), which is also licensed similarly. CF was less expensive since it was based on the first and later second generation IDE standard (tech from the 1980s/1990s), so the license fees were low or maybe even nonexistent. Another is build quality, the XQD and CFexpress cards use metal cases, for toughness and more importantly heat dissipation, since fast memory generates a lot of heat while writing data, and the faster it gets the more it creates.

I currently have 2 64GB XQD cards, which if they are anything like my CF cards, will last me many trouble free years. I will likely get one or two more, unless Nikon finally gets around to that promised firmware update for our XQD equipped devices. I'm not holding my breath on that one though.
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Thanks for info. My main concern was they may stop producing these cards ,if not pricing would increase. I currently have a120gb and a 32gb. I ordered one more 32gb. This should round out my storage cards . I am going in a few weeks to the OBX and wanted to insure I was prepared and for future excursions also.
 
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It is very likely the XQD will disappear, its hard to say when though. Next week, next month, next year? Nobody knows. CF slots haven't been standard in cameras for a while now, but they are still out there and making new types. There have been shortages of XQD as of late, but they always seem to trickle back into stock. Both of the Sony 64GB cards I bought within the last month were made this past spring (indicated on the retail package), does that mean anything? No idea, but compared to other card types I'm sure demand is low.
 
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JANuser said:
It is very likely the XQD will disappear, its hard to say when though. Next week, next month, next year? Nobody knows. CF slots haven't been standard in cameras for a while now, but they are still out there and making new types. There have been shortages of XQD as of late, but they always seem to trickle back into stock. Both of the cards I bought (within the last month) were made this past spring (indicated on the retail package), does that mean anything? No idea, but compared to other card types I'm sure demand is low.
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Hope not but if they do they do :rolleyes: We will deal with if happens. Thanks for the help
 
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JANuser said:
XQD has never been inexpensive, and I've not noticed much change price wise during it's entire life cycle. CFexpress likely won't change much price wise either. Part of the issue is that fast flash memory found in XQD and CFexpress requires a more powerful controller than what is found in SD/SDHC/SDXC cards, and that means it costs more to design, and make. Higher capacities also drives up price. XQD starts at 32GB, and I don't think there there is a CFexpress card smaller than 64GB on the market. Another reason the price is high is licensing fees. XQD uses the SATAIII standard (3.5' & 2.5' HDD & SSDs use this), which is licensed on a per device basis, and CFexpress is based on PCI-E (like NVMe SSDs), which is also licensed similarly. CF was less expensive since it was based on the first and later second generation IDE standard (tech from the 1980s/1990s), so the license fees were low or maybe even nonexistent. Another is build quality, the XQD and CFexpress cards use metal cases, for toughness and more importantly heat dissipation, since fast memory generates a lot of heat while writing data, and the faster it gets the more it creates.

I currently have 2 64GB XQD cards, which if they are anything like my CF cards, will last me many trouble free years. I will likely get one or two more, unless Nikon finally gets around to that promised firmware update for our XQD equipped devices. I'm not holding my breath on that one though.
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Well put! I also hope that Nikon puts out the firmware upgrade for CF support for all of its xqd equipped cameras, not just the mirrorless, but for now, I'm buying a spare 64GB XQD.
Good point about the longevity of the CF card....
cheers,
Alex
 
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... still holding out hope that Nikon will release Firmware updates to enable the D5 & D850 to be able to utilize CF Express. As you say, with supply and demand both limited on XQD cards the prices still remain high on an card that will soon be phased out apparently.
 
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I mainly shoot with a D500 and have never even owned an XQD card. I just use either 128GB or 64GB SD Extreme PRO (170 mb/s) cards. I have never had any issue doing this. I feel like the price of the XQD cards is prohibitively expensive.

Am I the only one here who just completely ignores the XQD slot on my D500?
 
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AlexY said:
All I've been able to find in Canada are Sony XQD cards, which are fine, but expensive. There's no other manufacturer as far as I can see, unfortunately. I think that I should buy a spare sooner rather than later in case they become extinct.
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In the UK Delkin XQD cards are available.
 
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LBGuil said:
Thanks for info. My main concern was they may stop producing these cards ,if not pricing would increase. I currently have a120gb and a 32gb. I ordered one more 32gb. This should round out my storage cards . I am going in a few weeks to the OBX and wanted to insure I was prepared and for future excursions also.
Click to expand...
I just purchased a second XQD myself. Probably will get a third at some point just in case..
 
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AlexY said:
All I've been able to find in Canada are Sony XQD cards, which are fine, but expensive. There's no other manufacturer as far as I can see, unfortunately. I think that I should buy a spare sooner rather than later in case they become extinct.
Click to expand...

I just got a 120 GB Sony from A... Warehouse D... for a really good price. First I wasn't sure about the "huge" size because I am used to 32GB SD cards for my D750 and D7200.
But with a bit of calculation I found that I really should go bigger for the following reasons:
  • In order to optimze the utilisation of the ppor buffer capacity in my cameras the backup mode for slot 2 is deactivated. With 32GB in each slot this gives me roughly 1500 pics storage when shooting 12bit RAW lossless compressed.
  • After the D4S shoots with 11 instead of 6 fps and going to 12bit RAW was a compromise due to buffer limitations, I should roughly double the number of pictures that I can store including some extra capacity for going back to 14bit RAWs.
  • The D4S has two different slot types, but I didn't want to invest in two additional card formats (XQD and CF). On the other hand XQD cards are considered to me far more reliable than both SD and CF cards electronically as well as mechanically (e.g. open Pins in CF slots). Thus, the XQD card is my only card which has to provide the complete capacity that is shared between two cards in my other cameras and I have to double its capacity to compensate that.
All this would add up to a 128GB card, but the D4S has lower resolution (16 instead of 24 MPixel), thus for having the same capacity for pictures I should have around 85GB storage in the camera. But in reality the cards on my other cameras did often get less pictures on them because of shooting short bursts due to the buffer limitations or slowing down to app. 2 fps after the buffer filled. So even when shooting conciously it is very likely that once I get the taste of the big buffer and the high frame rate I might shoot bursts more often and if I do they might be longer as well.

And suddenly 120GB do not look so huge anymore compared to a pair of 32GB SD's in my other cameras ;).

After talking to a couple of people I think going for Sony or Lexar is the best choice for cameras that are not compatible to the new CFExpress standard. Also I saw people reporting more problems with Lexar cards if it comes to card readers, so I simply went for Sony. These cards should be really durable, so that the price difference should not be so relevant in the long term.

I find this one here to be a good soure of information if it comes to memory cards in cameras.

Regarding spare card I thought I can live with just one as long as I am not going to travel without having the opportunity to take the photos off my cards, but I will also try to get a spare one just in case. I personally don't think the cards will become extinct in the near future, because there are still many cameras out there using this card format and because they re so durable there will be enough used ones around and because the cards are so durable I consider it as a relatively low risk to buy them second hand.
 
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Wade Abadie said:
I mainly shoot with a D500 and have never even owned an XQD card. I just use either 128GB or 64GB SD Extreme PRO (170 mb/s) cards. I have never had any issue doing this. I feel like the price of the XQD cards is prohibitively expensive.

Am I the only one here who just completely ignores the XQD slot on my D500?
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I use a 32gb SD, do not own an XQD either
 
I didn’t realize there was a shortage.
I have XQD 64gb in the D500 along with 128gb 300 mb/s SD.
When I bought the $3,200 D850 I also put a $190 128gb 300 mb/s SD card in the cart and a $250 128GB 440 mb/s XQD G in the cart. Pricy but at least I know it’s not a bottle neck 🤷‍♂️
 
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Sony G Series 440 MB/s XQD and Sandisk Extreme Pro 300MB/s SD here.

Sandisk_02.jpg
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