Have the Z 6 and only one slot as you know but I have both a XQD and CFexpress card, but still only one slot. I bought the CFexpress because it was about the same price as the XQD. The biggest issue that I have is that my sony XQD card reader doesn’t read my sony CFexpress. To download pictures from the CFexpress I have to leave it in the camera and use the USC slot. No performance issues seen with either card.
Yeah Jeff, I have the same problem, and the only way I have been able to download is via the wireless app, takes forever. Can you explain how you are doing it via the USC slot, not sure what you mean by that? Thanks in advance. Cheers Matt
@@MattIrwinPhotography Ment to say USB slot.Just connect the USB-C cable to the USB slot on my old MBPr and use Lightroom. The MAC does not recognize the card in finder.
My last three Nikon cameras all used XQD cards: D850, Z6 & Z7, The cards have been bullet proof, work extremely well and reliable. Would I buy another XQD card: no .. the future is CF Express. I do remember a discussion that there are A & B CF Express cards and Nikon only uses one. Not sure of the reason why. Excellent video as always Peter
Difficult to answer at the moment but suppose at the end of the day it’s horses for courses so would definitely use if there is a benefit. One thing for sure is that prices will inevitably fall which is a benefit for all whatever way you look at it. Great content as always Matt 👍
I always found it very ironic that Sony made the XQD cards but never put XQD card slots in their cameras! Currently I use the XQD’s in my Z7 and eventually I will probably buy one CF card after the prices drop, not now! Also I will have to buy a new card reader because the card readers are different as well even though they’re the same format so that’s another expense you have to figure in to the cost of upgrading from XQD to CF cards. Good video keep up the great work love what you do .... stay safe
Good to see you Matt......even when you need correction. Sony does not own XQD, the spec was developed by Nikon and SanDisk but they invited Sony to join the consortium. They, as a group turned over administration of the new format to the Compact Flash Association, an industry standards association that manages licensing and specs. The Nikon cameras using XQD are using a single data stream so speed will not be much faster with CFExpress since the single stream is used on the 4 streams the cards are capable of. XQD has the main advantage over SD of super reliability, with error cells mapping so cells failing are simply mapped out as if they do not exist and will not be written to, automatically. And it is using the far superior bus standards PCIe+ instead of the dumb 30 year old floppy disk style bus. They are much more protective of the data and with sealed contacts. Sony reserves XQD to their pro video cameras, starting at $25k. Their consumer cameras such as a7 series are built for the price point so the bus and socket of the XQD is several dollars and SD sockets and bus are less than a dollar to install. Even Sony testing lists the Mean Time Between Failure time as an order of magnitude longer than 2 mirrored SD cards. One XQD is 10 times or more reliable than 2 mirrored SD cards. On Sony, since they use the even cheaper series 1 bus for the second slot, which is a lot slower, few people use mirroring but use the second card for overflow or not at all because the slower of the two cards determines the write speed.
Thanks so much Stan for bringing more resolution to the conversation. : ) I read an article suggesting XQD makers have to pay Sony a royalty if they create an XQD is / was this the case? Cheers Matt
Let's add that mirroring (as in RAID 1) has no data integrity mechanism like RAID 5 and if one of the two members in a mirrored pair has a spontaneous bit-flip, there is no objective decision which member has the right data. And add that even when a Z {6, 7} has no way to speed up its writes because of the number (1) of PCIe channels it uses, you could still benefit from very fast reads with a Thunderbolt 3 reader that uses all four available channels. As these cards are not cheap and a "depth investment" (i.e. for a longer term) I would argue that you could better buy CFexpress than XQD today, if/when you need new cards.
I'm between a rock and a hard place on this. My Z6 can use either, but when I purchased the camera it could only use XQD. So, I purchased the XQD card and an XQD reader. I have a Lexar HR2 hub for my SD and CF cards but Lexar doesn't make an XQD reader for it (or apparently a CFExpress reader for it, which is disappointing. So, I'll probably purchase an XQD card for consistency. Yes, I know I can use the USB cable to offload but would rather have an external reader for this. Thanks for your channel!
I pre-ordered a 128GB Sony Tough CFExpress card in December and it arrived in January. Sold my first Nikon Z6 with a 64GB XQD card included and then bought another Z6 and I'm using the CFExpress card. Literally the only difference is when I use the Sony card reader to transfer the files to my computer. I couldn't see any difference in the buffer when shooting stills. (I shoot RAW, 14-bit, lossless compressed) but as you say it's the future. I don't need RAW output to an external Atomos so I have decided not to pay Nikon for that upgrade. Wish they could have allowed RAW recording to an internal CFExpress card, but ah well. The 128GB card was only $10 more than my original XQD 64GB because that was purchased in May before the prices came down.
CFexpress is definitely the best card on the market and it is the best card for upcoming fast cameras with 8K-video. However, I personally still prefer SD cards as it is fast enough (10 frames per second) for my camera when it comes to pictures and 4K-video, and besides, I can plug it directly into my iMac ..... Cheers Jess
Same form factor, different internals - think "protocol" or language differences, and electronic speed differences like you could have between an old AM radio and FM. Here the pinouts facilitate two standards. Compare USB-C (a plug/connector standard) that can support USB 2, USB 3, USB 3.2 and Thunderbolt 3 and potentially relay some 100W of energy. Depending on the chipsets and firmware on either side and a compatible cable, you can have them all or be limited.
It's very good to see you too Matt, I am thankful for the great job of education and reasoning your'e doing here. Good vibes to you and your channel from Holland
The Z6 and Z7 buffer writes to the card at 240 MB/s. 4K video only records at 60 MB/s at 120 fps and 8K records at 90 MB/s at 120 fps. The Sony XQD is still fast enough. I see no advantage in the CF express for the current lineup of cameras. I can't see where the fps shooting would increase at all because the buffer just can't write, and then clear, as fast as the current XQD can receive the files. I think you are correct... IF the new cameras start running 20 fps in 14bit or 16 bit raw... then the new cards will be needed. I would only buy a CF express if my other cards had failed then I might be tempted if the price is similar, just to get transfer speeds from card to computer.
I’m waiting delivery of a Z6ii but will just use an SD card for now (I only shoot a few stills, never video) and I’ll wait until the price of CF cards drop, which they surely will, with more and more manufacturers churning them out.
Have had a CFexpress reader on backorder at B&H for quite some time (I believe my XQD reader will not read CFexpress but the CFe readers will read XQD). Real issue is whether the camera can write faster and from what I’ve heard through the grapevine, the answer is no - Z6/7 will not write files any faster to CFe card - but would love to see you (dis)prove that on your next post! Thanks
Yeah I don't think the Z6 or Z7 will be faster unless Nikon can do something in firmware. I think we will see this advancement more so in the Z8/9. I will see if I can disprove :) Cheers Matt
Hi Matt, I just had a thought about CF Express cards into the future - if they can be made to the storage sizes that is being talked about and they are as robust as information would indicate then they are the logical thing to use for external data storage like SSD or HDD only smaller and by the sounds of it vastly faster and more robust plus less likelihood of failure. Have a card in the camera that can take a days photos then a large one to download them to while traveling so they are secure until home to process and the store in proper archival systems. Although I guess a late one can just be put int he camera to last while away traveling
As others have noted, according to the Nikon USA website XQD was a joint effort between Sony, Sandisk, and Nikon. I like the XQD form factor and expect the Z8 and other future high-MP and/or high frame rate cameras will use CF Express. There is no real advantage to using them with a Z6 or Z7 aside from transfer speeds to your computer.
@@MattIrwinPhotography Good question. My guess (others have speculated the same) is the XQD cards branded Sony or Nikon may have been manufactured by SanDisk. Maybe someone out there knows for sure and can chime in. Thanks Matt.
@@MattIrwinPhotography Interesting times, obviously no retro fitting is possible with the new cards if the slot is not the correct size other than a firm ware update, I wonder how many of the CF Express cards will be bought in error instead of a CF Extreme? I'm guessing the price should make the pennies drop.
I agonised over the purchase. But one 64gb card was starting to get limiting. Hobbling great cameras with small storage makes no sense. Even my D750 had two 64gb SD cards! And I never did video on that for obvious reasons lol.
Yeah Blythe it would be great to see Nikon push this through ASAP, as CFexpress comes to market. I feel like it will happen sometime in 2020 ... just a guess. Stay safe. Cheers matt
As QXD cards are super fast and reliable (comparatively), I use these cards in my laptop instead of SD cards to copy files quickly. One disadvantage of these cards are that you cannot write-protect to safeguards against overwriting.
I have two XQD cards for my Z7. With my style of photography, they are fine. But, I will go to CFExpress when I need another card (of course you need a new card reader to go with it).
great video, one other thing, if these speeds are the future, maybe the continuous shooting might be 15-17 fps in burst mode, or the focus shift shooting/ multi exposure/timelapse shooting modes will get better, because the card can handle the data better?, maybe even atamos might put these into their recorders instead of the ssd drives, make them A LOT Cheaper??
Technology is constantly changing in the photography world. I’m a Nikon d800, d810, d7200 shooter, so all I have and use are sd and cf cards. I’ve never owned xqd or cf express cards. I don’t shoot video, I don’t feel a need for “fast” being that I shoot stills as a wedding, portrait, corporate event and real estate mls shooter. I actually like a large card like cf, although I realize it’s outdated technology. I’ll likely be selling my 4 cameras and go with a newer model like the Nikon d780 which would require all new cards. I really don’t like the thought of loosing so much money in selling my 20 cards to start over with a newer design which will be fairly expensive. I may need to sell all of my wife’s jewelry to pay for the new cameras and cards. Don’t tell her I said that🥴🤑
Hi Ci, it may be that the price of XQD does not come down much, I think CFexpress is more likely to get cheaper as there are more makers in the market. But keep an eye on B+H etc. It could well be there is a short time where existing stock is put on fire sale at end of life. And if so that would happen when Nikon upgrade the D850, D500, D5 to CFexpress, as nobody will want XQD at that point ... what camera are you creating with in 2020? Cheers Matt
Not bad videos for an Aussie 😁 Just bought a second XQD card. Why? 20% cheaper than CFexpress card. Sony card was about US$260 where I am and the CFexpress from mainstream brands was over $320. Ouch! Also, the cheaper CFexpress cards are often no faster than XQD. Why another 4x faster, but I can't afford 4x larger card! Just faster to fill a small card! CFexpress is still a long way from mainstream, but it is the future. When I replace my Z6 in 3-4 years, I expect larger and cheaper CFexpress or next gen cards. Buying for the future for long term investments like expensive cameras makes no sense to me, unless you are near replacement. Even a pro wouldn't waste money for no short to medium term gain (my enterprise raid array tops out at 1tb/sec. 400mb/sec is plenty good for these small cards) . These things are an expense, not an investment.
It’s good to see you, Matt. And good comparison video between 2 cards. After I watched, I got your point but I still have question for my purpose. May I ask, if you don’t mind? At the moment I use Sony XQD type G for my Nikon D500. A few months ago Nikon updated firmware and now we can use Cfexpress as you already mentioned. The XQD I’m using is W : 400MB/s R : 440MB/s and its 240Gb card. It’s pretty expensive already. My question is, worth to buy CFexpress or just stick with XQD? For air festival photography, do you think Cfexpress can write faster and clear the the buffer quicker than XQD? Any suggestions, Matt?
Yep they are costly, but for those who can make use of that speed, it will be a lot of fun, and an increase in productivity and capturing speed in future products. Do you have any XQD ynnot? Cheers Matt
@@MattIrwinPhotography Hi Matt. Yes I have one 32 GB for my Z6. A demo, prize 145 dollars😳😳But they are really fast, compaired to the SD's I use in my D750.😉But I hope the prize will drop, now that other companies joined the marked.
Just bought a 128gb Sony XQD for about $260. Crazy prices indeed! And still small! Will do for my Z6 though. I am doing more 4K video walking around with underslung gimbal. My 64gb was filling fast during a days outing. Good bye SD!!
I love your content Matt - but it just highlights how much of a difficult situation Nikon are in at the moment. All this mean is do I buy into a new Nikon system with a new card and with new lenses, or do I take the opportunity to start a fresh and try a different manufacturer. As you know I'm waiting to see what Sony do next with the A74, I just feel they are going to deliver the killer blow to Nikon. The fact is it's just cheaper for me to move to Sony and in uncertain times thats a important factor.
Considering the quality of Z glass and the reasonable pricing, it really made me pause moving to Sony. Even the low end lenses are great and good Sony glass is pricey indeed. The Z 50mm f1.8 beats my Sigma Art 50mm for about half the price where I am which is insane. I do love 1.4 though lol. I am excited to see where things go with Z. I plan to get the 24-200 for travel and the 200-600mm for wildlife/sports if it has similar value/performance ratio.
Like yourself I am keen to embrace future proofing tecks, however it is not as yet the future, that is to say sufficiently interesting firmware and opinions upgrades have yet to be made available, so investing now seems a little futile/pointless. However one the cost to swap over has reduced and can be justified with features and advantages, I will be all over it. Definatly need though for the Z8 I believe.if it comes with 8K 30 and 4K at 60 fps.
Hello Matt, Nice to see? Looking well! Do you think the Nikon will be soon offering the firmware up date for the Nikon D850 / D5 to use the CF cards and will it mean that the buffers will be emptied quicker? I do think you're right about fps will not change. One added thing I know someone me of had an XQD fail but I have only heard of one and that was after he drop there D850 into the sea and the hole camera and PC-e lens is dead never to work agin.Thanks for all interesting video.
There is much speculation as to what cards the new Z6s & Z7s will take. personally I don't do video, so the CF Express wouldn't be an advantage to me with my D500, even if it would take it.
I don't trust QXD to have a long life cycle. It's not the first time Sony discontinued a propriety card format. So I would go for CF Express; this is an open standard.
Thanks Matt. Actually, I'd just watch you because of your style and delivery. And because I know you're always glad to see me. However, great content as ever. Someone below has commented that the prizes of these cards are insane. I assume he means prices and yes, they certainly are high. CFE looks to be about 35% more than the already-steep XQD here in the Old Dart. Hopefully that will change. XQD has been a bit of a Sony monopoly by the looks of it; an idea that became obsolete before it really became...er...solete. Perhaps CFE will be a bit more 'open'. I wonder how reliability will be since I use a Z6 with its much-criticised single slot. If card manufacturers have improved reliability to the same extent as storage capacity and speed then we've little to worry about. But then I've shot tens of thousands of images over several years on my D700 with a single, good-ole CF card without issue. And I'm not a pro. Yet. So it's no biggie. The capacities of these cards are mind-boggling to someone like me who started out on a career in computing in 1983 just as PCs arrived on desks. Among the first was an Apricot PC, with a 5MB (Yes, that's an M) hard drive, and we wondered how anyone would fill it. We talked, rarely, of a single GB in hushed tones as if it were almost a mythical, unattainable and even irrelevant concept, so unfamiliar that anyone new to the idea needed a run-down of how many zeroes were involved and how many Encyclopedias it represented. 2TB? On a card you could practically swallow without needing a glass of water? "Man", as Apollo 17's Gene Cernan once said about living on the moon for three days of his life; "I'm here to tell ya; that's science fiction."
Hi Matt! Thanks for interesting content as always...after looking at your last videos I could say that you give me the last push to jump over a Z6 ( not yet but I will very soon!!!)....which type of card you think I should buy? I'm not a professional photografer, just an enthusiast! Thanks a lot!
The prices of XQD cards and XQD readers are still too high, at least in Taiwan. Hopefully CFexpress can push the price down soon. I wish the Z6 would come with SD, though. I don't think it needs XQD.
Interesting point does the Z6 need it. I'm confident if you are going to have one card slot, you would want XQD over SD. Prices are high, I think they will tumble through 2020 ... time will tell. Cheers Matt
Hi Matt, thank your for your helpful information , I have question regarding Nikon Z6 is there any big difference between shooting 12 bit raw and 14 bit ?
Yeah, not getting the CF express!?! For low end video XQD is perfectly acceptable. For high end it’s much cheaper to shoot on a Recorder (Ninja V) on SSD!!!
The Z series is capped by the PCi lanes, there can’t be no difference. You mentioned the download advantage when applicable. The biggest difference imo is future proofing, especially because the prices are extremely similar :) I have XQDs but it is obvious that it is a better investment to buy CFexpress and it will replace XQD. The negative is investing in new card readers and potentially new PC hardware.
This MAY be a boon for computer hacks. A proper adaptor and now you have a huge -fast! - bucket to either store files in or run an OS off of. At least an option verses flash drives. Certainly smaller than external SSD's. Camera's face a different problem. They now have a nice fast bucket to toss photo's at but you need to be able to draw information off the chip at warp speed, run it through the image processor then to the buffers and the CFexpress card. I can only imagine what sort of battery power that will take! Ufdah! Now maybe the image processor geeks and the buffer geeks have been waiting for memory cards to catch up - I really have no idea. Hey! New video idea! Who's winning the speed race? Memory cards, image chips or image processors?
Matt and fellow photographers help me out here. For starters I'm upgrading from a d5600 to Z 6ii. As for helps its in the card recommendation. I need a new one since mine is a uhs-1. I don't want to sell myself short but don't want overkill either. I get that the Z 6ii buffer can do like 120 continuous shots but what kind of speed is necessary for that? If you could do 120 shots at 10 mb per that means a 1200mb/s write card is all thats needed and in fact a 400mb/s uhs-2 card would be too slow. Or is it per shot at per say 100mb and a uhs-2 will be more than sufficient. Do you get what I am asking? I know cards are per second and the Z 6ii can do around 12 per second. Thanks everyone for the help.
I guess I maybe could have saved some time and just asked if anyone has an idea of buffer speed in mb/s of the new z 6ii. On the Z6 a large tiff is 70mb so 70x12 would 840mb/s. So anything over that would be overkill correct?
Kamen Minkov yeah after a long while of looking I finally found a CFxpress card reader that is not a CFast card read, honestly there only 2 good cfxpress card reader
Nope, I want CFexpress exclusively from here on out. I don't buy another body without at least one. They only way to get the prices down quickly is to fill cameras with CFexpress slots. To do otherwise is just to drag out the process and keep prices high.
Imagine 8K: 7680 × 4320 pixels. Imagine these 33 MegaPixel at 14 bits per color channel - uncompressed as a, say, 16 bits per channel TIFF, this gets you 190 MegaBytes for just one shot or frame (or 95MB at 8 bits per color channel). Stay with 8 bits per channel, assume data compression in 8K movie to 10% of raw, and at 30 fps, you end up with 285MB per second. Which means a 512 GB (binary base) card gets you half an hour recording time - at only 8 bits per color channel. And if we assume human color vision to be able to discern 10,000,000 color nuances (an unqualified number from the 1970s), we would need 11.07 bits per channel ... and you would be stuck with 1/3 hour on a 512 card.
I have bought a Pro Grade Digital CF express card. I bought for my new Z6. I can download my files from the camera to the computer via the supplied cable. Which is what I am doing. However, for me to to a firmware update or use the full read speed of the card, I need a CF card reader. This is where my issue starts. I have no prior technical knowledge of these cards, hence I am looking for someone who knows the answer to the following. Having purchased two different CF express card readers for my card, I am unable to find a compatible card reader The actual slots, are physically much larger than the cars itself, have I been purchasing the wrong type of cars reader? What type of cars redeer would be compatible? Thank you.
@Danny Deluxe Thank you for letting me know, I will look at the type B. I had actually bought the card for the Nikon Z, I haven't been a Canon user. Thank you, I appreciate the information, I will look into the card reader you have suggested.
Well since this video of course CFexpress has replaced it, and now there are about 20 manufacturers :) and Canon, Sony, Panasonic and Nikon all use it in some of their cameras :)
@@MattIrwinPhotography Yep! Sony had Betamax format for video tape and wouldn't share it with any other company, so it died because VHS was being made by many different companies.
I have always disliked SD cards. I have a dozen failures in a Jar. I like XQD - It has all the reliability that SD does Not. CFexpress must be almost identical to XQD.
Best Buy had plenty of XQD cameras and ZERO memory devices. Effectively making the cameras expensive paper weights. I have to wait days before I can even use my camera. And the internet has put virtually every local camera store out of business. If there were any left the pandemic is the final nail in the coffin.
Anyone here has unwanted sd card reader and sd card? If yes then would you like to ship it to me and let me make use of them and dont get wasted, i need some especially a sd card reader!
![[#2024MAMA] ROSÉ (로제), Bruno Mars - APT. | Mnet 241122 방송](http://i.ytimg.com/vi/dgGqD28J6aQ/mqdefault.jpg)
I'm interested in using CFexpress with my Panasonic S1... and possibly future Canon cameras.
Have the Z 6 and only one slot as you know but I have both a XQD and CFexpress card, but still only one slot. I bought the CFexpress because it was about the same price as the XQD. The biggest issue that I have is that my sony XQD card reader doesn’t read my sony CFexpress. To download pictures from the CFexpress I have to leave it in the camera and use the USC slot. No performance issues seen with either card.
Yeah Jeff, I have the same problem, and the only way I have been able to download is via the wireless app, takes forever. Can you explain how you are doing it via the USC slot, not sure what you mean by that? Thanks in advance. Cheers Matt
@@MattIrwinPhotography Ment to say USB slot.Just connect the USB-C cable to the USB slot on my old MBPr and use Lightroom. The MAC does not recognize the card in finder.
My last three Nikon cameras all used XQD cards: D850, Z6 & Z7, The cards have been bullet proof, work extremely well and reliable. Would I buy another XQD card: no .. the future is CF Express. I do remember a discussion that there are A & B CF Express cards and Nikon only uses one. Not sure of the reason why.
Excellent video as always
Peter
It’s good to see you too, Matt. Thanks for your thoughts.
Thanks Andrew, cheers Matt
Difficult to answer at the moment but suppose at the end of the day it’s horses for courses so would definitely use if there is a benefit. One thing for sure is that prices will inevitably fall which is a benefit for all whatever way you look at it. Great content as always Matt 👍
Hi, always nice to hear about you. Please do not forget the D500.
I always found it very ironic that Sony made the XQD cards but never put XQD card slots in their cameras! Currently I use the XQD’s in my Z7 and eventually I will probably buy one CF card after the prices drop, not now! Also I will have to buy a new card reader because the card readers are different as well even though they’re the same format so that’s another expense you have to figure in to the cost of upgrading from XQD to CF cards. Good video keep up the great work love what you do .... stay safe
What about a real world test Matt on the Z6 or z7 to see if it has an effect on the buffering?
It is really so good seeing you! No, seriously. Your friendliness is so good to see. 👍🏻
Thanks so much Pritesh :) Stay safe. Cheers Matt
Matt Matt Irwin! You go dude!
Good to see you Matt......even when you need correction. Sony does not own XQD, the spec was developed by Nikon and SanDisk but they invited Sony to join the consortium. They, as a group turned over administration of the new format to the Compact Flash Association, an industry standards association that manages licensing and specs.
The Nikon cameras using XQD are using a single data stream so speed will not be much faster with CFExpress since the single stream is used on the 4 streams the cards are capable of. XQD has the main advantage over SD of super reliability, with error cells mapping so cells failing are simply mapped out as if they do not exist and will not be written to, automatically. And it is using the far superior bus standards PCIe+ instead of the dumb 30 year old floppy disk style bus. They are much more protective of the data and with sealed contacts. Sony reserves XQD to their pro video cameras, starting at $25k. Their consumer cameras such as a7 series are built for the price point so the bus and socket of the XQD is several dollars and SD sockets and bus are less than a dollar to install. Even Sony testing lists the Mean Time Between Failure time as an order of magnitude longer than 2 mirrored SD cards. One XQD is 10 times or more reliable than 2 mirrored SD cards. On Sony, since they use the even cheaper series 1 bus for the second slot, which is a lot slower, few people use mirroring but use the second card for overflow or not at all because the slower of the two cards determines the write speed.
Thanks so much Stan for bringing more resolution to the conversation. : ) I read an article suggesting XQD makers have to pay Sony a royalty if they create an XQD is / was this the case? Cheers Matt
Very informative comment. It's been said that every camera is a compromise, and so is every lens.
Let's add that mirroring (as in RAID 1) has no data integrity mechanism like RAID 5 and if one of the two members in a mirrored pair has a spontaneous bit-flip, there is no objective decision which member has the right data.
And add that even when a Z {6, 7} has no way to speed up its writes because of the number (1) of PCIe channels it uses, you could still benefit from very fast reads with a Thunderbolt 3 reader that uses all four available channels.
As these cards are not cheap and a "depth investment" (i.e. for a longer term) I would argue that you could better buy CFexpress than XQD today, if/when you need new cards.
Wow, great background info, especially the reliability stats, truly useful, and explains the reasoning behind the Z camera's single card slot design.
@@jpdj2715 Who cares about reading speed in a camera?
Writing speed is the only criteria that matters while shooting.
I'm between a rock and a hard place on this. My Z6 can use either, but when I purchased the camera it could only use XQD. So, I purchased the XQD card and an XQD reader. I have a Lexar HR2 hub for my SD and CF cards but Lexar doesn't make an XQD reader for it (or apparently a CFExpress reader for it, which is disappointing. So, I'll probably purchase an XQD card for consistency. Yes, I know I can use the USB cable to offload but would rather have an external reader for this. Thanks for your channel!
Yes I am excited
For a while I thought it's Mr Bean! Great info and sharing by the way. Thanks!
I was wondering about the differences. Thank you for another great video brother. Wonderful content always. I look forward to each new video!
Thanks Shane. Cheers Matt
I pre-ordered a 128GB Sony Tough CFExpress card in December and it arrived in January. Sold my first Nikon Z6 with a 64GB XQD card included and then bought another Z6 and I'm using the CFExpress card. Literally the only difference is when I use the Sony card reader to transfer the files to my computer. I couldn't see any difference in the buffer when shooting stills. (I shoot RAW, 14-bit, lossless compressed) but as you say it's the future. I don't need RAW output to an external Atomos so I have decided not to pay Nikon for that upgrade. Wish they could have allowed RAW recording to an internal CFExpress card, but ah well. The 128GB card was only $10 more than my original XQD 64GB because that was purchased in May before the prices came down.
CFexpress is definitely the best card on the market and it is the best card for upcoming fast cameras with 8K-video. However, I personally still prefer SD cards as it is fast enough (10 frames per second) for my camera when it comes to pictures and 4K-video, and besides, I can plug it directly into my iMac .....
Cheers
Jess
Same form factor, different internals - think "protocol" or language differences, and electronic speed differences like you could have between an old AM radio and FM. Here the pinouts facilitate two standards. Compare USB-C (a plug/connector standard) that can support USB 2, USB 3, USB 3.2 and Thunderbolt 3 and potentially relay some 100W of energy. Depending on the chipsets and firmware on either side and a compatible cable, you can have them all or be limited.
It's very good to see you too Matt, I am thankful for the great job of education and reasoning your'e doing here. Good vibes to you and your channel from Holland
The Z6 and Z7 buffer writes to the card at 240 MB/s. 4K video only records at 60 MB/s at 120 fps and 8K records at 90 MB/s at 120 fps. The Sony XQD is still fast enough. I see no advantage in the CF express for the current lineup of cameras. I can't see where the fps shooting would increase at all because the buffer just can't write, and then clear, as fast as the current XQD can receive the files. I think you are correct... IF the new cameras start running 20 fps in 14bit or 16 bit raw... then the new cards will be needed. I would only buy a CF express if my other cards had failed then I might be tempted if the price is similar, just to get transfer speeds from card to computer.
I’m waiting delivery of a Z6ii but will just use an SD card for now (I only shoot a few stills, never video) and I’ll wait until the price of CF cards drop, which they surely will, with more and more manufacturers churning them out.
Have had a CFexpress reader on backorder at B&H for quite some time (I believe my XQD reader will not read CFexpress but the CFe readers will read XQD). Real issue is whether the camera can write faster and from what I’ve heard through the grapevine, the answer is no - Z6/7 will not write files any faster to CFe card - but would love to see you (dis)prove that on your next post! Thanks
Yeah I don't think the Z6 or Z7 will be faster unless Nikon can do something in firmware. I think we will see this advancement more so in the Z8/9. I will see if I can disprove :) Cheers Matt
What must be said: in the nikon z6 mI (!) the xqd is actually faster then my sandisk pro cfexpress. Think that have changed in the M2
Hi Matt, I just had a thought about CF Express cards into the future - if they can be made to the storage sizes that is being talked about and they are as robust as information would indicate then they are the logical thing to use for external data storage like SSD or HDD only smaller and by the sounds of it vastly faster and more robust plus less likelihood of failure. Have a card in the camera that can take a days photos then a large one to download them to while traveling so they are secure until home to process and the store in proper archival systems. Although I guess a late one can just be put int he camera to last while away traveling
As others have noted, according to the Nikon USA website XQD was a joint effort between Sony, Sandisk, and Nikon. I like the XQD form factor and expect the Z8 and other future high-MP and/or high frame rate cameras will use CF Express. There is no real advantage to using them with a Z6 or Z7 aside from transfer speeds to your computer.
Thanks Jerry, did Sandisk ever make any XQD? CHeers Matt
@@MattIrwinPhotography Good question. My guess (others have speculated the same) is the XQD cards branded Sony or Nikon may have been manufactured by SanDisk. Maybe someone out there knows for sure and can chime in. Thanks Matt.
Good info Matt I suppose you also would need a CF express card reader unless a sony XQD reader is backward compatible 👍
Good to see you Matt.
You to sir :)
@@MattIrwinPhotography Interesting times, obviously no retro fitting is possible with the new cards if the slot is not the correct size other than a firm ware update, I wonder how many of the CF Express cards will be bought in error instead of a CF Extreme? I'm guessing the price should make the pennies drop.
good to see you too Matt x
Thanks John :)
I waited so hard for a video like this. Need more cards for my z6, one is just not enough... but they're really expensive! Thanks a lot!
I agonised over the purchase. But one 64gb card was starting to get limiting. Hobbling great cameras with small storage makes no sense. Even my D750 had two 64gb SD cards! And I never did video on that for obvious reasons lol.
And good to see you too Matt, I agree with you on all points, the waiting game is frustrating for the D850 getting the firmware upgrade
Yeah Blythe it would be great to see Nikon push this through ASAP, as CFexpress comes to market. I feel like it will happen sometime in 2020 ... just a guess. Stay safe. Cheers matt
As QXD cards are super fast and reliable (comparatively), I use these cards in my laptop instead of SD cards to copy files quickly. One disadvantage of these cards are that you cannot write-protect to safeguards against overwriting.
When Nikon does offer the firm ware up date, will you be able to use both type cards in other words CF Express or XQD either/or?
Thanks a lot for the comparison
I purchased Z6II and can’t decide to cf express or not...I have some xqd cards already ...
I have two XQD cards for my Z7. With my style of photography, they are fine. But, I will go to CFExpress when I need another card (of course you need a new card reader to go with it).
Does the CF express card work with xqd card readers?
great video, one other thing, if these speeds are the future, maybe the continuous shooting might be 15-17 fps in burst mode, or the focus shift shooting/ multi exposure/timelapse shooting modes will get better, because the card can handle the data better?, maybe even atamos might put these into their recorders instead of the ssd drives, make them A LOT Cheaper??
Technology is constantly changing in the photography world. I’m a Nikon d800, d810, d7200 shooter, so all I have and use are sd and cf cards. I’ve never owned xqd or cf express cards. I don’t shoot video, I don’t feel a need for “fast” being that I shoot stills as a wedding, portrait, corporate event and real estate mls shooter. I actually like a large card like cf, although I realize it’s outdated technology. I’ll likely be selling my 4 cameras and go with a newer model like the Nikon d780 which would require all new cards. I really don’t like the thought of loosing so much money in selling my 20 cards to start over with a newer design which will be fairly expensive. I may need to sell all of my wife’s jewelry to pay for the new cameras and cards. Don’t tell her I said that🥴🤑
Great explanation and discussion. When do you think the price of the XQD cards will come down?
Hi Ci, it may be that the price of XQD does not come down much, I think CFexpress is more likely to get cheaper as there are more makers in the market. But keep an eye on B+H etc. It could well be there is a short time where existing stock is put on fire sale at end of life. And if so that would happen when Nikon upgrade the D850, D500, D5 to CFexpress, as nobody will want XQD at that point ... what camera are you creating with in 2020? Cheers Matt
bit exotic for me, but you reminded me to check for firmware updates
Hey Rob for sure, keep your firmware up to date, then you get all the latest benefits :) Cheers Matt
Not bad videos for an Aussie 😁
Just bought a second XQD card. Why? 20% cheaper than CFexpress card. Sony card was about US$260 where I am and the CFexpress from mainstream brands was over $320. Ouch!
Also, the cheaper CFexpress cards are often no faster than XQD.
Why another 4x faster, but I can't afford 4x larger card! Just faster to fill a small card!
CFexpress is still a long way from mainstream, but it is the future.
When I replace my Z6 in 3-4 years, I expect larger and cheaper CFexpress or next gen cards. Buying for the future for long term investments like expensive cameras makes no sense to me, unless you are near replacement. Even a pro wouldn't waste money for no short to medium term gain (my enterprise raid array tops out at 1tb/sec. 400mb/sec is plenty good for these small cards) .
These things are an expense, not an investment.
It’s good to see you, Matt. And good comparison video between 2 cards. After I watched, I got your point but I still have question for my purpose. May I ask, if you don’t mind? At the moment I use Sony XQD type G for my Nikon D500. A few months ago Nikon updated firmware and now we can use Cfexpress as you already mentioned. The XQD I’m using is W : 400MB/s R : 440MB/s and its 240Gb card. It’s pretty expensive already. My question is, worth to buy CFexpress or just stick with XQD? For air festival photography, do you think Cfexpress can write faster and clear the the buffer quicker than XQD? Any suggestions, Matt?
That would be fun 1T card in second slot for 1 yr backup. Pull out #1 daily but leave in #2 cfE slot
I think the prizes of these cards are insane!!
Yep they are costly, but for those who can make use of that speed, it will be a lot of fun, and an increase in productivity and capturing speed in future products. Do you have any XQD ynnot? Cheers Matt
@@MattIrwinPhotography Hi Matt. Yes I have one 32 GB for my Z6. A demo, prize 145 dollars😳😳But they are really fast, compaired to the SD's I use in my D750.😉But I hope the prize will drop, now that other companies joined the marked.
@@ynnot65 Yep I think give it a year, and they will come down. Like all tech, just keeps coming down over time :)
Just bought a 128gb Sony XQD for about $260. Crazy prices indeed! And still small! Will do for my Z6 though. I am doing more 4K video walking around with underslung gimbal. My 64gb was filling fast during a days outing.
Good bye SD!!
I love your content Matt - but it just highlights how much of a difficult situation Nikon are in at the moment. All this mean is do I buy into a new Nikon system with a new card and with new lenses, or do I take the opportunity to start a fresh and try a different manufacturer. As you know I'm waiting to see what Sony do next with the A74, I just feel they are going to deliver the killer blow to Nikon. The fact is it's just cheaper for me to move to Sony and in uncertain times thats a important factor.
Considering the quality of Z glass and the reasonable pricing, it really made me pause moving to Sony.
Even the low end lenses are great and good Sony glass is pricey indeed. The Z 50mm f1.8 beats my Sigma Art 50mm for about half the price where I am which is insane. I do love 1.4 though lol.
I am excited to see where things go with Z. I plan to get the 24-200 for travel and the 200-600mm for wildlife/sports if it has similar value/performance ratio.
Like yourself I am keen to embrace future proofing tecks, however it is not as yet the future, that is to say sufficiently interesting firmware and opinions upgrades have yet to be made available, so investing now seems a little futile/pointless. However one the cost to swap over has reduced and can be justified with features and advantages, I will be all over it. Definatly need though for the Z8 I believe.if it comes with 8K 30 and 4K at 60 fps.
Hello Matt, Nice to see? Looking well! Do you think the Nikon will be soon offering the firmware up date for the Nikon D850 / D5 to use the CF cards and will it mean that the buffers will be emptied quicker? I do think you're right about fps will not change. One added thing I know someone me of had an XQD fail but I have only heard of one and that was after he drop there D850 into the sea and the hole camera and PC-e lens is dead never to work agin.Thanks for all interesting video.
There is much speculation as to what cards the new Z6s & Z7s will take. personally I don't do
video, so the CF Express wouldn't be an advantage to me with my D500, even if it would take it.
Hello, is it compatible with Nikon Z6ii? Thank you.
I don't trust QXD to have a long life cycle. It's not the first time Sony discontinued a propriety card format. So I would go for CF Express; this is an open standard.
Yes certainly Hibon, as anybody can now make these like CF and SD, certainly gives it a much more certain future :) Cheers Matt.
CFexpress is the only way to go.
Sure is the future John, amazing little thing :)
Try NKI Kinetic Plus 512GB, only $299, and 8K capable
Thanks Paddy I will check them out. : ) Cheers Matt
Will CF Express work fine in the Nikon D4/D4S?
The D500 or the D5 will not run the CF cards as Nikon have not released the firmware it only works with the Z6/Z7
Thanks for your video , Can I use CFEXPRESS for my Nikon d850 ?
Does Cfexpress have to pay royalty to sony for that form factor?
For the moment I stay with XQD, Both in d850 and Z6. Does the card reader know CF express?...;)for video, anyway I record on Ssd on ninja V...
Yeah Sorin, SSD is cheaper, these will have their place in the future, for those who want the speeds, and they will be cheaper by then. Cheers Matt
Thank you. Great video
CF all day any day.
I got a CF express by Delkin Devices it has read at 1750 write 1540
Hello!
is it possible to use a CF card in a Nikno Z6?
Thanks Matt. Actually, I'd just watch you because of your style and delivery. And because I know you're always glad to see me. However, great content as ever. Someone below has commented that the prizes of these cards are insane. I assume he means prices and yes, they certainly are high. CFE looks to be about 35% more than the already-steep XQD here in the Old Dart. Hopefully that will change. XQD has been a bit of a Sony monopoly by the looks of it; an idea that became obsolete before it really became...er...solete. Perhaps CFE will be a bit more 'open'. I wonder how reliability will be since I use a Z6 with its much-criticised single slot. If card manufacturers have improved reliability to the same extent as storage capacity and speed then we've little to worry about. But then I've shot tens of thousands of images over several years on my D700 with a single, good-ole CF card without issue. And I'm not a pro. Yet. So it's no biggie.
The capacities of these cards are mind-boggling to someone like me who started out on a career in computing in 1983 just as PCs arrived on desks. Among the first was an Apricot PC, with a 5MB (Yes, that's an M) hard drive, and we wondered how anyone would fill it. We talked, rarely, of a single GB in hushed tones as if it were almost a mythical, unattainable and even irrelevant concept, so unfamiliar that anyone new to the idea needed a run-down of how many zeroes were involved and how many Encyclopedias it represented. 2TB? On a card you could practically swallow without needing a glass of water? "Man", as Apollo 17's Gene Cernan once said about living on the moon for three days of his life; "I'm here to tell ya; that's science fiction."
Can you check the speed of the CFexpress card?
Thinking the Z7ii may warrant the extra speed, given two processors. Making any sense?
Thank you
Hi Matt! Thanks for interesting content as always...after looking at your last videos I could say that you give me the last push to jump over a Z6 ( not yet but I will very soon!!!)....which type of card you think I should buy? I'm not a professional photografer, just an enthusiast! Thanks a lot!
Just bought a Nikon d850 will a sandisk CFexpress Type b card work with this camera and do I need to update the firmware for this.
Yes that's the future no doubt, but for the moment they are too expensive. It's also difficult to find correct readers to a correct price!
Yes readers are hard to find, I am still waiting for mine to arrive. Thanks Pierre
@@MattIrwinPhotography So it's not only in Switzerland
The prices of XQD cards and XQD readers are still too high, at least in Taiwan. Hopefully CFexpress can push the price down soon. I wish the Z6 would come with SD, though. I don't think it needs XQD.
Interesting point does the Z6 need it. I'm confident if you are going to have one card slot, you would want XQD over SD. Prices are high, I think they will tumble through 2020 ... time will tell. Cheers Matt
Will my Z7ll handle the CF express?
Hi Matt, thank your for your helpful information , I have question regarding Nikon Z6 is there any big difference between shooting 12 bit raw and 14 bit ?
Anything that frees us from Sony has to be a good thing.
👍👍👍
What's mental is that damn bright-ass background in your video.
What’s the best XQD card reader
Sony Readers are good. 😀
Thanks for info.
No worries.
Yeah, not getting the CF express!?! For low end video XQD is perfectly acceptable. For high end it’s much cheaper to shoot on a Recorder (Ninja V) on SSD!!!
The Z series is capped by the PCi lanes, there can’t be no difference. You mentioned the download advantage when applicable. The biggest difference imo is future proofing, especially because the prices are extremely similar :) I have XQDs but it is obvious that it is a better investment to buy CFexpress and it will replace XQD. The negative is investing in new card readers and potentially new PC hardware.
This MAY be a boon for computer hacks. A proper adaptor and now you have a huge -fast! - bucket to either store files in or run an OS off of. At least an option verses flash drives. Certainly smaller than external SSD's. Camera's face a different problem. They now have a nice fast bucket to toss photo's at but you need to be able to draw information off the chip at warp speed, run it through the image processor then to the buffers and the CFexpress card.
I can only imagine what sort of battery power that will take! Ufdah!
Now maybe the image processor geeks and the buffer geeks have been waiting for memory cards to catch up - I really have no idea. Hey! New video idea! Who's winning the speed race? Memory cards, image chips or image processors?
For sure Ronald, and great video idea. I will add that to my list. Keep them coming. Cheers Matt
Can i use cfexpress card reader for xqd card?
I wish Mr Irwin had heard of video editing, even better still, wrote out his script so that his video could be about 4 minutes long.
Cheers.
My Sony XQD is full and CF Express card does not work even after upgrading my D500 firmware..Is there some other solution?
Which brand of CFexpress card did you purchase David? Nikon has a list of recommenced cards for the F cameras I think. Cheers Matt
Matt and fellow photographers help me out here. For starters I'm upgrading from a d5600 to Z 6ii. As for helps its in the card recommendation. I need a new one since mine is a uhs-1. I don't want to sell myself short but don't want overkill either. I get that the Z 6ii buffer can do like 120 continuous shots but what kind of speed is necessary for that? If you could do 120 shots at 10 mb per that means a 1200mb/s write card is all thats needed and in fact a 400mb/s uhs-2 card would be too slow. Or is it per shot at per say 100mb and a uhs-2 will be more than sufficient. Do you get what I am asking? I know cards are per second and the Z 6ii can do around 12 per second. Thanks everyone for the help.
I guess I maybe could have saved some time and just asked if anyone has an idea of buffer speed in mb/s of the new z 6ii. On the Z6 a large tiff is 70mb so 70x12 would 840mb/s. So anything over that would be overkill correct?
So the CFExpress card how can I use it on a PC ? Because it not the same size as an SD card
There are XQD and CFexpress card readers just like there are SD card readers.
Kamen Minkov yeah after a long while of looking I finally found a CFxpress card reader that is not a CFast card read, honestly there only 2 good cfxpress card reader
Nope, I want CFexpress exclusively from here on out. I don't buy another body without at least one. They only way to get the prices down quickly is to fill cameras with CFexpress slots. To do otherwise is just to drag out the process and keep prices high.
Imagine 8K: 7680 × 4320 pixels. Imagine these 33 MegaPixel at 14 bits per color channel - uncompressed as a, say, 16 bits per channel TIFF, this gets you 190 MegaBytes for just one shot or frame (or 95MB at 8 bits per color channel). Stay with 8 bits per channel, assume data compression in 8K movie to 10% of raw, and at 30 fps, you end up with 285MB per second. Which means a 512 GB (binary base) card gets you half an hour recording time - at only 8 bits per color channel. And if we assume human color vision to be able to discern 10,000,000 color nuances (an unqualified number from the 1970s), we would need 11.07 bits per channel ... and you would be stuck with 1/3 hour on a 512 card.
at the moment with the xqd card the d500 and d5 have a buffer of 200 shots so cf is no advantage that i can c o i shoot with both
The D500 or the D5 will not run the CF cards as Nikon have not released the firmware
Cfexpress is faster.... that’s the point....
Yep :)
I have bought a Pro Grade Digital CF express card. I bought for my new Z6. I can download my files from the camera to the computer via the supplied cable. Which is what I am doing. However, for me to to a firmware update or use the full read speed of the card, I need a CF card reader. This is where my issue starts. I have no prior technical knowledge of these cards, hence I am looking for someone who knows the answer to the following.
Having purchased two different CF express card readers for my card, I am unable to find a compatible card reader The actual slots, are physically much larger than the cars itself, have I been purchasing the wrong type of cars reader? What type of cars redeer would be compatible?
Thank you.
@Danny Deluxe Thank you for letting me know, I will look at the type B. I had actually bought the card for the Nikon Z, I haven't been a Canon user.
Thank you, I appreciate the information, I will look into the card reader you have suggested.
I think, if you are a photographer, not "videographer" XQD, goes fine and plenty...
So Sony did it again. QXD is the modern "Betamax".
Well since this video of course CFexpress has replaced it, and now there are about 20 manufacturers :) and Canon, Sony, Panasonic and Nikon all use it in some of their cameras :)
@@MattIrwinPhotography Yep! Sony had Betamax format for video tape and wouldn't share it with any other company, so it died because VHS was being made by many different companies.
Digidirect 30% off on SanDisk,got myself 128gb Cfe🤺🤺
I have always disliked SD cards. I have a dozen failures in a Jar.
I like XQD - It has all the reliability that SD does Not.
CFexpress must be almost identical to XQD.
Yep it is, same basics, and faster. Check out Stan's post here in the comment for amazing detail. Cheers Matt
Best Buy had plenty of XQD cameras and ZERO memory devices. Effectively making the cameras expensive paper weights. I have to wait days before I can even use my camera. And the internet has put virtually every local camera store out of business. If there were any left the pandemic is the final nail in the coffin.
Anyone here has unwanted sd card reader and sd card? If yes then would you like to ship it to me and let me make use of them and dont get wasted, i need some especially a sd card reader!
Why
What?
Lewis Dorothy Thompson Sandra Wilson Daniel
Good to ‘see you’ as well, Matt
Tell that tosser that was giving you the business, to go pound sand! 😳🙄😁🤣👍✌🏻📷
Man, you just have the biggest ears. Reminds me of me ex. A girl of many talents....
LOL thanks, great for hearing everything, and for flying ... very lucky, could she fly? Cheers Matt
Those little buggers are packed into a particularly nasty plastic.
Get to the point, please... before I die of old age!
Mate you must be 107 if you are dying in the next 2-3 mins .............................