I can record 8K RAW on my ProGrade 512gb 1700mb/s card without issue.
However a guy in Discord was complaining that his identical card would intermittently fail to keep up with the data rate. He returned it and got one of the Sony Tough Cards.
You should know that they're currently gouging based on demand. Two weeks ago the 512gb ProGrade cards were going for $467.99 on Amazon and they're currently $549.99. If you can hold out, wait for them to drop.
Looks like the CFX-type B proliferation has been slowed by covid 19.
I see that Anglebird has their CFX type B as 'coming soon'.
As a company that supports the video world pretty exclusively, their cards/ssd are top notch.
as in actual data performance.
manufactured in Taiwan.
Wise is another player in the video world.
With other brands... we maybe seeing product variation ... just like cpu binning.
(Note: CPU binning has been used for years - well established)
remember... this is the new frontier of very portable, small form factor, high speed data transfer.
taking the road analogy...
2 lanes for CFx type B.
1) how good is the pavement = how consistent are the components that make up the road or pipeline.
(components in the CFx type B card.)
2) how optimized is the software: camera & recording media data controller... maybe thinking this as the weather as we scoot down the road..... in this case... very HOT!!!!
My Delkin card stopped working, in that it was no longer recognized by the computer. B&H agreed to take it back, but interestingly, I got a call back from a fellow in customer service at Delkin (since when was that allowed in this industry?!). This real, live human left me a message indicating that there was going to be a firmware upgrade that should fix this due to an issue peculiar to the R5. He thought this should be available in 2 weeks, which of course in software land means a month.
Shoutout to Delkin for
a) calling back
b) having someone knowledgeable call back
c) giving the real story
My personal recommendation is that people not buy the Delkin cards in the next couple of weeks, but once they push out this firmware, to definitely buy the Delkins, as they tested the fastest sustained write speed among the 4 kinds I own, and if foibles pop up with the new cameras, they have a good process to deal with it.
My Delkin card stopped working, in that it was no longer recognized by the computer. B&H agreed to take it back, but interestingly, I got a call back from a fellow in customer service at Delkin (since when was that allowed in this industry?!). This real, live human left me a message indicating that there was going to be a firmware upgrade that should fix this due to an issue peculiar to the R5. He thought this should be available in 2 weeks, which of course in software land means a month.
Shoutout to Delkin for
a) calling back
b) having someone knowledgeable call back
c) giving the real story
My personal recommendation is that people not buy the Delkin cards in the next couple of weeks, but once they push out this firmware, to definitely buy the Delkins, as they tested the fastest sustained write speed among the 4 kinds I own, and if foibles pop up with the new cameras, they have a good process to deal with it. ...Show more →
Delkin 2TB just showed up In Stock and B&H. Do you think it is free of the problems they are going to fix on the other cards??
This is the lowest price per GB you can find if you really need 2TB of space. It is only 2x the price with 4x the storage of the 512GB Delkin.
I don't think it is on the official R5 compatible for 8K list yet but I'd assume it will be as the larger cards are typically the faster cards for sustained min write.
arbitrage wrote:
Delkin 2TB just showed up In Stock and B&H. Do you think it is free of the problems they are going to fix on the other cards??
This is the lowest price per GB you can find if you really need 2TB of space. It is only 2x the price with 4x the storage of the 512GB Delkin.
I don't think it is on the official R5 compatible for 8K list yet but I'd assume it will be as the larger cards are typically the faster cards for sustained min write.
Arbitrage, I asked the guy specifically that, as I was going to buy the 2tb while waiting for the other. He said the same problem is likely to occur and that the fastest way to deal with things was to wait for the firmware upgrade. From the words of his last email, I couldn't precisely interpret if this meant that the card needed to be flashed in the factory, and would involve a return, or if it were a firmware thing we can do from home. If the latter, I was going to buy one for the same reason you mentioned ($/tb). He said to wait, as it would be the fastest way to a functioning card, so I'm interpreting it as the former.
Some very interesting info, thanks, if I may supplement with my own...
Here in HK I can only get Sandisk, Sony and Lexar. I got the Sony 128GB and the Sandisk reader. Sandisk reader seems to have a firmware issue and wiped my Sony whilst in the computer and then refused to format it. In the Canon then it also refused. Second time in the computer, if I did ntfs format first then I could format a second time as exfat. And then I could format in the r5..
Checked with Sandisk, shared the link from their site and the Eu support person said swap it. I didn’t I returned it. Got the lexar reader as the Sony is out of stock.
Now the Sony / Lexar combo is playing up and sometimes the Sony refuses to be formatted - especially when I write to the card in the PC...
Someone mentioned earlier about a Sony tough recall - will google that and see if I can talk to their tech support.
Next option is to try Lexar CFE but that comment about R5 and a firmware fix from Delkin does lead me to think there may be something quirky in the r5 which is causing the issue, Still, I think I might return the Sony as here you only have a 7 day window....
Re sustained speeds - most manufacturers don’t give them unless you ask. Based on the info I got from Delkin they will thermal throttle just like NVMe drives will, CPUs etc. Initially 30% once it gets to 88 degrees. I would assume this is part of the spec and all cards will do the same. So I am not convinced that the fastest is the best solution to CFE. Even if you are shooting stills, sustained writes will push up the heat envelope in the camera and that may impact sensor noise and may impact the length of some video in the higher quality modes.
When I was doing some testing in an Aviary on Sunday in 30-35 degrees and humid I found the grip did get mildly warm, so did the lens barrel closest to the body and a few other parts. Being a little less trigger happy with some simple heat management did help - I’ve not reviewed for any additional noise - I didn’t record the time when it got warmer. Oh and point to note, the m6 ii also got warm - roughly the same, when I was testing at the same time. I was alternating between them so when I picked up the unused body it was cooler than when I put it in the bag.
If your card can do sustained 325MBps then that supports the 8k Raw and 120fps I believe. All other modes are lower bit rates.
Thanks again for the info on firmware for Delkin and the Sony tough stuff. Similarly I would avoid the Sandisk readers for a short while until they fix that firmware.
I’m tempted to stick with UHS ii for a few more weeks - it can still do 8k30, just not the raw or 120fps.
For those in Canada I read about the Transcend CFe cards over on a DPR thread. They are listed on Amazon Canada at $260 CAD for 256GB which is almost 1/2 the price of other 256GB cards. On the US site they are $299 USD. However neither country has them in stock and I don't know if they have ever been available yet as I'd read nothing about them. Write speed is listed as 1300MB/s on the card. Oddly they have a 512GB card that lists only 1000MB/s. The 512GB card is listed at $400 CAD which is also a steal.
Anyways it seems like a pricing error in Canada based on the USD price being slightly higher but if you want to take a gamble you could place an order and wait it out to see if they ever come in stock and if they do if they honour the CAD$ price.
arbitrage wrote:
For those in Canada I read about the Transcend CFe cards over on a DPR thread. They are listed on Amazon Canada at $260 CAD for 256GB which is almost 1/2 the price of other 256GB cards. On the US site they are $299 USD. However neither country has them in stock and I don't know if they have ever been available yet as I'd read nothing about them. Write speed is listed as 1300MB/s on the card. Oddly they have a 512GB card that lists only 1000MB/s. The 512GB card is listed at $400 CAD which is also a steal.
Anyways it seems like a pricing error in Canada based on the USD price being slightly higher but if you want to take a gamble you could place an order and wait it out to see if they ever come in stock and if they do if they honour the CAD$ price.
Update: a week or so ago Amazon cancelled my order for the 256GB card at the "deal of the year" price. But then a couple days ago Amazon re-listed it at the same $260 CAD price. So I've ordered again and waiting to see if they ever stock it and if they do if they honor that price.
As promised, here is that comprehensive review of performance among (now 11) CFexpress cards. I'd like to add more, so if anyone would like their card tested to compare against these benchmarks, I'm happy to borrow for a couple days and send back.
tiggy wrote:
As promised, here is that comprehensive review of performance among (now 11) CFexpress cards. I'd like to add more, so if anyone would like their card tested to compare against these benchmarks, I'm happy to borrow for a couple days and send back.
In the second chart Sony 512's results are kind of covered up. How many shots before MS stuttered?
Visceral Image wrote:
No wanting to beat a dead horse here, but ProGrade Digitial is the only brand of cards I have used for the past two years. Basically since they were founded. I was having an issue with my CFast cards for the 1DX Mark II and called ProGrade's customer support. First - they were in the United States and someone picked up the phone and personalized the call and support with me. Two - they offered a no questions asked replacement card if I just mailed it in. Three - they did some extensive support with me to see what was going on.
Ultimately, I mailed the card in because they wanted to perform testing on it and sent out a brand new card to my door. We ultimately determined that it was not the card, but the reader. So I tested it on both my Lexar reader and the ProGrade reader I bought during this process. The Lexar reader would dive down to below 150MBps while the ProGrade reader would sustain over 500MBps when exporting files.
Their customer support was the best I had ever dealt with in the camera world. I have now spend over $1000 with them on cards with no regrets. The best UHS-II SD cards, CFast cards, and CFExpress Type B 2.0 cards....Show more →
Damn, cards are costing upward of 25% or more of the price of a camera body now days...wt....
tiggy wrote:
As promised, here is that comprehensive review of performance among (now 11) CFexpress cards. I'd like to add more, so if anyone would like their card tested to compare against these benchmarks, I'm happy to borrow for a couple days and send back.
Excellent work Tig! Thank you for spending all the time and effort on this and sharing it here with us.
Sadly, I'm the proud owner of the worst card you tested, (SanDisk 128) but I've got to say that in the last 1 1/2 months I've used it, it hasn't let me down in anyway. I was just going through more images from my Alaska trip and ran across a very long burst (for me) of 60 frames then another 10 frame burst followed closely with a 2 minute long 4k/120 video just a few seconds later.
It may be the worst card spec wise on paper but in real world shooting it seems to be more than enough for my type of shooting.
If I ever need to purchase a new card someday down the road, I'll definitely use your valuable testing information to make my decision.
tiggy wrote:
As promised, here is that comprehensive review of performance among (now 11) CFexpress cards. I'd like to add more, so if anyone would like their card tested to compare against these benchmarks, I'm happy to borrow for a couple days and send back.
arbitrage wrote:
Update: a week or so ago Amazon cancelled my order for the 256GB card at the "deal of the year" price. But then a couple days ago Amazon re-listed it at the same $260 CAD price. So I've ordered again and waiting to see if they ever stock it and if they do if they honor that price.
Update2: The 512GB came In Stock at Amazon.ca at $392 CAD (the card lists at $429 USD). That is some bizarre pricing scheme based on the forex. Other 512GB cards are between $7-800 CAD. I ordered one because the 256GB card I had on order had no ETA. The 512GB is supposed to arrive next week. Then yesterday Amazon updated the 256GB card saying it would deliver in the last week of Sept or first week of Oct. So I guess they got some info on supply of those cards. So far that price has stayed down at the $260 mark.
I'll probably end up with both, test them and return one of them or sell one. The listed speeds is less on the 512GB card which is unlike any other manufacturer. Usually the larger capacity cards are the fastest. We shall see how they test in camera. I will try to match some of Tiggy's tests even though I don't have a nice Blue-wing Teal to photograph
ShootPDX wrote:
In the second chart Sony 512's results are kind of covered up. How many shots before MS stuttered?
Thanks for your work on this!
Sorry about that, guys. Here is the chart without the blockage. The Sony card averaged 126 before stuttering. It is essentially a tie for first among the top five or six cards.
To put it in perspective, if you're at the end of this looong run of shooting through the cache, and you're coming up on the 121rst frame, and then the 122nd frame, you've been shooting for more than 10 seconds straight at 12 fps. Whether it stops at 125 or 126 is the 83 milliseconds more or less of shooting versus that 10 seconds. I consider this whole class of card to be tied in this metric.
lighthound wrote:
Excellent work Tig! Thank you for spending all the time and effort on this and sharing it here with us.
Sadly, I'm the proud owner of the worst card you tested, (SanDisk 128) but I've got to say that in the last 1 1/2 months I've used it, it hasn't let me down in anyway. I was just going through more images from my Alaska trip and ran across a very long burst (for me) of 60 frames then another 10 frame burst followed closely with a 2 minute long 4k/120 video just a few seconds later.
It may be the worst card spec wise on paper but in real world shooting it seems to be more than enough for my type of shooting.
If I ever need to purchase a new card someday down the road, I'll definitely use your valuable testing information to make my decision.
Lighthound, you're very welcome. I don't think a normal person would notice the difference between the SanDisk 128 and any of the other cards. Yeah, we now know it'll clear the cache 1-2 seconds slower, and it'll only take 250 shots in 30 seconds rather than 300 shots, or it'll take 95 shots in mechanical before a stutter, versus 125 shots.
But how often are you taking a run of pictures for more than 8 seconds without a break? Never? I might do this once a month, but I think I'm unusual in that. Because the two cheapest $/GB cards are also top performers, I'd definitely recommend someone buy one of them, but aside from paying more per GB for the Lexar 128, that card will have a happy, productive life.
