SD, CFE, XQD: After having CF cards available for so many years, I'm surprised they couldn't come up with a better name than CFE for the new ones. And the prices! A good SD card costs...

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

After having CF cards available for so many years, I'm surprised they couldn't come up with a better name than CFE for the new ones. And the prices! A good SD card costs $10, while an equivalent XQD or CFE is in the $100 range. Crazy. I like to stock up on cards, but at those prices, one XQD will have to be enough. It was worth paying a couple of dollars more for the SD and XQD cards at B&H and not pay the sales tax, rather than buying from Amazon and paying $12.40 sales tax.

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

Shelling out an additional $120 for CFE cards really did suck. But IMHO they are a superior design compared to SD or CF. Much less likely to bend pins in-camera, or break entirely as SD cards do sometimes. Hopefully prices will fall just like the predecessors.

GeneinChi Loc: Chicago, IL

Tomfl101 wrote:

Shelling out an additional $120 for CFE cards really did suck. But IMHO they are a superior design compared to SD or CF. Hopefully prices will fall just like the predecessors.

What is the advantage of a CFE card?

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

Tomfl101 wrote:

Shelling out an additional $120 for CFE cards really did suck. But IMHO they are a superior design compared to SD or CF. Hopefully prices will fall just like the predecessors.

The slight advantage of the CFE over the XQD didn't persuade me to spend more money. The XQD will be fine.

Tomfl101 Loc: Mount Airy, MD

See edit.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

GeneinChi wrote:

What is the advantage of a CFE card?

Speed? Price.

https://shuttermuse.com/cfexpress-cards-explained/
https://www.slrlounge.com/prograde-digital-xqd-vs-cfexpress-cfast-memory-cards/

Architect1776 Loc: In my mind

GeneinChi wrote:

What is the advantage of a CFE card?

Speed, especially when using fast and high mp cameras as well as 4K/8K video.

BebuLamar

jerryc41 wrote:

The slight advantage of the CFE over the XQD didn't persuade me to spend more money. The XQD will be fine.

I think XQD is on its way out. You may not be able to get card in the future. Perfomance wise it's very close to CFE.

dbrugger25 Loc: Raleigh, NC

The advantage is that if you are taking rapid sequence images, they store those images very quickly. In short, the main advantage is speed. In addition, they are very sturdy.

The disadvantages are the high price, the possibility of a bent pin in the camera, and you need to buy a USB card reader.

When inserting a card with pin sockets never push hard if you feel some resistance. That is a sign that you could be bending a pin within your camera.

jerryc41 Loc: Catskill Mts of NY

dbrugger25 wrote:

...and you need to buy a USB card reader.

Or use a cable.

ronpier Loc: Poland Ohio

jerryc41 wrote:

Or use a cable.

I prefer to just use sd cards and make sure the camera is compatible too.

BebuLamar

SD card seems to have a good physical form factor. The pins on it isn't susceptible to damage like the CF. So the CFE and XQD is really for the speed. But speed is worth a lot of money. The Canon R3 is much more expensive than the R5 and it's main advangtage is speed not image quality as compared to the R5.

photoman43

The advantage is speed--both Read and Write speeds. And the cards are well made and should be less prone to damage.

The read speed is a measurement of how long it takes to open a file on a device (and then transfer it to a computer) while a write speed measures how long it takes to save something to a storage device, from the buffer in the camera to the card in the camera.

Faster Read speeds means faster downloads to your computer. The card reader will impact download speed too. Faster write speeds means that the buffer will clear out faster. Shooting in AF-C or video is helped with cards with fast write speeds.

https://www.itsjustlight.com/photography-tips/memory-card-read-vs-write-speed/

https://photographylife.com/understanding-memory-cards

Your specific normal shooting session will impact how fast a card you will need.

burkphoto Loc: High Point, NC

jerryc41 wrote:

After having CF cards available for so many years, I'm surprised they couldn't come up with a better name than CFE for the new ones. And the prices! A good SD card costs $10, while an equivalent XQD or CFE is in the $100 range. Crazy. I like to stock up on cards, but at those prices, one XQD will have to be enough. It was worth paying a couple of dollars more for the SD and XQD cards at B&H and not pay the sales tax, rather than buying from Amazon and paying $12.40 sales tax.

Price the CF Express Type B cards used in some of the latest mirrorless gear meant for video. Why do they use them? SPEED. If you want "open gate" 4:3 aspect ratio 5.7K Apple ProRes video recording at 1.9 Mbps, you need a very large, very fast card. That gets expensive. A 2TB card can cost $960.00! A 128GB card (that records around 9 minutes of video at the highest quality on a GH6) costs $140. The only people who need that are broadcasters or filmmakers recording video for 4K streaming services or theatrical presentation.

Anything up to about 600 Mbps will work with an SDXC UHS II card if it's fast enough. But for those high density Apple ProRes files, you need the high dollar cards.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

dbrugger25 wrote:

The advantage is that if you are taking rapid sequence images, they store those images very quickly. In short, the main advantage is speed. In addition, they are very sturdy.

The disadvantages are the high price, the possibility of a bent pin in the camera, and you need to buy a USB card reader.

When inserting a card with pin sockets never push hard if you feel some resistance. That is a sign that you could be bending a pin within your camera.

Unlike CF cards with CFE cards bent pins are not a problem. The cards and connectors are pretty robust.