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Best CFx Card Nikon Z9
  • Memory Cards

Fastest CFexpress Cards Nikon Z9

  • February 1, 2023
  • AGriffin

To maximize the full potential of the Nikon Z9, you’ll need the fastest CFexpress memory cards on the market. Not only do they need to be fast, but they also need fast minimum write speeds with good consistency.

Use this guide to find the best CFexpress cards for the Nikon Z9.

Be sure to also read through the benchmarks and methodology, I share some of my notes which are important since CFexpress cards can be a little finicky.

Nikon Z9 – Amazon / Adorama / B&H

Also, see my Accessory List For The Nikon Z9.

 

Fastest Memory Cards Nikon Z9

The latest generation of CFexpress cards has improved dramatically with thermal throttling and minimum sustained write speeds in the Nikon Z9. However, the Z9 is still a little picky about cards and since it has a small buffer, you’ll want a card with good consistency vs top speed.

 

Here is what you need to know:

The Nikon Z9 can take dual CFexpress Type B memory cards with no restrictions on size.

CFexpress memory cards can have high top speeds but may thermal throttle and even though the cards list high write speeds, the real-world speeds are often not close. This causes some cards not to perform properly for RAW video recording and can even slow down when shooting at the 20fps burst speeds.

The Nikon Z9 can shoot video bitrates up to around 500MBs and a lot of cards, and most older CFexpress cards cannot sustain these speeds. I’ve tested most of the relevant bands to see what works for 8k NRAW video and here are the results.

 

Recommended Memory Cards Nikon Z9

Fastest CFexpress Memory Card Nikon Z9Most of the new higher-end cards are able to record 8k RAW in the Nikon Z9. Just not Sony or Sandisk right now.

Videographers can save some money with cards like the Angel Bird SE since you get a great bang for the buck, and although slower at max speeds, they can sustain 500MB/s for video recording which is enough for NRAW.

The Lexar Diamond is probably the overall best card right now in terms of features. It is one of the fastest cards, is VGP 400 certified, and is XQD backward compatibility which makes it a great choice if you’re still using older XQD cameras. I also rate the Lexar reader as the best right now.

There are also a few different versions of the Delkin Black cards, the 150GB size variants, and the 128GB variants. I didn’t see a noticeable difference in performance or speed between them and they were all able to run NRAW without an issue, but the Delkin 150GB variants typically behave a little more consistently than the 128GB varients in different tests.

All the latest Angelbird Cards were great, and the new Prograde Cobalt card was great.

I also tested two different sizes of the Lexar Gold and Delkin cards and there was no significant difference in speed. Keep in mind you’ll want large cards 512GB+ if you plan on recording NRAW.

Recommended Cards In-Camera Speeds USB 3.2 Write 8k 60 NRAW Check Price / Sizes
Lexar Diamond 256GB 728 MB/s 983 MB/s yes B&H
Nikon 660GB 725 MB/s 961 MB/s yes Amazon / B&H
Lexar Professional 128GB 620 MB/s 923 MB/s yes Amazon / B&H
Delkin Black 150GB 723 MB/s 966 MB/s yes B&H
Prograde Cobalt 325GB 722 MB/s 973 MB/s yes Amazon / B&H
AngelBird Pro XT MKII 330GB 728 MB/s 970 MB/s yes Amazon / B&H
Wise Advanced Pro 128GB 670 MB/s 941 MB/s yes B&H
Best Value For Video        
AngelBird Pro 1TB MKII 697 MB/s 889 MB/s yes Amazon / B&H
AngelBird SE 512GB 668 MB/s 794 MB/s yes Amazon / B&H

*The Nikon 660GB Amazon link here includes a Lexar CFexpress reader bundle which is the best CFexpress B card reader at the time of writing this. There is also another bundle that includes an SSD.

For Angelbird cards you should buy the latest Angelbird CFexpress reader, it will allow you to upgrade the firmware in their cards.

Warning For AngelBird Cards: Some people are reporting that the Angelbird cards are too thick for the Z9 and they have trouble removing them or getting them to work properly. I have had some experiences with this. Angelbird cards are a little thick, but they worked fine for me in the Z9, however, they are a little thick in my Z6 and the Z6II that I tested. Sounds like there could be a tolerance mismatch with some of the cards and camera bodies. For this reason, I would only order their cards from a store that has a good return policy in case your cards have issues since Angelbird’s warranty might not cover such an issue.

 

Nikon Z9 Benchmarks

In-camera tests to show which cards support RAW 8k 60p recording as well as in-camera speed tests.

Testing Method

For the in-camera benchmarks, a series of continuous bursts were taken until the buffer was filled. The time it took to clear the buffer was recorded and calculated against how much data was written. The Z9 doesn’t record uncompressed RAW, it uses a compressed RAW format.

For the video recording benchmarks, I shot NRAW at 8k60p for around 5 minutes on each card or until the card filled if it was a smaller card. I did a few different things in order to max the file sizes by forcing the camera to record the highest bitrate possible. I started by recording very busy landscapes of trees blowing in the wind against a blue sky, then I would also record a very busy computer screen with a lot of changing colors.

To see how the memory cards function under high heat, check out this guide to CFexpress Type-B Memory Cards.

Memory CardsUSB WriteUSB ReadHeatCFxA HideUHS-II HideUHS-I HideHideAmazonAdoramaB&HZ9Links
CFx-B
Sandisk Extreme 128GB489989297Amazon/ B&H398
Sony Tough 128GB965997268Amazon/ B&H694
Lexar 128 Pro Diamond9831000982Amazon/ B&H728
Lexar 512GB908994765Amazon/ B&H612
Lexar 128GB923995804Amazon/ B&H620
Prograde 128GB679685576Amazon/ B&H244
Prograde Cobalt 325GB973998971Amazon/ B&H722
Delkin Black 150GB974998974B&H723
Delkin Black 128GB973997973B&H719
Delkin Black 75GB951998951B&H725
Delkin Power 128GB977997974Amazon/ B&H723
Delkin Prime 64GB948998946XAmazon724
Nikon 660GB961998959Amazon/ B&H725
Hoodman Steel 128GB558991173Amazon/ B&H470
Wise Pro 160GB941999863B&H670
Wise 128GB577997171Amazon/ B&H496
Angelbird AV Pro MkII 1TB889701579Amazon/ B&H697
Angelbird AV Pro XT MK2 330GB 970996970Amazon/ B&H729
Angelbird AV Pro 256GB MK1948981834B&H349
Angelbird AV Pro SE 512GB 794710794Amazon/ B&H668
Angelbird AV Pro SX 160GB946997946Amazon/ B&H727
OWC Atlas Ultra 165GBAmazon/ B&H
OWC Atlas Pro 128GBAmazon/ B&H
Sabrent Rocket 512GBAmazon
RitzGear 128GB251991158Amazon374
Pergear Ultra 1TBAmazon
Pergear Pro 256GBAmazon
Pergear Lite 128GB311950202Amazon282
Silicon Power Cinema EX 256GB453996314B&H434
Transcend 820 256GBX
CFx-AX
Sony Tough 640GBXAmazon/ B&H
Sony Tough 320GBXAmazon/ B&H
Sony Tough 160GBXAmazon/ B&H
Sony Tough 80GB641852XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 320GB837885XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 160GB825886XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 80GBXAmazon/ B&H
Delkin Black 160GBXB&H
Delkin Black 80GB639852XB&H
Delkin Power 160GBXB&H
Delkin Power 80GB641847XB&H
ProGrade 160GB691845XB&H
UHS-II V90X
Sandisk Extreme Pro V90252279XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 2000x V90219256XAmazon/ B&H
Toshiba Exceria Pro V90213244XAmazon
Transcend v90175263XAmazon/ B&H
Sony G Tough v90239275XAmazon/ B&H
Delkin Black v90253278XB&H
Delkin Power v90240275XB&H
Fujifilm Elite II V90158277 XX
Adata v90229268XAmazon
Hoodman Steel 2000x V90155249XAmazon/ B&H
ProGrade V90229270XAmazon/ B&H
PNY EliteX-Pro90 V90XXAmazon/ B&H
Amplim 2000x V90XXAmazon
Angel Bird V90 II257271XAmazon/ B&H
OWC Atlas Ultra V90XXB&H
OWC Atlas S Pro V90XXB&H
Kingston Canvas React V90256274XAmazon/ B&H
Kodak V90 64GB260272XAmazon
Ritz Gear VideoPro V90258273XAmazon
Wise V90 Pro256275XB&H
UHS-II V60X
Lexar 1800x V60176242XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 1667x V6099242XAmazon/ B&H
Lexar 1000x V60108167X
Sony M Tough V60155268XAmazon/ B&H
Sony M v60XXB&H
Sony E v60142252XAmazon/ B&H
Sony E v3073247XXB&H
Delkin Prime v6098275XB&H
Hoodman Steel 1500x V6099273XAmazon/ B&H
ProGrade V6098155XAmazon/ B&H
PNY EliteX-Pro60 V60XXAmazon/ B&H
Amplim 2000x v60136253XAmazon
Amplim 1900x V6097275XX
Angel Bird V60 II144243XAmazon/ B&H
OWC Atlas Pro V60XXB&H
FreeTail Evoke Pro V6096272XX
Ritz Gear Video Pro V60 A1XXAmazon
UHS-I U3X
Sandisk Extreme Pro U3144172XAmazon/ B&H
Sandisk Extreme Plus U361143XXAmazon
Sandisk Extreme U35193XAmazon/ B&H
Sandisk Ultra U1 Old2793XX
Kingston CanvasGo! Plus U3124161XAmazon
Kingston Canvas Select Plus U38493XAmazon
Lexar 633x U33593XAmazon
Sony Professional U38491XX
Sony U3 946091XX
Sony U3 958190XX
Transcend U3 High Performance A2XXAmazon
Transcend U37991XAmazon
PNY Pro Elite U3 256GB8793XAmazon
PNY Elite-X U3 128 GB5692XAmazon
PNY Elite Performance U36391XXAmazon
Delkin Black U38693XB&H
Delkin Advantage U37793XAmazon/ B&H
Toshiba Exceria Pro U37491X
Toshiba Exceria U32991X
Verbatim Pro+ U37791XAmazon
Verbatim Pro U34690XAmazon
Amplim 667x A1 V305093XX
RitzGear Extreme Performance A1 V306293XAmazon

 

RAW Recording Modes

Lossless Compression – A clean compression of the images, with no information removed.

Files are large, expect about 80 shots or more with the best card rated at 1500-1700MB/s write. As a little reference, I pulled in 180 RAW shots @ 12fps with the Canon R5 memory card tests on the Delkin Power card and Canon rates their buffer at 83 RAW shots at 20fps. Similar to Nikon Z9 Performance on the Z9 with the slightly faster Delkin Black.

High Efficiency * – lossy compressed. There are different ways of doing this type of compression, but the short explanation is information that is not being used from the entire 14-bit color space is just discarded, which is why you generally see no loss in quality. How complicated the scene is, will affect the file sizes and the information, so your buffer performance could vary scene to scene.

Files are much smaller, easily over 1,000 shots with a good card.

High Efficiency – lossy compression, more info reduced. Usually ( I don’t know exactly how Nikon does it ), there are a set of parameters, and any information that is outside of those parameters is clipped. Usually, you won’t notice this unless you do heavy editing.

Unlimited shots in this mode with a good card.

There is no longer an Uncompressed RAW in the Nikon Z9. It is no longer needed since continuous burst speeds can run at full performance with lossless compression. Older cameras, would not perform at full burst speeds with lossless compressions. For example, the Z6 could only shoot 9fps with lossless compression.

 

Best CFexpress Cards For Video

The Nikon Z9 has some interesting video specs, however, we don’t have all the abilities yet or the full specs since they will be releasing those via firmware next year. I’ll keep this updated as more information is released.

The Nikon Z9 will shoot internally, H.265, ProRes RAW, ProRes HQ (limited to 4k60 10-bit) as well as a new Nikon RAW (which comes as a license from intoPIX).

Here are the RAW video specs we have so far for the intoPix raw from their website.

Resolution Mbps MBs
1920×1080 125 – 250Mbps 15.6 – 31.25 MBs
4096×2160 500 – 1Gbps 62.5 – 125 MBs
7680×4320 2 – 4Gbps 250 – 500MBs

An interesting spec here is the potential to shoot 8k at 30fps or 60fps. If you shoot 8k at 30fps at 500MB/s then each individual frame comes out to around 16MB. Not sure about the bit depth. If it’s even 12-bits that could be really nice to pull stills from.

 

Best CFExpress Cards Nikon Z9 – Conclusions

For hybrid shooters that need fast cards for both stills and video, Nikon brand cards, Delkin, Angelbird, Lexar, and the Prograde Cobalt are going to be your best options.

Look for Sandisk and Sony to upgrade their cards with better-sustained minimum speeds in the future.

For those buying the Nikon Z9 just for video, you can get a really good value with some of the Angelbird cards like the Pro 1TB MKII card and their SE card.

For photographers that still use XQD cameras and readers, the Lexar Diamond card is a great option.

**This website contains affiliate links and I will be compensated if you click them to make a purchase.
AGriffin

Professional editor, blogger and photographer from Los Angeles California.

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