Lexar CF Express Cards on sale B&H till 11/14...

[78Staff]

Some Lexar CF Express type B cards and reader on sale... Good till 11/14.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/search?Ntt=lexar cf express type b&N=0&InitialSearch=yes&sts=ma

 

[acnomad]

I know there is a great deal of buzz surrounding CF Express B cards, particularly with the increased speed and storage space requirements of the Z 9. I am certainly in the market to buy more of them myself.

Word to the wise: not all cards are created equal. These particular Lexar cards have a max write speed of 1,000 MB/sec. That's not slow by any means, but there are faster ones at a similar cost per MB.

 

[78Staff]

This is true, the lexars are 1000MB Write. Not sure if any of these cards actually meet that spec in reality since it's theoretical (read - manufacturer wishing) , and like most ssd type devices, will slow as heat builds. Plus much depends on all moving parts for read (reader, usb cable, usb controller, target media, etc.) and write (camera model, bus, DSLR/Mirrorless, etc)

Comparison write speed spec (manf listed) for a few 128GB cfe type b cards. (larger cards can be a bit faster spec) While none probably meet this spec, one could assume the faster spec would at least be faster than a lower spec, even though both will be lower than rated... if that makes sense .


Lexar - 1000MB - $149 (current sale price)
Sandisk - 1200MB - $199 (current sale price)
Sony Tough - 1480MB - $219
Prograde - 1400MB - $165

Honestly, I've always been a Sandisk fan in SD cards, but of course went with Sony for my XQD's. I recall reports of issues with Sandisk CFE cards in Nikon in the past - that may have been resolved. Same for Prograde, some reviews state they did not work in D5/D500. One has to assume/hope the reviewer had updated the firmware of course.

Pro shooter or money no object the Sony would be obvious choice above for me, but as a hobby, money matters . Prograde probably represents best value based on write speed out of list above, but i just don't know anything about the brand. Also there is Angelfire which are supposed to be "super cards" or something, but again I don' know much about them.

For XQD comparison, current Sony 120GB price is $199. Kinda makes buying CFE a no-brainer if one is looking to buy new cards, regardless of which one you choose.

I still haven't decided which brand though. Might be better to wait for Black Friday sales as well.

 

[acnomad]

I didn’t mean to hijack your thread announcing a good deal, but it is worth considering cards in terms of $/MB of capacity. The current B&H sale pricing is a good value compared to XQD 128MB counterparts at $1.17/MB. The much faster Prograde Cobalt 325GB CFExpress B cards is priced at $1.23/MB and is probably twice as fast in real world usage. Lots of good info has been posted on the internet lately with the memory-hungry Z 9 coming soon.

 

[78Staff]

Ah no worries, more knowledge is always better

Personally I prefer "smaller" cards, and typically use 120's in D850 (due to raw file size) but use 64's in D500 and D810. So these 300GB+ cards aren't in my wheel house really. I guess they are more for 4k/8k video recording uses maybe.

 

[78Staff]

Found some numbers, for comparisons sake. This is on Z9...

Subscribe to see EXIF info for this image (if available)

 

[acnomad]

Yes, I saw Ricci's video and also watched Matt Granger's piece where he did some testing with the Z 9 and three different CF Express B cards. The biggest takeaway from Matt Granger's thoughts are that the minimum write speed is what matters. His test of the Prograde Cobalt yielded 81/456/1052 shots (Lossless/High E*/High E).

 

[78Staff]

And there there's readers, another subject all together that i haven't even looked at - I've been happy with the Sony XQD reader, but don't relish having to buy another one for CFe lol.

 

[Walter Rowe]

Am I remembering incorrectly .. I thought Matt Granger issues a statement about there being some sort of issue with his tests and he would have to redo them when he gets his production model.

 

[78Staff]

I was planning on checking out Matt's vid later today...

Honestly, for my D500 and D850, I am tempted to go ahead and pick up the Lexar's. The write speed isn't much concern on those like it might be on the newer Z bodies I am thinking...

EDIT - well in the end I just went with 2 of the Sony CFExpress cards and reader - sticking with what i know

 

[acnomad]

Am I remembering incorrectly .. I thought Matt Granger issues a statement about there being some sort of issue with his tests and he would have to redo them when he gets his production model.

I didn't hear him mention that, but he did commit to keeping the pdf summarizing his test results up to date as new products become available for testing.

 

[acnomad]

Honestly, for my D500 and D850, I am tempted to go ahead and pick up the Lexar's. The write speed isn't much concern on those like it might be on the newer Z bodies I am thinking...

I think it is reasonable to go with the "good enough" solution for the D500 and D850. Lexar and Sony both offer very fast (even if not absolutely fastest) CF EXpress B cards. There is no need to be future-proof if you're committed to staying away from the Z 9 for awhile. And if you upgrade at some point, your non-warp-speed CF Express B cards will remain marketable to others who do not require that capability.

 

[acnomad]

Since we have wandered pretty far into the topic of speed, I'll go full geek mode and offer this data point from today:

I captured 419 NEF files with a Z 7 today on a card that claims 550MB/sec write and 1550MB/sec read. It kept up fine with the buffer on the Z 7 (which is nothing like the Z 9). Copying those files via a SanDisk card reader that claims 1250MB/sec transfer speed via a Thunderbolt 3 cable (40GB/sec), it took 84 seconds to transfer 37.7GB of data. That works out to 460MB/sec. Not bad, but also nowhere near the advertised speed of either the card or the reader.