CFExpress cards vs XQD memory cards?

So how would these CFExpress cards compare to XQD memory cards? 

Faster? Slower?  

Faster? Slower?  

None of the two has reached its full development yet

"theoretical limit unknown"!

Do they share the same opening?  They kind of look the same



A new format, based on CF, was introduced, the CFast cards. 
But the upper limits for this specification has been eclipsed by
XQD capabilities. Just as with the various iterations of SD cards,
they are all good, but they have been superseded.

An interesting aspect of the CFE specification is the apparent
plan by manufacturers to use the specification within the form
factor of existing formats. In other words, they will fit and be 
usable in cameras and devices using XQD cards and perhaps
other formats.

What this means is that a camera designed today for XQD cards
would only need a minor firmware update to accommodate the
new cards. What other format of cards this may also apply to
remains to be seen. For now, anyway. Things can move pretty
fast in the digital photography world. — By STEPHEN HARKER

CF Express and XQD use the same form factor. The former was a by-product of frustration with the group that developed XQD. Unfortunately, Sony licenses XQD (yet another reason to dislike Sony... they didn't learn from the Memory Stick) making it an expensive option. CFE will be unencumbered by licensing crapola. (All as I understand it...I could be mistaken.)

XQD and CFE are PCI devices. Which means they are capable of running as fast as the hardware will allow, and as fast as the memory in the device can read/write data. They are not limited by the slow speeds of USB or SATA or any other bus type. PCI buses keep getting developed, and keep getting faster.

The wikipedia article on CFE mentions PCI speeds. Suffice to say that it's far faster than any device can produce at this time.

One great thing about PCI-attached storage is that there's no need for buffering. Therefore, no limit to how many shots you can take in a burst. Well, until the card fills up.

Those cards are blazing fast!  

garyrhook wrote: CF Express and XQD use the same form factor. The former was a by-product of frustration with the group that developed XQD. Unfortunately, Sony licenses XQD (yet another reason to dislike Sony... they didn't learn from the Memory Stick) making it an expensive option. CFE will be unencumbered by licensing crapola. (All as I understand it...I could be mistaken.)

XQD and CFE are PCI devices. Which means they are capable of running as fast as the hardware will allow, and as fast as the memory in the device can read/write data. They are not limited by the slow speeds of USB or SATA or any other bus type. PCI buses keep getting developed, and keep getting faster.

The wikipedia article on CFE mentions PCI speeds. Suffice to say that it's far faster than any device can produce at this time.

One great thing about PCI-attached storage is that there's no need for buffering. Therefore, no limit to how many shots you can take in a burst. Well, until the card fills up.

So what are peak write read/write speeds of let's say the fastest camera? 

Ira Weber wrote: So what are peak write read/write speeds of let's say the fastest camera? 

When these new storage devices are involved, most cameras are going to limited by frames per second and processing. Not the device. So the question is kinda meaningless.

The A9 is listed at 20fps, up to 240 compressed frames. That means the processor is involved, and they have buffering. I'm curious as to what happens with uncompressed images, either 12 bit or 14 bit.

My point is that, if there's nothing else in the pipeline that requires buffering or (significant) processing, then there's no real need for a lot of buffer space.

Makes you wonder how long we'll see SD cards getting used in cameras before they are phased out.  

Chester Foster wrote: Makes you wonder how long we'll see SD cards getting used in cameras before they are phased out.  

That's not going to happen. Most devices don't place the sort of demand on storage that would require the speed of XQD/CFE. And never will.

Why fix what isn't broken?

Way to many cameras out there using SD cards, that would be one cold day in you know where for that to happen!  

It's funny, I was just watching a video about the Sony A7R IV and was thinking about those huge 256MB files you can get from that thing and thinking about the resources it would take.  CFExpress cards looks like a must have there.  

Patrick G wrote: It's funny, I was just watching a video about the Sony A7R IV and was thinking about those huge 256MB files you can get from that thing and thinking about the resources it would take.  CFExpress cards looks like a must have there.  

Well, you'd think But the camera apparently only uses SD UHS-II cards, with a maximum buffer of 30 frames.

So Sony didn't use XQD cards in their own product. I think that says a lot....

garyrhook wrote:
So Sony didn't use XQD cards in their own product. I think that says a lot....

Yup.

Well that must really please all rest who did.  If XQD cards slots can be used by CFExpress cards too, seems like Sony left a big question in the air?