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Maximum CFe/XQD/SD card size for Nikon D850
Jun 7, 2021 10:23:25   #
Alphabravo2020
 
I am curious as to your experience. What is the largest card you have used, CF, XQD, or SD?

Now that the D850 supports CFexpress I'm looking at SanDisk's line of larger CFexpress cards at 128/256/512 GB. I am currently using the Nikon 120GB XQD and a SanDisk 128GB SD but I need another.

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Jun 7, 2021 10:37:49   #
JeffDavidson Loc: Originally Detroit Now Los Angeles
 
128GB

Unless you are doing video, I wouldn't want to throw too many eggs in one basket with a larger capacity CF Express or XQD.

Just my opinion.

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Jun 7, 2021 10:53:27   #
larryepage Loc: North Texas area
 
Alphabravo2020 wrote:
I am curious as to your experience. What is the largest card you have used, CF, XQD, or SD?

Now that the D850 supports CFexpress I'm looking at SanDisk's line of larger CFexpress cards at 128/256/512 GB. I am currently using the Nikon 120GB XQD and a SanDisk 128GB SD but I need another.


I am currently using a 512 GB SD card as my primary card and a 240GB XQD card as secondary. That's good to save around 2400 uncompressed raw + Fine/Large JPEGs. I rarely fill it anywhere close to full, but it's good to have the space in case it's needed, like, say, for a tour through Carlsbad Caverns where I don't want to carry anything beside the camera/grip and lens.

I used to worry about excessively big memory cards and having too many files on a single card, but I got away from that thinking several years ago...just don't feel that there is a need for worry anymore if I buy good memory cards.

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Jun 7, 2021 11:08:37   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
Is there any data showing larger cards to be less reliable than smaller cards? I would doubt it, but I have not researched it. I have a 64 and 128gb CFast cards for my Canon since 2016. No issues.

I think it largely depends on how much you want to put on a card and how much money you want to spend.

Alphabravo2020 wrote:
I am curious as to your experience. What is the largest card you have used, CF, XQD, or SD?

Now that the D850 supports CFexpress I'm looking at SanDisk's line of larger CFexpress cards at 128/256/512 GB. I am currently using the Nikon 120GB XQD and a SanDisk 128GB SD but I need another.

Reply
Jun 7, 2021 12:35:58   #
Alphabravo2020
 
It looks like there is no practical limit. I am seeing YT comments of up to 2 TB (Delkin CFe).

EDIT: had to correct the card type)

https://youtu.be/WgI4Ipyx8TM

With respect to failure rates, mirroring the captures should reduce the chance of loss to the square of the probability for one card.

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Jun 8, 2021 07:39:21   #
GLSmith Loc: Tampa, Fl
 
I shoot raw with the D850 & have a backup SD card for after the CFExpress fills up.However I use a 64 GB and seldomly switch over to the backup.....Ive set my maximum pictures at one time down to about 24...& moved the speed down to about 3-4 shots a second...I see too many people "machine gun" the shutter button.

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Jun 8, 2021 09:25:15   #
JBRIII
 
I have found that trying is the only way to know. I have used cards double or more a camera's specs with no problem. I have had problems with pen drives and power draw on a telescope however, cause all kinds of what appear to be software or computer issues, low power messages, irratic image numbering, etc. Don't know if a large card could do the same in a camera?

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Jun 8, 2021 10:28:02   #
photoman43
 
I prefer XQD cards at 64GB to limit having too many images "lost" if I have a card problem. The only right answer is the size that fits your needs and shooting situations.

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Jun 8, 2021 14:17:53   #
amfoto1 Loc: San Jose, Calif. USA
 
JeffDavidson wrote:
128GB

Unless you are doing video, I wouldn't want to throw too many eggs in one basket with a larger capacity CF Express or XQD.

Just my opinion.


I agree!

In fact, I mostly use cards sized to hold between 250 and 500 images... though I have a few that can accommodate 1000.

If a card fails or is lost or goes through the laundry in a jeans pocket, I'd rather not lose an entire day's (or week's or month's) work!

It's not card failure I'm very worried about... in 25 years shooting digital (about 18 nearly exclusively), out of probably 100 or more I've seen exactly two card failures and both of those were brand new. One wouldn't even format, so nothing was ever written to it. The other "locked up" after the first use, after images had been downloaded. So nothing was lost in either case.

I'm more worried about all the other things that can happen to cards... loss or damage due to my own stupidity!

It's no big deal to carry multiple cards and swap them out when needed.

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Jun 10, 2021 21:44:40   #
Sinewsworn Loc: Port Orchard, WA
 
JeffDavidson wrote:
128GB

Unless you are doing video, I wouldn't want to throw too many eggs in one basket with a larger capacity CF Express or XQD.

Just my opinion.



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Jun 10, 2021 21:58:02   #
Bill_de Loc: US
 
I shoot Nef + Jpg. For the Jpg I use a card with half the capacity as the XQD which get the Nef. On the D850 it is 120/64mb due to the large file sizes. Everything else is 64/32mb.

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Jun 22, 2021 22:20:19   #
Alphabravo2020
 
For the sake of posterity, I can confirm that the high capacity SanDisk ExtremePRO Type B CFexpress cards (256GB) work on the D850. There is probably no reason why the 512GB card or even larger cards should not also work as I saw a report of a 2TB card working as I posted above.

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Jun 22, 2021 22:25:48   #
Notorious T.O.D. Loc: Harrisburg, North Carolina
 
As long as the file system can address a 2 TB drive it should work I think...

Alphabravo2020 wrote:
For the sake of posterity, I can confirm that the high capacity SanDisk ExtremePRO Type B CFexpress cards (256GB) work on the D850. There is probably no reason why the 512GB card or even larger cards should not also work as I saw a report of a 2TB card working as I posted above.

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