CFExpress Type B memory card DIY project

[Dave_Hicks]

[The DIY forum was bare, so I decided to add some inaugural content!]

 

I recently bought a Nikon Z8 mirrorless camera. I have not decided to get a housing for it yet and will use it for wildlife photography for a while before taking that plunge.

Some of the key features and advantages of this and similar new cameras is the ability to shoot an incredible # of frames per second and shoot extremely high-quality video. It will shoot 20 frames per second of RAW photos, and up to 120 fps in JPG format. These features require extremely fast memory cards to get full advantage from them.

Enter the CFExpress Type B memory card format. While not exactly new - my D850 added support via a firmware update a while ago, this is the first time I was incentivized to acquire a CFExpress card. I currently use a mix of XQD and SD cards with the D850, and they both still work with the Z8.

Of course, you always want the latest and greatest.  So, I did some research. I found that the really fast CFExpress cards are ridiculously expensive. Much more expensive than XQD or SDCards of similar capacity, but also much faster. Over $400 for a 512GB card and well over $500 for a 1TB card. With a little more research, I also found that these cards are essentially just a standard nvme SSD storage drive commonly used in Laptops in an enclosure exactly like that of an XQD card. And that there are bare enclosures available at low cost, much like you might find for putting a bare hard drive into a USB enclosure. 

Looking at reviews and manuals, I picked the Sintech CFExpress Type B adapter. They recommend a few brands and models of NVME driver that are known to work and fit inside the enclosure. The tolerances are pretty tight, so a drive even .5 mm too thick could result in the card not fitting in your camera. 

I put together two 512GB CFExpress cards using a Sintech adapter and Samsung PM991a nvme SSDs. These are pcie 4.0 nvme drives with a write speed of 1,800 mb/s. The adapters + ssd and some thermal paste cost about $90 for 512GB of fast storage.

Looking at the options for "real" CFexpress Type B cards, I found the price scales up with the speed and quality of the cards. 

• A basic Lexar Silver 512GB card costs about $150, but are far slower and not suitable for high end video on the Nikon Z8.
• A high-end Lexar Diamond 512GB card costs $530 and are about equivalent to what I put together.
• The Write speed of the faster cards is over 1,500 MB/S, and nearly double what the slower cards can do. And 7-8x faster than a good SDCard!]
• At $90 for the DIY solution, you are saving hundreds of dollars per card for effectively the same product. 

Now I would probably have been just fine with the slower Lexar cards as I don't do video. But if you need a high-end card in your Z cameras, this is an excellent way to go. I've used them on my Z8 for a few sessions shooting birds at 5 fps and 30 fps speeds to test them out. They seem to work great and don't get more than warm during heavy use. I also copied a few 6GB windows ISO images back and forth in my (new) CFExpress card reader and were fine. These cards are actually as fast or faster than my USB SSD storage drives I use to backup my laptop. 

The Sintech adapters are great and fit perfectly when you pair them with one of the recommended SSD parts. It seems like a fantastic solution without the ridiculous "Photographer" markup being charged for what are commodity PC parts.

[ A pair on Sintech CFExpress adapters, one open showing the SSD. And and SDcard for size comparison. ]

[Chris Ross]

Looks great Dave, did you do any speed testing on them?  I assume they must be close to specs as they are performing well.

[Dave_Hicks]

It's fast. I don't have a USB interface with enough throughput to max out the drive, but in a USB 3.2 reader i get over 400MB/S read and write. I would need a Thunderbolt card reader to get close. Or put the ssd directly in a PCs nvme slot.

However the camera is using a full pci-express bus and able to read/write much faster. Benchmarks of the particular ssd i am using do show it hitting over 1500MB/S read and write.

[Davide DB]

Wow useful tutorial, Dave!

I did not understand how the Samsund ssd fits into the adapter. 

Where did you put the thermal paste?

Thanks

[Dave_Hicks]

20 minutes ago, Davide DB said:

Wow useful tutorial, Dave!

I did not understand how the Samsund ssd fits into the adapter. 

Where did you put the thermal paste?

Thanks

On the "chip side" of the ssd. The flip side of what you see in the photo. Just a smear of it spread over the surface. Then you screw together the aluminum housing with some tiny screws. The adapter come with a very handy little magnetic screwdriver and a couple of extra screws.

Edited December 13, 2023 by Dave_Hicks
Typo

[RichN]

Thanks for posting Dave, I had done the same thing when I got my Z8 having a few cards I couldn't resist for the cost to build a 1TB card. 

I used a ZITAY CFexpress Type B Card to NVME M.2 2230 SSD  box off amazon for 40.00, and SABRENT Rocket 2230 NVMe 4.0 1TB High Performance PCIe 4.0 M.2 2230 SSD [SB-2130-1TB] for 90.00 with some thermal tape. Ive had zero issues. 

Ive read some mixed reviews on doing this.. but my experience is great for the savings. 

       

Using Black Magic Speed Test I get about 850mb/s - 1000mb/s Read and Write (4GB File) on my MacBook Pro with a SABRENT CFexpress Type B Card Reader. I'll have to try with my camera connected can't imagine it would do much better. 

Not getting the max, but for the money it's not bad and I don't feel it's limiting the camera for me at least. 

I also got a SABRENT Rocket CFX 512gb CFexpress Type B Memory Card 2 Pack for 298.00 I haven't actually compared the speeds with the DIY one to these. I'll have to do that later. 

 

 

 

[Dave_Hicks]

1 hour ago, RichN said:

Thanks for posting Dave, I had done the same thing when I got my Z8 having a few cards I couldn't resist for the cost to build a 1TB card. 

I used a ZITAY CFexpress Type B Card to NVME M.2 2230 SSD  box off amazon for 40.00, and SABRENT Rocket 2230 NVMe 4.0 1TB High Performance PCIe 4.0 M.2 2230 SSD [SB-2130-1TB] for 90.00 with some thermal tape. Ive had zero issues. 

Ive read some mixed reviews on doing this.. but my experience is great for the savings. 

       

Using Black Magic Speed Test I get about 850mb/s - 1000mb/s Read and Write (4GB File) on my MacBook Pro with a SABRENT CFexpress Type B Card Reader. I'll have to try with my camera connected can't imagine it would do much better. 

Not getting the max, but for the money it's not bad and I don't feel it's limiting the camera for me at least. 

I also got a SABRENT Rocket CFX 512gb CFexpress Type B Memory Card 2 Pack for 298.00 I haven't actually compared the speeds with the DIY one to these. I'll have to do that later. 

 

 

 

I think the only trouble spot with this DIY is that if you use an Adapter/Drive combo that is not a recommended pairing you might get a card that does not fit in the camera card slot well. With the adapter I purchased the manufacturer had a list of suggested ssds for particular cameras.

The other gotcha might be selected a poorly performing ssd. Some cards have inconsistent performance as your write more and more data to the card, which is going to be a problem for video or wildlife photography. So stick to the recommended pairing and you should do well.

[timbriggsphoto]

This is great work!

[Proteus]

Does anybody have a similar method to create Type A cards?  I have a Sony A7RV and, as best I know, they only take Type A.  I bought one, but was surprised at the limited sizes and much higher cost.

 

Gary

[Erik H]

On 1/9/2024 at 5:29 PM, Proteus said:

Does anybody have a similar method to create Type A cards?  I have a Sony A7RV and, as best I know, they only take Type A.  I bought one, but was surprised at the limited sizes and much higher cost.

 

Gary

Type A is a much smaller card. Unlikely to have a equivalent solution. You can check out Pergear though for more affordable type A cards. I'm considering a pair of their 1TB cards.

[Sokrates]

On 1/9/2024 at 6:29 PM, Proteus said:

Does anybody have a similar method to create Type A cards?  I have a Sony A7RV and, as best I know, they only take Type A.  I bought one, but was surprised at the limited sizes and much higher cost.

 

Gary

I hate this. Like really really hate it. CF A cards are ridiculously expensive.

 

7 hours ago, Erik H said:

Type A is a much smaller card. Unlikely to have a equivalent solution. You can check out Pergear though for more affordable type A cards. I'm considering a pair of their 1TB cards.

Even the "faster" Pergear 1tb card is half the speed and still more expensive than just random Angelbird 1tb CF B card.

But yea, seriously doubt that there will be a similar DYI for CF A. Maybe time for Sony bashing topic 🙂

[Dave_Hicks]

Another in a long legacy of Sony proprietary memory card standards. Remember the Memory Stick anyone?

[Barmaglot]

39 minutes ago, Dave_Hicks said:

Remember the Memory Stick anyone?

To be fair, at the time everyone and their dog was making a media card standard. Toshiba had SmartMedia, Olympus and Fuji had xD-Picture Card, Sandisk had MMC, etc.