Best Memory Cards for the Nikon Z8 – 55 Cards Tested In-Camera

The Nikon Z8 has two card slots: Slot 1 takes CFexpress Type B (or XQD) cards, and Slot 2 takes SD cards up to UHS-II. The best CFexpress Type B cards wrote about 700 MB/s in my Z8 tests, roughly three times faster than the fastest V90 SD card, and N-RAW and ProRes RAW video can only be recorded to CFexpress or XQD. I tested 36 CFexpress Type B cards and 19 SD cards in-camera to find out which ones are worth buying.

How I tested: I shoot Lossless Compressed RAW only, the Z8’s least compressed option (it has no uncompressed RAW), at the fastest RAW burst rate in Continuous High, until the buffer is full, then measure how fast the camera writes the burst to the card. With CFexpress cards, the camera wrote roughly 4–4.7GB per burst; with SD cards, about 1.8GB. Those totals include the 2–4 shots I usually take after the buffer fills. My test scene is fairly simple, so files from more detailed scenes can be larger, which means fewer shots before the buffer fills. I don’t test with RAW+JPEG, because processing the JPEGs puts more load on the camera’s processor than on the card, which muddies the card speed results.

Nikon Z8 – Amazon / B&H

Best Memory Cards for the Nikon Z8

Nine CFexpress Type B cards wrote 693–700 MB/s in the Z8, so they all hit the camera’s limit, not their own. The fastest SD cards topped out around 215 MB/s.

	Slot 1, best overall: Lexar Professional GOLD CFexpress Type B. The 2TB version hit 699 MB/s, right at the Z8’s limit, and the 128GB version wrote 680 MB/s. It’s also been a solid performer in my Z6 III tests.
	Slot 1, durability: Delkin BLACK CFexpress Type B. 700 MB/s (150GB) and 698 MB/s (75GB), the fastest card in my Z8 tests. My pick for sports and wildlife, where long bursts matter most.
	Fastest SD (V90): PNY EliteX-PRO90 or OWC Atlas Ultra V90. 215 MB/s and 209 MB/s, clearing the buffer in about 8.5 seconds. Use one in Slot 2 if you record to both cards.
	Most durable SD (V90): Sony TOUGH G V90. 205 MB/s in the Z8, only a little behind the fastest cards. It has a one-piece body with no ribs or write-protect switch to break off, which is why it’s my pick for the backup slot.
	Budget SD (V60): SanDisk Extreme PRO V60 256GB+ or Lexar 1800x. 166 MB/s and 164 MB/s, about 10 seconds to clear the buffer. Plenty for H.265 at the Z8’s highest bitrate, and V60 cards run cooler on long recordings.

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

How to Set Up the Z8’s Two Card Slots

The Nikon Z8 has one CFexpress Type B slot and one UHS-II SD slot. How you set them up decides what card you need in Slot 2:

• Backup: the camera writes to both cards at once, so it can only go as fast as the SD card. In my tests, that’s about 215 MB/s at best instead of 700 MB/s, so use the fastest V90 card you can if you shoot bursts in backup mode.
• Overflow: the camera switches to the SD card when the CFexpress card is full. Match the SD card to what you’re shooting; a V60 card is fine for stills and H.265.
• RAW Slot 1 – JPEG Slot 2: RAW files go to the CFexpress card and JPEGs to the SD card. JPEG backup to the SD slot can still slow the whole system down during long bursts, so a V90 card is the safer choice here too.

Best CFexpress Type B Cards for the Nikon Z8

In the Nikon Z8, the best CFexpress Type B cards wrote 693–700 MB/s, and nine different cards landed in that range: the Delkin BLACK, Lexar GOLD 2TB, Angelbird AV PRO XT MK2, OWC Atlas Ultra, ProGrade Cobalt, Nikon MC-CF660G, Lexar Diamond, and Sony TOUGH. That’s the camera’s ceiling, so any of them is as fast as the Z8 gets. Below that, there’s a real spread: many cards wrote 600–640 MB/s, and some smaller or budget cards dropped to 270–450 MB/s.

Capacity matters too. The Lexar GOLD wrote 699 MB/s at 2TB but 595 MB/s at 512GB, and the Lexar SILVER dropped from 679 MB/s at 512GB to 528 MB/s at 128GB.

CFexpress 4.0 cards: The Z8 is a CFexpress 2.0 camera, so CFexpress 4.0 cards won’t be any faster in it, but they’re backward compatible, and you’ll get much faster offloads with a CFexpress 4.0 reader. Be careful with the 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 before things could start performing out of spec. So I recommend always going for the best deals, even if they are CF2.0 cards.

Current CFexpress Type B Cards I Recommend

I update this list as new cards come out. The speeds are from my card reader tests, not the Z8. The Z8 is a CFexpress 2.0 camera, so newer CFexpress 4.0 cards won’t write any faster in it than the cards I tested.

See all the CFexpress Type B benchmarks, including sustained write speeds, to compare other cards.

Best SD Cards for Slot 2 on the Nikon Z8

In the Nikon Z8, the fastest V90 SD cards wrote 205–215 MB/s and cleared the buffer in about 8.5–9 seconds. The best V60 cards wrote about 165 MB/s and took about 10 seconds. A few V90 cards were much slower: the Hoodman Steel 2000x wrote 140 MB/s, and the Lexar 2000x only 80 MB/s, taking about 19 seconds to clear.

The Kingston Canvas React Plus V90 used to be my value pick. It wrote 209 MB/s, right with the fastest cards, but it’s now hard to find new, so the OWC Atlas Ultra V90, which also wrote 209 MB/s, is the better buy today.

Video tip: If you’re recording H.265 (400 Mbps at most), 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 V60 option I really like is the Lexar ARMOR series (Amazon / B&H), and there are less expensive options for higher-capacity cards. V60 cards can get as expensive as a good CFexpress card when you get into large capacities like 1TB.

Current SD Cards I Recommend

I update this list as new cards come out. The speeds are from my card reader tests; for how each card performs in the Z8 itself, see the in-camera results below.

Nikon Z8 In-Camera Memory Card Benchmarks

These results come from the Nikon Z8 itself, not a card reader. I fill the buffer with a continuous burst, then divide the total data written by the time it takes the camera to clear the buffer. I run each card more than once to check for inconsistencies and list the fastest run.

Nikon Z8 In-Camera Test Results: CFexpress Type B (Tested 2023)

Card	In-camera write (MB/s)	Data written (GB)
Delkin BLACK 150GB	700	4.7
Lexar GOLD 2TB	699	4.5
Angelbird AV PRO XT MK2 330GB	699	4.9
OWC Atlas Ultra 165GB	699	4.3
ProGrade Cobalt 325GB	698	4.7
Nikon MC-CF660G 660GB	698	4.7
Delkin BLACK 75GB	698	4.6
Lexar Diamond 512GB	697	4.5
Sony TOUGH 128GB	693	4.6
Angelbird AV PRO SX 160GB	684	4.4
Lexar GOLD 128GB	680	3.9
Lexar SILVER 512GB	679	4.6
Delkin POWER G4 640GB	640	4.0
Delkin POWER G4 128GB	638	3.9
Angelbird AV PRO MK2 1TB	638	4.1
Wise PRO MkII 512GB	637	4.0
Wise PRO MkII 1TB	637	4.2
ProGrade Gold (CF2.0) 1TB	634	4.0
SanDisk PRO-CINEMA	633	4.1
Sabrent Rocket Pro	633	3.7
ProGrade Gold (CF2.0) 512GB	629	3.8
Angelbird AV PRO SE 512GB	616	4.4
Hoodman Steel (newer version)	614	3.7
Lexar GOLD 512GB	595	3.3
Wise PRO 160GB	595	3.2
Transcend 820 512GB	543	3.3
Transcend 820 256GB	542	2.9
Lexar SILVER 128GB	528	3.9
SanDisk Extreme PRO 128GB	500	3.1
Hoodman Steel 128GB	447	2.7
Sabrent Rocket	426	3.8
OWC Atlas Pro 512GB	425	3.7
Silicon Power Cinema EX 256GB	421	3.9
Ritz Gear 256GB	419	4.0
ProGrade Gold (CF2.0) 256GB	391	3.7
Ritz Gear 128GB	273	3.2

Data written includes the 2–4 shots I usually take after the buffer fills, so use it to compare cards, not as an exact buffer size.

Nikon Z8 In-Camera Test Results: UHS-II SD (Tested 2023)

Card	Class	In-camera write (MB/s)	Time to clear (s)
PNY EliteX-PRO90	V90	215	8.5
Amplim V90	V90	213	8.8
Ritz Gear VideoPro	V90	212	8.3
Kodak Ultra Pro	V90	211	8.3
Kingston Canvas React Plus	V90	209	8.4
OWC Atlas Ultra	V90	209	8.6
Wise PRO	V90	208	8.7
Sony TOUGH G	V90	205	8.9
Angelbird AV PRO MK2	V90	200	8.3
SanDisk Extreme PRO	V90	200	8.6
Delkin BLACK	V90	199	9.1
Delkin POWER	V90	195	9.3
ADATA Premier ONE	V90	194	9.3
ProGrade Digital (pre-Iridium)	V90	193	9.4
Transcend	V90	165	10.4
Hoodman Steel 2000x	V90	140	11.9
Lexar 2000x	V90	80	18.6
SanDisk Extreme PRO 256GB–1TB	V60	166	10.2
Lexar 1800x	V60	164	10.4

The ProGrade Digital V90 tested here is the older ProGrade V90, not the newer ProGrade Iridium V90.

Which Cards You Need for Video on the Nikon Z8

On the Nikon Z8, N-RAW and ProRes RAW can’t be recorded to SD cards at all, so you need a CFexpress Type B (or XQD) card. H.265 tops out at about 400 Mbps (50 MB/s), which any V60 SD card handles. Camera bitrates are listed in megabits per second, so divide by 8 to get megabytes per second.

8K 60p N-RAW in High Quality averages about 5,780 Mbps (722.5 MB/s), slightly above the roughly 700 MB/s the best cards wrote in my burst tests. For N-RAW and ProRes RAW, Nikon specifically recommends the Nikon MC-CF660G, Nextorage NX-B1PRO series, ProGrade Digital Cobalt, and Wise CFX-B PRO series. The Nikon and ProGrade Cobalt both hit about 698 MB/s in my tests.

If video is your main use for the Z8, buy a VPG400-rated CFexpress Type B card. VPG400 guarantees a minimum sustained write speed of 400 MB/s, so the card won’t drop frames partway through a long clip. That covers ProRes 422 HQ up to 4K 60p and most N-RAW modes in Normal Quality. 8K N-RAW in High Quality (434–722.5 MB/s), 8K 60p in Normal Quality, and 4K 120p in High Quality go above 400 MB/s. In my testing, most VPG400 cards sustain write speeds well above 400 MB/s, but for 8K 50p and 60p in High Quality, stick with one of the cards Nikon recommends.

N-RAW Bitrates

Frame size / rate	High Quality	Normal
8256×4644 (8K) 60p	5,780 Mbps (722.5 MB/s)	3,470 Mbps (434 MB/s)
8256×4644 (8K) 30p	3,470 Mbps (434 MB/s)	1,740 Mbps (218 MB/s)
8256×4644 (8K) 24p	2,780 Mbps (348 MB/s)	1,390 Mbps (174 MB/s)
5392×3032 (DX) 60p	2,960 Mbps (370 MB/s)	1,490 Mbps (186 MB/s)
4128×2322 (4K) 120p	3,480 Mbps (435 MB/s)	1,750 Mbps (219 MB/s)
4128×2322 (4K) 60p	1,740 Mbps (218 MB/s)	880 Mbps (110 MB/s)
4128×2322 (4K) 24p	700 Mbps (88 MB/s)	350 Mbps (44 MB/s)
3840×2160 (2.3× crop) 120p	3,020 Mbps (378 MB/s)	1,510 Mbps (189 MB/s)

H.265 and H.264 Bitrates

Frame size / rate	H.265 10-bit	H.265 8-bit
8K 24–30p, 4K 100–120p	400 Mbps (50 MB/s)	370 Mbps (46 MB/s)
4K 50–60p	340 Mbps (43 MB/s)	300 Mbps (38 MB/s)
4K 24–30p, 1080 100–120p	190 Mbps (24 MB/s)	150 Mbps (19 MB/s)
1080 50–60p	100 Mbps (12.5 MB/s)	80 Mbps (10 MB/s)
1080 24–30p	50 Mbps (6 MB/s)	40 Mbps (5 MB/s)

H.264 is limited to 1080p at about 50 Mbps or less. Bitrates are Nikon’s averages from the Z8 reference guide.

ProRes 422 HQ isn’t blocked on SD cards, but at 4K 60p it runs at about 1,770 Mbps (about 220 MB/s) according to Apple’s ProRes white paper, which is more than an SD card can sustain. Use CFexpress for ProRes.

What Size Memory Card Do You Need for the Nikon Z8?

For stills, I find 128GB works great; Nikon rates Lossless Compressed RAW files at about 51.6MB each, so that’s roughly 2,400 shots. For H.265 at 400 Mbps, a 256GB card holds roughly 85 minutes. For 8K N-RAW, go with 1TB or larger: at 722.5 MB/s, 8K 60p High Quality fills a 1TB card in roughly 23 minutes.

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 need 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): Magnetic, so it sticks to your desk or laptop lid, and it’s been very reliable for me. – B&H
• Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B / SD Reader: A compact option that includes both USB-C and USB-A cables. – B&H

Best High-Speed “Workflow” Reader

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

• ProGrade Digital USB4 Single-Slot Reader: Built for CFexpress 4.0 cards, using the full 40 Gbps bandwidth of USB4. – 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.

Nikon Z8 Memory Card FAQ

Do I need a CFexpress Type B card for the Nikon Z8?

For N-RAW and ProRes RAW, yes; the Z8 won’t record them to SD cards. For stills and H.265, a good UHS-II SD card works, but CFexpress is about three times faster in this camera: the best CFexpress cards wrote about 700 MB/s, compared with about 215 MB/s for the fastest SD card.

What’s the fastest CFexpress Type B card for the Nikon Z8?

The Delkin BLACK 150GB was fastest at 700 MB/s, but eight other cards, including the Lexar GOLD 2TB, Nikon MC-CF660G, ProGrade Cobalt, and Sony TOUGH, landed within 7 MB/s of it. That’s the camera’s limit, so any of them is as fast as the Z8 gets.

What’s the fastest SD card for the Nikon Z8?

The PNY EliteX-PRO90 at 215 MB/s, followed by the Amplim V90 (213 MB/s) and Ritz Gear VideoPro V90 (212 MB/s). Most good V90 cards landed between 200 and 215 MB/s.

Is a CFexpress 4.0 card faster in the Z8?

No. The Z8 is a CFexpress 2.0 camera, and the best cards already hit its limit of about 700 MB/s. CFexpress 4.0 cards work fine and offload much faster with a CFexpress 4.0 reader, but they won’t speed up the camera.

Which card should I use for 8K N-RAW?

8K 60p N-RAW in High Quality averages about 722.5 MB/s, so use one of the cards Nikon recommends for RAW video: the Nikon MC-CF660G, Nextorage NX-B1PRO, ProGrade Cobalt, or Wise CFX-B PRO. Normal Quality 8K 60p drops to about 434 MB/s, a little above the VPG400 guarantee, but most VPG400 cards sustain well above 400 MB/s in my testing.

Why was the Lexar 2000x SD card so slow in the Z8?

I’m not sure, but it was consistent: it wrote about 80 MB/s in every run, including a retest. The same card wrote 193 MB/s in my Z6 III tests, so if you already own one, it’s fine in other cameras, but I’d pick a different V90 card for the Z8.

For more on this camera, see my Nikon Z8 accessories and Z8 autofocus review. For reader speed tests across every card I’ve tested, see my SD card guide.