With Nikon set to expand their XQD Media Card slot to support CFExpress and bring 12-bit RAW to play, it looks like XQD will disappear overnight, in favor of the once and future king known as CFExpress. And while the high-speed card spec shares many characteristics with its lower-end cousin, it hasn't been widely available. Until now. Lexar, ProGrade, and SanDisk have all hit the market with new cards for CFExpress supported cameras.
Lexar
Lexar announced their line of CFExpress cards at NAB last Spring, and they are now available starting at 120GB for $199.00 and 256 GB for $399.
The Lexar CFExpress cards have a max read/write speed of 1750MB/s and 1000 MB/s respectively. There was also a 512GB model announced at NAB, which maxes out at 1650MB/s, but no word on availability for that model. All cards are rated to be shock/vibration and X-ray proof., and are now available for pre-order, with no actual shipping date given.
ProGrade
Next up is ProGrade, with their Cobalt CFExpress 1.0 cards available in 325GB, with a max speed of 1600MB/s and 1400MB/s respectively. Price is $549. Also their Gold Level cards go from 120GB for $179.99 up to 1TB for $899.
The 120GB card has a slightly slower write speed at 600 MB/S, while the 256GB and above max out at 1000 MB/s. All Gold ProGrade cards read at 1600 MB/s. ProGrade's cards also have built-in temperature control thanks to a metal enclosure and are shock/vibration and X-ray proof.
One thing though, while the ProGrade cards are currently available for pre-order and will ship by mid-November, 2019, they will be released in "limited quantities," so you can expect supplies to run out fast. So, order them while you can.
SanDisk
Lastly, we go back to SanDisk, which has made their Type B CFExpress cards. These cards are available for pre-order starting at 64GB at $149, with 128GB at $199.99, 256GB at $399, and finally, 512GB for $599. SanDisk also has their Pro CFExpress Card Reader available for $49.99. The Type B cards have a write the fastest write speed at 1200 MB/s, and a read speed of 1700 MB/s. Shipping is TBD, but they are available in Europe now.
The good news is that with all three major manufacturers finally about to ship their cards, that will put pressure on Nikon to get their firmware update out sooner, rather than later.
Source: Nikon Rumors
