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Robert



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Doesn't affect my D3 but some of you may be affected...

https://www.dpreview.com/news/1976696459/confirmed-prograde-digital-will-not-make-xqd-cards-is-betting-on-cfexpress-instead

jk



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Effects the D500, D850, D5 as this is meant to be the premium card to use.

XQD cards are made by Sony, but in past also by Lexar.  Kingston and Sandisk are considering whether they want to enter the market but I wouldnt hold my breath on this!. Existing stocks should be sufficient for cameras that are about.

Robert



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Apparently Sony hold the rights to the XQD type and require licensing (read $) for others to manufacture.

jk



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XQD has been superceded by a new faster SD like card apparently. Need to search out the details.

Robert



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jk wrote:
XQD has been superceded by a new faster SD like card apparently. Need to search out the details.
The replacement heavy duty card is the CF Express, apparently it had dual channels from the processor, which at a stroke makes it twice as fast as the existing XQD cards it seems.

amazing50

 

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What I'd like is an XQD to SD adapter for the D850.

jk



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amazing50 wrote:
What I'd like is an XQD to SD adapter for the D850. I have been looking for one for a while.
Somebody will make one soon I guess.

Iain



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It would appear that the new CFexpress cards will back compatible to XQD slots.

Robert



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Provided the manufacturers firmware is updated, how likely is that with Nikon?

jk



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Does anyone have the pinouts and their associated naming for XQD cards? I cant seem to find this in my searches.

Robert



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Apart from it being a PCIe variant I can't help, I think it may be very similar to M2 but ruggedised.

M2 memory does not requite drivers to work with Mac OS, nor MS as far as I know. Although obviously it must be provided for in the bios. That I think is being hinted at with mention of camera firmware needing upgrading to read the new cards which will replace XQD cards.

GeoffR

 

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Nikon were part of the development of XQD, along with Sony and Lexar, so it is in their interests to update the firmware on their cameras with XQD slots.

The price of XQD cards is extortionate and I will be running my D4 on a large CF card until the price comes down, if it ever does. If the CFExpress card is backward compatible, and cheaper, I could be persuaded.

The F5 is available as Dual XQD or Dual CF an adaptor to use SD or Micro SD in an XQD slot would be very useful.

Robert



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Guess you meant D5?

If I am not mistaken ordering the D5 with CF involves taking a big hit in the image saving speed department, to some extent nullifying the advantage of the D5 speed and capacity.

Bit like ordering a Ferrari with a Transit van engine...

GeoffR

 

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Robert wrote: Guess you meant D5?

If I am not mistaken ordering the D5 with CF involves taking a big hit in the image saving speed department, to some extent nullifying the advantage of the D5 speed and capacity.

Bit like ordering a Ferrari with a Transit van engine...Yes D5. I would still order a D5 with CF slots unless I was certain that CFExpress was going to work and the price was going to fall. The cheapest XQD card is around £90 and I could live with the reduced shooting speed, I don't think I have ever used a D3 on continuous so why would I need 12 FPS from a D5.
Currently only Sony make XQD cards and only Nikon cameras use them making them expensive and difficult to obtain. It wouldn't be the first time a new storage medium has failed from lack of support. A Dual CF card D5 may be easier to sell than a Dual XQD.
The D4 with a CF card is still faster than a D3 so far from a Ferrari with a Transit engine.

Robert



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But I was talking about the D5, the files are bigger and I would use 25fps if it were available.

Using my D3 for motor racing with my Nikkor 300mm f/2.8, I select a point on the tarmac and rattle off three or four frames in the expectation that one will be in the focus zone. Same with field sports like rugby and football, I can often get a cracking image out of a sequence of rapid shots, rather than trying to snipe them, single shot.

Digital film is cheap.

TomOC



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This is kind of a DUH announcement... Did anyone ever really put anything in the XQD slot? I think it was a ruse to hide drugs...

Robert



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Hi Tom, I know several D5 owners; I don't think any of them opted for the backward compatible CF slot, so yes they must have used at least one of the slots?

I can see an argument for a large organisation like a newspaper, in order to ensure compatibility across the board opting for CF but for individuals I can't see that compelling need.

In the grand scheme of things if shelling out ~£5000 for a D5 body, and half a dozen batteries @ ~£150 apiece (£900), four XQD cards is not a huge additional investment.

GeoffR

 

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Robert wrote: But I was talking about the D5, the files are bigger and I would use 25fps if it were available.

Using my D3 for motor racing with my Nikkor 300mm f/2.8, I select a point on the tarmac and rattle off three or four frames in the expectation that one will be in the focus zone. Same with field sports like rugby and football, I can often get a cracking image out of a sequence of rapid shots, rather than trying to snipe them, single shot.

Digital film is cheap.A D5 with dual CF slots would be faster than a D4 I would expect, my point was that the D4 isn't seriously disadvantaged by the lack of an XQD card. The faster D5 may well be at some disadvantage but, a D5 with XQD slots becomes a door stop should XQD, or compatible, cards become unavailable.
As it happens I have never used the continuous modes on either D3 body, I prefer to press the shutter repeatedly but that is obviously a personal choice. The D4 seems particularly suited to my method.

Robert



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As with all evolution there will be dead ends, ideas and developments which wither on the vine but without them we would be nowhere, the ones which die helped create the ones which survive, so if XQD does vanish from the shelves, it will have helped push another standard to the fore. This was what happened with disk drive interface protocols, ATA, SCSI, SATA etc.

For the D5 XQD owner I am sure there will be a reservoir of cards to be found on eBay as manufactures and wholesalers offload their 'useless' stock.

The move is towards fewer, faster contacts and channels. Needs smaller footprint on PCB's and shorter paths, fewer contacts to go bad. Cheaper and faster.

Usually the winner is the manufacturer who gets the best grasp on the market. Not always the best technology.

Just my two pence! o.O

Eric



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My issue with the xqd card is not just price, it's the ease of uploading. I need a special adapter...as I understand it..to view images on my iPad.

Robert



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I was reading earlier about someone who uses a WD external 2Tb drive with wi-fi to transmit images to his iPad for viewing, culling and processing.

The images remain on the drive and are only sent to the iPad individually as required. They are not ingested into Photos and the whole process is quite slick.

He uses a card reader built into the hard drive but I think it also works with a USB adaptor. Can't remember what the exact drive is but I don't think it's anything special. Could find out if anybody is interested.

Eric



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Robert wrote:
I was reading earlier about someone who uses a WD external 2Tb drive with wi-fi to transmit images to his iPad for viewing, culling and processing.

The images remain on the drive and are only sent to the iPad individually as required. They are not ingested into Photos and the whole process is quite slick.

He uses a card reader built into the hard drive but I think it also works with a USB adaptor. Can't remember what the exact drive is but I don't think it's anything special. Could find out if anybody is interested.

I've got a WD Passport external 2TB drive with WiFi and it only has an SD card slot in it??

If you insert an SD card it transfers everything on the card blindly to a folder on the WD drive ....and it's not that quick!

The MyCloud software app you have to download to see the drive contents is crude....or at least apple are their usual helpful selves ensuring file transfer isn't easily handled (as it means delving into the iPad file structure...which is prohibited!) From memory they don't allow selection of multiple files for transfer...you have to do one at a time. I use a File Transfer app to speed things up. Been disappointed with this idea of remote file handling.
But maybe I am doing it wrong?

I could use the D500 WiFi and send it direct to the iPad. But that uses camera battery power and takes time.

Robert



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Will PM you... I think that's the hardware, what you need is some third party software.

GeoffR

 

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jk wrote: Effects the D500, D850, D5 as this is meant to be the premium card to use.

XQD cards are made by Sony, but in past also by Lexar.  Kingston and Sandisk are considering whether they want to enter the market but I wouldn't hold my breath on this!. Existing stocks should be sufficient for cameras that are about.Affects the D4, D4s, D5, D500 and D850, so far but note that only the D5 does not have an option to use another type of card. This may well be great for the professional photographer buying a D5 new but will put off serious amateurs buying used unless the QZD, or CFExpress if it really is compatible, comes down in price.

Upgrading from a D3 to a used D4 or D5 could be a very expensive business. The cameras are still expensive used, but affordable for someone who really wants one. However one must add to the price of the camera £200 for a spare battery, £30 for a battery door, £360 for some QXD cards and possibly more storage on a computer to accept the larger files.

The D4 does at least allow the continued use of CF cards. I would love to have ZQD cards but I am reluctant to enrich Sony by several hundred pounds so I will wait and see if CFExpress comes to anything. Should I find myself in the position to purchase a D5 any time soon it will be with CF cards. That being said, if CFExpress or XQD come down in price I would want to go that way.

Robert



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GeoffR wrote:
Affects the D4, D4s, D5, D500 and D850, so far but note that only the D5 does not have an option to use another type of card. This may well be great for the professional photographer buying a D5 new but will put off serious amateurs buying used unless the QZD, or CFExpress if it really is compatible, comes down in price.

Upgrading from a D3 to a used D4 or D5 could be a very expensive business. The cameras are still expensive used, but affordable for someone who really wants one. However one must add to the price of the camera £200 for a spare battery, £30 for a battery door, £360 for some QXD cards and possibly more storage on a computer to accept the larger files.

The D4 does at least allow the continued use of CF cards. I would love to have ZQD cards but I am reluctant to enrich Sony by several hundred pounds so I will wait and see if CFExpress comes to anything. Should I find myself in the position to purchase a D5 any time soon it will be with CF cards. That being said, if CFExpress or XQD come down in price I would want to go that way.

Could we sum that up by saying you are sitting on an aluminium (supposedly sterile) perch (fence)! LOL

The financial implications of serious photography are high, nothing is cheap, I need more, better batteries for my D3 but not paying £900 for half a dozen new Nikon ones. For my winter night time photography I am planning a golf trolley power pack. Almost zero cost and far more power and reliability.

It doesn't stop with the cards and batteries, the best lenses are extremely expensive. I have tried to collect a reasonable range of good old lenses which do the job well, they have limitations and snags but I find workarounds and accept the limitations.

One thing I have accepted is, birding lenses are way beyond my means, I try to cover a wide range of photography so I have decided to pass on birding beyond 300mm on DX.

GeoffR

 

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Robert wrote: Could we sum that up by saying you are sitting on an aluminium (supposedly sterile) perch (fence)! LOL

The financial implications of serious photography are high, nothing is cheap, I need more, better batteries for my D3 but not paying £900 for half a dozen new Nikon ones. For my winter night time photography I am planning a golf trolley power pack. Almost zero cost and far more power and reliability.

It doesn't stop with the cards and batteries, the best lenses are extremely expensive. I have tried to collect a reasonable range of good old lenses which do the job well, they have limitations and snags but I find workarounds and accept the limitations.

One thing I have accepted is, birding lenses are way beyond my means, I try to cover a wide range of photography so I have decided to pass on birding beyond 300mm on DX.

Pretty much says it really, I am happy with the D4 for now but batteries are stupidly expensive. I have a third party one and hopefully now that I have sorted out the standby delay (Previous owner had set it to 10 minutes which I misread as 10 seconds!) that will perform as expected and I will consider another one. The D3 has an external power socket but the D4 and D5, despite using the same mains power unit require a battery compartment adaptor, at around £160.  I did think I had found a source of third party EN-EL4a batteries but it turns out they aren't available any more. I have sufficient for now so I'll not bother looking further.

GeoffR

 

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Well, having found some XQD cards and a reader at I price I was prepared to pay I now have 2 x 32GB cards. They don't seem to make much difference in the camera but they download to my MacBook Pro, via USB3, very quickly indeed. I would still like the price to come down though.

Robert



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What body is this for Geoff?

By all accounts it really makes a difference with the very high high resolution bodies. Both to avoid the buffer filling up and buffer clearance of large NEF's.

Same as all similar 'new' technologies they will be cheap as chips once the initial surge is over.

GeoffR

 

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Robert wrote: What body is this for Geoff?

By all accounts it really makes a difference with the very high high resolution bodies. Both to avoid the buffer filling up and buffer clearance of large NEF's.

Same as all similar 'new' technologies they will be cheap as chips once the initial surge is over.
I have a D4 and so far have taken around 90 images on the XQD card, hardly an exhaustive test.

jk



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The D4 is down at 22MP or there abouts so the image size is relatively small compared to images from D850 or Z7 at 45MP. The larger the image size then the more important it becomes to transfer it quickly to the storage card and free up the buffer for the next shot(s).

Robert



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GeoffR wrote:
Robert wrote: What body is this for Geoff?

By all accounts it really makes a difference with the very high high resolution bodies. Both to avoid the buffer filling up and buffer clearance of large NEF's.

Same as all similar 'new' technologies they will be cheap as chips once the initial surge is over.
I have a D4 and so far have taken around 90 images on the XQD card, hardly an exhaustive test.

I would say football has been my most challenging subject buffer wise, when a player starts a run, trying to capture the twists and turns, the frustration when the buffer is full then the player makes a shoot for goal and the shutter release does nothing... I used to carry a second camera for that moment, but usually I wasn't quick enough swapping from a first body with 300 f/2.8 to the second body with the 80-200 zoom f/2.8.

I would usually take between 300 and 500 exposures during a match.

GeoffR

 

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I very rarely take long sequences of shots where clearing the buffer fast makes much difference. Also, the D4 at a mere 16MP doesn't generate huge files so I have, so far, seen no evidence that the faster card makes any practical difference in shooting, or more accurately makes any difference to my shooting. I will find out later whether there is a difference when I start looking for Red Kites next spring.

jk



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XQD are meant to be more resilient than CF (fine pin connections) and SD (flex and break). Never had any failures but I use the USB lead for downloading from camera.

Robert



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Try Harewood Hill, hill climb course near Harrogate in Yorkshire. They come very close during racing, I had one flying round me almost all day last time I was there, but my 80-200 is a bit short on the D3. Totally indifferent to me and the racing. o.O

GeoffR

 

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A kite isn't close if you can't get a decent image with a 24-70! Yes I have some as well as a Heron with the same lens. There is a feeding program near Langley Park (Bucks) where I have captured 20 in one shot.

Robert



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Ah!

At Muncaster Castle they do something similar with Herons, about 4pm, a man with bucket appears with food, scatters it on field then mayhem with a sky full of herons fighting over the tidbits.

The Herons gather about 15 minutes before the event, their inbuilt clocks must be programmed very finely. Don't know how they cope with daylight saving...

GeoffR

 

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Just clearing out the packaging from my cards and I see there is recovery software available from Sony. Worth a look even if I do have SanDisk's rescue software; thanks Sony, I can't use your software it is Windows only.

Robert



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Have you tried to use the 'free' Sandisk recovery software?

I have, I formatted a card then realised I hadn't lifted the images off it, so I tried to recover using the Sandisk Rescue software I had a code for from my two new 32Gb CF cards.

Oh yes, it found the 'lost' files but I had to pay to register the software before it would recover them.

They weren't that important so I just abandoned the files.

GeoffR

 

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Robert wrote: Have you tried to use the 'free' Sandisk recovery software?

I have, I formatted a card then realised I hadn't lifted the images off it, so I tried to recover using the Sandisk Rescue software I had a code for from my two new 32Gb CF cards.

Oh yes, it found the 'lost' files but I had to pay to register the software before it would recover them.

They weren't that important so I just abandoned the files.
I used it quite successfully when I first got a copy but I haven't upgraded it and haven't had cause to use it since, the card in the package says it is free.

blackfox



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Eric I now realise you prefer your I.pad to a full sized I.mac , but surely a compromise might help I.e a MacBook Pro best of both worlds

Eric



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blackfox wrote:
Eric I now realise you prefer your I.pad to a full sized I.mac , but surely a compromise might help I.e a MacBook Pro best of both worlds
My post was back in `July, Jeff. Since then I've sorted the transfer from xqd to iPad, thanks.

We did consider a MacBook Pro and it may still be an option when I retire my office desktop later this year.

I can upload (= backup) from xqd cards 'in the field' to my WD external drive (battery powered) so no need for mains. :thumbs:

I can then view the files on the iPad via the drives own WiFi.

After deleting the lemons, I can import to iPad (again using its WiFi) for editing in Affinity Photo....which does handle D500 nefs.:applause:

I've got a 12” retina screen on the iPad which seems ok for editing.

I recognise that it's never going to be as good as a powerful desktop with Photoshop, a Wacom tablet and 24" monitors like I used professionally. But after 25years doing that sat at a desk, I just want to be a bit lazy and edit in my armchair in the lounge.:lol:

If the images I take in the future are ever to be used for something more than just viewing on forums or in house, I may rethink my workflow and equipment. But frankly I've done with striving for publishing perfect....good enough will suffice now. o.O


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