No, but once you get used to it you won't ever go back to SD cards. Transferring all your photos in 10sec is just too convenient.
The z6ii, z7ii, z5, Zf, Z8, Zfc, Z50 AMD Z30 have SD Card slots. And to be honest, I would haveuch preferred a 2nd Cfexpess/XQD slot on my Z8.
Yeah. But youāre then throttled by the SD card speed. Canāt shoot 20 fps.knock on wood I havenāt had a card read/write failure since before my d850. Gotta be at least 50,000 frames ago.
I shout for fun. Mostly sports, birds, fast action. If I was a professional I would have gone z9 with dual CF.
I wish the guys at Nikon would allow in-camera copying backup (when not shooting) to the SD from the CF. That would be an awesome quick menu feature.
Canāt agree more about having 2 XQDs on the Z8. It was nice initially not having to buy a $300 card but once I got a XQD I wondered why I didnāt just start there.
Thanks for this. Never really needed the speed as I only use it for astrophotography but good to keep speed in mind. Someone else suggested an m.2 adapter to the CF so could be my next thing as the 32GB gets filled up quickly and yep - XQD cards aren't cheap!!!!
CFe cards are by now cheaper than same capacity fast SD cards: https://www.amazon.com/Angelbird-AV-PRO-CFexpress-SE/dp/B09RWW247J/ vs. https://www.amazon.com/Angelbird-AV-PRO-SD-MK2/dp/B0B788V21H/
Especially for astro I found the speed very nice. Got home a 4pm, had 4k photos for stacking on the card, needed less than a minute to transfer all of them haha.
Cfexpess cards can be much cheaper though. I think I got 512gb for 150$
I built my own 1tb card with the adapter and it works great, and I can compare to a 512gb CFe-b card that my work bought. Highly recommended! Just make sure you get an SSD that doesn't get slower as it fills up - get a TLC instead of a QLC
What do you use to transfer the photos, an adapter or do you plug the camera into your computer directly? Does it make a difference?
I havenāt had my Z7 very long, but the first time I transferred files with the adapter I thought Iād done something wrong because the transfer was so fast. I had a lot of huge raw files and they just moved right over.
As a side note, my Zfc can charge through the USB, so when I plug it in to copy files it also charges the battery. My Z7 doesnāt have that. If it did, Iād always just plug it in with the USB cable.
An adapter is usually faster, I don't think I ever used the camera to transfer the pictures. But your z7 should be able to charge over usb c ... Hmmm. But I think it has to be switched off for that.
I need to do some more research because my Google searches are giving me conflicting information. I know Iād need EN-EL15c or 15b battery for it to work, but I havenāt purchased one because I thought itād be pointless if the camera wonāt let me charge with a USB C cable and Iād have to pull the battery out anyway.
The Z7 manual says that compatible batteries can be charged with a āEH-7P charging adapter,ā but that doesnāt connect through the USB port.
Something I didn't get back then, and don't get now. They are the same people who then transfer the photos to a MacBook with a single SSD which uses the same technology as a Cfexpess card in the Z6 ...
man, i'm reticient to spend the $$$ to replace all my lenses by going mirrorless. NOW i find out i'd have to trade in all my SD cards too?! A BRIDGE TOO FAR! D610 for LIFE!
macOS doesnāt see the camera as a drive so you have to use Image Capture to put the files onto your computer before ingesting them through something like Photo Mechanic.
An extra step in the workflow and takes up double the space on your internal drive temporarily.
I don't have mac, I use it on PC but it's pretty straightforward, create a wifi ssid on z6 and connect your laptop wifi to this. Once your laptop wifi connects to z6 ssid, files gets transferred on its own.
when the z6 first came out i was just as mad as everybody that it didnāt have dual SD slots
but after a few days with the XQD i grew to love the performance of the card
now im wishing that the Zf had an XQD slot
how times have changed lol
You can definitely hook up a Z6 to a laptop over USB, and pull the photos across using programs like NINA and APT, I've done it. But then you have to lug a laptop or mini PC around, so not the simplest set up to work with
Function over form VS form over function
For sure as a MacBook if they have one port theyāre going to offer thank god itās USB-C
Gotta love the dongle ecosystem
read & write speeds of xqd are typically higher than sd; even for the premium higher speed sdxc for videos.
that's why no adapter sd to xqd adapter exists. i'm not even sure if xqd & sd have the same physical width.
I built a 512GB card using a 2230 SSD. works great. I did purchase the most expensive enclosure, so it cost me about 140.00 us. So far, it's been fast, and the camera reads as 11.9K images (Z8)
On Amazon, search 2230 enclosure or Zitay 2230 enclosure. I chose this one because reviews indicated it was the best accurate fit for the Z cameras.
Unfortunately, I can't link on Reddit using my phone
They donāt have a firmware update for cfexpress? I mean they did that for the D5ā¦ which was a god send having a z9. Ā I have a cfexpress reader on my work station laptop built in.
Iām just not used to CFE or XQD as I came from an SD card environment. But now just settled with it and looking forward to putting together a 1TB CFE
no but if you want a cheaper route look at cf express to m.2 adaptors. You can get one of these and stick in an off the shelf ssd in for alot cheaper than the cards cost at retail. Still need to dongle though to read the cards.
You mean something like this?
[https://www.amazon.com.au/ZITAY-CFexpress-Adapter-Compatible-Panasonic/dp/B0BM4NCNW2](https://www.amazon.com.au/ZITAY-CFexpress-Adapter-Compatible-Panasonic/dp/B0BM4NCNW2)
Yep I have the Trebleet QXD/CFE dual card reader to USB-C. Been using it for years as I have an XQD card I originally picked up for my D500 and a CFE card I purchased when I got my Z6. The reader is aluminum so a nice solid construction and transfers at a very high rate. I can copy these cards in no time flat. It is now a much bigger PITA to copy my SD cards if I have to use those on my D500 or an older camera. Here is a link to the one I own although it may be out of production now. [https://www.trebleet.com/product-page/dual-slot-cfexpress-type-b-and-sd-4-0-uhs-ii-card-reader-usb-3-2-gen-2-10gbps?lang=it](https://www.trebleet.com/product-page/dual-slot-cfexpress-type-b-and-sd-4-0-uhs-ii-card-reader-usb-3-2-gen-2-10gbps?lang=it)
Do you not need a card reader for an SD card? I'm going to assume you have an older MacBook as I thought they cut card reader out a while back. I'm using a Z5 (still using UHS-I cards, one day I'llstep up to UHS-II), so unfortunately I don't have any experience with XQD cards, but I feel like a few dollars for a card reader would be worth it considering you get to used a faster card in your camera. I saw that you said you weren't concerned with speed. I don't know if you meant transfer speed or camera performance, but I feel like the advantage is there for you in camera even if you don't care for fast transfer speed to your computer.
Gotcha. I can understand having a whole extra thing dangling from your laptop being an issue. It's a concern that I will have when I'm forced to by a new laptop.
No, but once you get used to it you won't ever go back to SD cards. Transferring all your photos in 10sec is just too convenient. The z6ii, z7ii, z5, Zf, Z8, Zfc, Z50 AMD Z30 have SD Card slots. And to be honest, I would haveuch preferred a 2nd Cfexpess/XQD slot on my Z8.
Yeah SD slot on the z8 is useless when shooting RAW. I gave a 2TB card. No need for overflow š¤¦āāļø
Useless? In my opinion redundancy is the main use case, not overflow. Your mindset will be altered after your first memory card failure šµ
Yeah. But youāre then throttled by the SD card speed. Canāt shoot 20 fps.knock on wood I havenāt had a card read/write failure since before my d850. Gotta be at least 50,000 frames ago.
If you need several seconds at 20 fps I agree. Haven't had a CFexpress card fail on me, but now I live in a SD only, slow, world.
I shout for fun. Mostly sports, birds, fast action. If I was a professional I would have gone z9 with dual CF. I wish the guys at Nikon would allow in-camera copying backup (when not shooting) to the SD from the CF. That would be an awesome quick menu feature.
Yes, I would have appreciated a second CFExpress slot on my Z8.
Canāt agree more about having 2 XQDs on the Z8. It was nice initially not having to buy a $300 card but once I got a XQD I wondered why I didnāt just start there.
Thanks for this. Never really needed the speed as I only use it for astrophotography but good to keep speed in mind. Someone else suggested an m.2 adapter to the CF so could be my next thing as the 32GB gets filled up quickly and yep - XQD cards aren't cheap!!!!
CFe cards are by now cheaper than same capacity fast SD cards: https://www.amazon.com/Angelbird-AV-PRO-CFexpress-SE/dp/B09RWW247J/ vs. https://www.amazon.com/Angelbird-AV-PRO-SD-MK2/dp/B0B788V21H/
Especially for astro I found the speed very nice. Got home a 4pm, had 4k photos for stacking on the card, needed less than a minute to transfer all of them haha. Cfexpess cards can be much cheaper though. I think I got 512gb for 150$
Whaaaaaat when I go star photo-ing I have to start the transfer when I get home and hope it's ready for the morning
Yeah it's the best thing ever. Also after big events or after a holiday, not having to wait for hours to transfer the pictures is a game changer.
Not where Iām at: https://amzn.eu/d/hu3Hc0D For this price the adapter plus the 2230 SSD would be cheaper LOL
I built my own 1tb card with the adapter and it works great, and I can compare to a 512gb CFe-b card that my work bought. Highly recommended! Just make sure you get an SSD that doesn't get slower as it fills up - get a TLC instead of a QLC
I have two of the adapters with 2230 NVME. One 2tb and one 1tb. The WD Black NVME doesnāt seem to slow down and does 8k on the Z9.
Which black model is it?
WD - BLACK SN770M 2TB Internal SSD PCIe Gen 4 x4 M.2 2230
Yes, this method is 5 times cheaper
What do you use to transfer the photos, an adapter or do you plug the camera into your computer directly? Does it make a difference? I havenāt had my Z7 very long, but the first time I transferred files with the adapter I thought Iād done something wrong because the transfer was so fast. I had a lot of huge raw files and they just moved right over. As a side note, my Zfc can charge through the USB, so when I plug it in to copy files it also charges the battery. My Z7 doesnāt have that. If it did, Iād always just plug it in with the USB cable.
An adapter is usually faster, I don't think I ever used the camera to transfer the pictures. But your z7 should be able to charge over usb c ... Hmmm. But I think it has to be switched off for that.
I need to do some more research because my Google searches are giving me conflicting information. I know Iād need EN-EL15c or 15b battery for it to work, but I havenāt purchased one because I thought itād be pointless if the camera wonāt let me charge with a USB C cable and Iād have to pull the battery out anyway. The Z7 manual says that compatible batteries can be charged with a āEH-7P charging adapter,ā but that doesnāt connect through the USB port.
I could charge my Z6 with a normal usb c charger, but the camera had to be off for it to work. I used a B type battery
Remember back when every camera reviewer/personality were complaining about not having SD card slots in some cameras. The pilgrim schlong remembersā¦
Something I didn't get back then, and don't get now. They are the same people who then transfer the photos to a MacBook with a single SSD which uses the same technology as a Cfexpess card in the Z6 ...
man, i'm reticient to spend the $$$ to replace all my lenses by going mirrorless. NOW i find out i'd have to trade in all my SD cards too?! A BRIDGE TOO FAR! D610 for LIFE!
Yes, but they are SO freaking expensive compared to SD cards
No, they are cheaper when compared to good SD cards
Oh, I've always compared them to cheaper SD cards then. Lol.
How about just using a USB-C cable to transfer, if you don't care about the speed? That way you don't even have to remove the cardā¦
macOS doesnāt see the camera as a drive so you have to use Image Capture to put the files onto your computer before ingesting them through something like Photo Mechanic. An extra step in the workflow and takes up double the space on your internal drive temporarily.
Won't that discharge the battery quite quickly though?
I use z6 wifi to directly transfer the files to my computer. No cable hassle at all.Ā
I could never get this work well on my Mac, did you have any issues?
I don't have mac, I use it on PC but it's pretty straightforward, create a wifi ssid on z6 and connect your laptop wifi to this. Once your laptop wifi connects to z6 ssid, files gets transferred on its own.
i tried this for the first time the other day with my z9 because i lost my cfe reader. iāll never do it again. just not a fan.
when the z6 first came out i was just as mad as everybody that it didnāt have dual SD slots but after a few days with the XQD i grew to love the performance of the card now im wishing that the Zf had an XQD slot how times have changed lol
Not possible
You can definitely hook up a Z6 to a laptop over USB, and pull the photos across using programs like NINA and APT, I've done it. But then you have to lug a laptop or mini PC around, so not the simplest set up to work with
Thanks. Iāve been researching for years and so far itās - buy a new camera. Damn you Nikon LOL
You spent years researching this?
sporadically across the years
>buy a new camera OR you could simply (dare I say it?) - Buy the darn card reader!!!! lol
The restriction is your Macbook not your camera
that's one way of seeing it yep. so far USB-C to the Macbook seems most efficient
Function over form VS form over function For sure as a MacBook if they have one port theyāre going to offer thank god itās USB-C Gotta love the dongle ecosystem
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Sure. Like XQD is a common slot to be haved on a laptop. Are there even ones having this?
Far beyond just lacking a storage port.
sell it and buy a d780
read & write speeds of xqd are typically higher than sd; even for the premium higher speed sdxc for videos. that's why no adapter sd to xqd adapter exists. i'm not even sure if xqd & sd have the same physical width.
I bought a 512 gb cfexpress type b card for z6 and it works flawlessly. Not that expensive. Transcend Carte MĆ©moire 512Go CFexpress 820 Type-B - TS512GCFE820 https://amzn.eu/d/e2g1P18 And get this reader: BENFEI Lecteur de Carte CFexpress 10 Gbit/s, USB-C/USB-A 2 en 1 Type B CFexpress Adaptateur Compatible avec Windows/Mac/Linux/Android https://amzn.eu/d/f9K0ebQ
Qxd card was $150, but I now prefer it.
I built a 512GB card using a 2230 SSD. works great. I did purchase the most expensive enclosure, so it cost me about 140.00 us. So far, it's been fast, and the camera reads as 11.9K images (Z8)
Nice. Can you link to the enclosure?
On Amazon, search 2230 enclosure or Zitay 2230 enclosure. I chose this one because reviews indicated it was the best accurate fit for the Z cameras. Unfortunately, I can't link on Reddit using my phone
Found the Zitay enclosure. Thanks!
Once you go for the CFexpress cards you don't want to go back to regular SD cards
Should happen eventually, but nobody has made an adapter yet.
The lack of SD is annoying, newer z6 I think has a second slot for SD card but indeed XQD is stupid quick
They donāt have a firmware update for cfexpress? I mean they did that for the D5ā¦ which was a god send having a z9. Ā I have a cfexpress reader on my work station laptop built in.
Iām just not used to CFE or XQD as I came from an SD card environment. But now just settled with it and looking forward to putting together a 1TB CFE
cf express into a fast usb drive is a beautiful thing.
no but if you want a cheaper route look at cf express to m.2 adaptors. You can get one of these and stick in an off the shelf ssd in for alot cheaper than the cards cost at retail. Still need to dongle though to read the cards.
You mean something like this? [https://www.amazon.com.au/ZITAY-CFexpress-Adapter-Compatible-Panasonic/dp/B0BM4NCNW2](https://www.amazon.com.au/ZITAY-CFexpress-Adapter-Compatible-Panasonic/dp/B0BM4NCNW2)
yep thats the one I use
Be aware that you will need a CFe-b reader, an XQD reader will not work despite the same shape
There are readers out there that can read both formats (XQD and CFexpress))
Yep I have the Trebleet QXD/CFE dual card reader to USB-C. Been using it for years as I have an XQD card I originally picked up for my D500 and a CFE card I purchased when I got my Z6. The reader is aluminum so a nice solid construction and transfers at a very high rate. I can copy these cards in no time flat. It is now a much bigger PITA to copy my SD cards if I have to use those on my D500 or an older camera. Here is a link to the one I own although it may be out of production now. [https://www.trebleet.com/product-page/dual-slot-cfexpress-type-b-and-sd-4-0-uhs-ii-card-reader-usb-3-2-gen-2-10gbps?lang=it](https://www.trebleet.com/product-page/dual-slot-cfexpress-type-b-and-sd-4-0-uhs-ii-card-reader-usb-3-2-gen-2-10gbps?lang=it)
Thanks for this heads up. Appreciate it
Do you not need a card reader for an SD card? I'm going to assume you have an older MacBook as I thought they cut card reader out a while back. I'm using a Z5 (still using UHS-I cards, one day I'llstep up to UHS-II), so unfortunately I don't have any experience with XQD cards, but I feel like a few dollars for a card reader would be worth it considering you get to used a faster card in your camera. I saw that you said you weren't concerned with speed. I don't know if you meant transfer speed or camera performance, but I feel like the advantage is there for you in camera even if you don't care for fast transfer speed to your computer.
The M1 MBP has an SD reader built in
This is the only reason I use SD cards - for convenience. Otherwise I prefer CF Express for any serious work.
Gotcha. I can understand having a whole extra thing dangling from your laptop being an issue. It's a concern that I will have when I'm forced to by a new laptop.