Best Memory Cards Nikon Z8 – Speed & Buffer Tests

The Nikon Z8 is a high-performance powerhouse capable of 8K60p N-RAW video and 20fps RAW bursts. To unlock its full potential, you need memory cards that can handle massive data rates without overheating or bottlenecking the buffer.

The Z8 features two slots: Slot 1 (CFexpress Type B) and Slot 2 (SD UHS-II). For the best experience, I recommend using a CFexpress Type B card as your primary storage and a V90 SD card for backup or overflow.

Many great memory cards are out there, but not all have everything you need to function flawlessly in the Nikon Z8. This camera, after all, can record NRAW at over 722.5MB/s.

Quick Recommendations: Top 3 CFexpress Cards for the Z8

If you want to skip the technical specs, here are the best cards currently on the market for the Z8:

Slot 1: CFexpress Type B (Primary)

• Best Performance: Lexar Professional Diamond CFexpress 4.0 – The industry standard for speed and durability. Perfect for 8K N-RAW. – Amazon / B&H
• Best for Wildlife/Sports: Delkin Devices BLACK 4.0 – Known for incredible sustained write speeds and a “48-hour replacement” warranty. – Amazon / B&H
• Best Value: Lexar Professional Gold 4.0 – Offers modern CFexpress 4.0 speeds for offloading at a fraction of the price of ‘high-end’ cards. – Amazon / B&H

Slot 2: SD UHS-II (Backup/Overflow)

• Best SD Performance: Sony SF-G Tough V90 – The most durable and fastest SD card available. Highly recommended if you shoot at both slots simultaneously. – Amazon / B&H
• Best SD Value: Kingston Canvas React Plus V90 – Exceptional performance-to-price ratio. It’s one of the few affordable V90 cards that actually keeps up with fast bursts. – Amazon / B&H

Note: I find 128GB cards work great for general photography with my Z8 unless I’m shooting video.

The Lexar Silver cards and the Delkin Power cards are also great options. Also, consider Nextorage and Prograde as solid options. The cards above are just the cards I like to use. Look for the VPG400 rating if you’re primarily shooting video.

Nikon Z8 – Amazon / B&H

Recommended CFExpress Type- B Memory Cards

I’ve created a much larger recommendation list from the above, with some of the new 4.0 cards. Be careful with this idea of ‘buying a CFexpress 4.0 card today, thinking it will last a decade.’ Many cards use thermal paste and other components that degrade over time. Realistically, expect about 5 great years out of your cards, and things could start performing out of spec. So I recommend always going for the best deals, even if they are CF2.0 cards.

Pro Tip: Always look for cards with the VPG-400 rating if you are a heavy video shooter; this guarantees a minimum sustained write speed of 400 MB/s, which is the safety net for high-end video.

Here is what I recommend, based on price-to-performance and long-term testing from these brands:

CFexpress Type B 2.0 vs. 4.0: What You Need to Know

Since mid-2024, the industry has transitioned to CFexpress 4.0. While the Nikon Z8 is a CFexpress 2.0 camera and cannot utilize the 4.0 speeds in-camera, these new cards are fully backward compatible.

Why buy 4.0 for a 2.0 camera?

• Future Proofing: These cards will work at full speed in your next camera.
• Thermal Management: 4.0 cards often run cooler, which is vital for the Z8’s internal RAW recording.
• Workflow: Offload your 8K footage to your computer at up to 3,500 MB/s (with a 4.0 reader).

Recommended SD Memory Cards

You’ll want to use the fastest SD UHS-II cards available when buying for the Nikon Z8. The V90 is your ideal option because shooting with redundancy or JPG backup to the SD card slot can bottleneck the entire system.

Video Tip: If you’re recording at a lower bitrate (400 Mbps), v60 SD cards can save you a lot of money, and they produce less heat during long recordings, so you won’t get the ‘hot card’ warning. A premium option I really like is the Lexar ARMOR series (Amazon / B&H), but there are definitely less expensive options for higher-capacity cards. V60 cards can get as expensive as a good CFexpress card when you get into large-capacity cards like 1TB.

Nikon Z8 In-Camera Speed Test

To test the camera, I ran each card in the Nikon Z8 until its 2GB buffer was filled. Then, I calculated the time required to clear the buffer as a function of the amount of data written.

An important spec to look out for is sustained speeds. Cards often have a fast SLC cache, but it’s not very big on some cards. Once this cache is exhausted, the cards can run very slowly. I test sustain speeds, which you can see in my Guide To The Best CFexpress Type B Memory Cards.

CFExpress Speed and Buffer Test

This chart shows how each CFexpress memory card performed in the Nikon Z8 buffer test.

SD UHS-II Speed and Buffer Test

This chart shows how each SD UHS-II memory card performed in the Nikon Z8 buffer test.

Shooting 8k Video: What You Need To Know

The Nikon Z8 has many very high-end video recording options. You can record in full NRAW, ProResRAW, ProRes, H.265, or H.264.

If you go to 12-bit RAW or ProRes, you will need very fast cards.

When ordering a CFExpress or UHS-II card, match the Sustained write speed (MB/s) to determine the speed card you need for the recording format you want to shoot in.

UHS-II V60 cards have a sustained write speed of 60MB/s, and UHS-II V90 cards have a sustained write speed of 90MB/s. Both are fast enough for H.265, which records at 50 MB/s on the Nikon Z8.

BitRate For N-RAW Nikon Z8

BitRate For H.265 10-Bit Nikon Z8

The Nikon Z8’s maximum bitrate when shooting H.265 is 400 Mbps (50 MB/s). This means a v60 UHS-II card is sufficient for these recording modes.

Don’t Forget the Card Reader: Unlocking CFexpress 4.0 Speeds

Even though the Nikon Z8 is limited to CFexpress 2.0 speeds in-camera, the real benefit of the newer CFexpress 4.0 cards is how fast you can get the footage onto your computer. To see those speeds (up to 3,500 MB/s), you must use a USB4 or Thunderbolt card reader – assuming you have a fast drive you’re transferring data to.

If you use an older USB 3.2 (10 Gbps) reader, your transfer speed will be capped at around 1,000 MB/s, regardless of how fast your card is. By the way, that’s still very fast.

My personal situation as a professional video editor and photographer: I typically use the slower Dual-Slot Reader (even though I own all the readers) because I copy all my data to huge Hard Disk Drives, which are slow, and I like the convenience of having SD and CFx in a single unit. Professionally, when I’m editing, I edit off smaller SSD drives, usually with proxies. But for YouTubers, converting this might be too time-consuming, so you’ll likely want faster SSD drives with sustained high speeds or a RAID setup. In that case, the CF4.0 card readers can be beneficial.

Recommended Dual-Slot Readers (CFexpress + SD)

For most Z8 shooters, a dual-slot reader is the best choice because it lets you offload both CFexpress and SD cards from a single USB-C port.

I personally use the Prograde readers because of the magnetic base. It allows me to attach it to the side of my desk so it stays out of the way.

• ProGrade Digital Dual-Slot Reader (USB 3.2 Gen 2): The industry favorite. It’s magnetic (sticks to your laptop lid) and extremely reliable. – B&H
• Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B / SD Reader: A compact, high-performance option that includes both USB-C and USB-A cables. – B&H

Best High-Speed “Workflow” Readers

If you shoot high-volume 8K video and need the absolute fastest ingest speeds possible:

• ProGrade Digital USB4 Single-Slot Reader: The gold standard for CFexpress 4.0 cards. It utilizes the full 40 Gbps bandwidth of USB4 to offload 1TB of data in just a few minutes. – B&H

XQD AND CFexpress

While CFexpress cards are backward-compatible with XQD cameras, I have not found an XQD reader that will accept them, even though they are XQD-compatible. If you’re coming from a Nikon DSLR and have all these XQD readers and cards, you must upgrade your readers for the new CFexpress cards.