Nikon has released firmware version 2.20 for their Z 6 and Z 7 mirrorless cameras, and with it comes support for CFexpress cards and more impressively, raw video output capabilities for filmmakers.
The new version 2.20 firmware brings support for CFexpress cards, which fit into the camera's XQD slot, but offer faster data transfer. The cameras will retain their ability to use XQD cards as well. Nikon has said that D5, D850, and D500 users can also expect CFexpress card support at some point in the future, though a definitive date has not yet been given. As of now, not all CFexpress cards are supported, but Nikon expects the number of supported cards to expand in the future.
In addition, Nikon has introduced raw video output in 12-bit 4K UHD or full HD in ProRes raw to Ninja Atomos V recorders over HDMI. The raw video upgrade will require you to send your camera to a Nikon service center and will cost you $199.95, unless you purchase a Nikon Z 6 Filmmaker's kit. Those who have already purchased the kit are eligible for a free upgrade by providing proof of purchase.
You can read more from Nikon and also download the latest firmware here.
But didn’t add another card slot!!
How can Nikon even be considered a professional camera with only one card slot?!
For that reason I’ll stick to whatever camera is the most popular this week.
The two slot thing gets old. Pros never needed two roles of film. Card failures rarely happen and not a big deal unless you shoot weddings and that's why you hire a second shooter and switch cards often. Otherwise it's a non-issue. I also don't know that Nikon actually called the Z6 or Z7 a professional mirrorless camera. Can you show me where they have said that?
Oh sarcasm. You are so wasted.
Lol
Yes pros did need more than a single roll of film, there just wasn't the option at the time.
But, if two slots was the standard, why go backwards? And, users want it. So, ...
Rob, when was the last time you literally could not live without the second card in your camera body? Shot Z6 all year with 1 card slot, had it soaked in waterfalls mist, salty from ocean mist, flew it 6 times on destination projects and camera even with only one card in it did the job and images were there :) Me happy clients happy and believe me I can sleep at night knowing it has only 1 card slot :). Happy shooting guys, this 1 Card thing is so boring already, and yes I did happen to have in last 15 years one corrupted SD card and yes I recovered the files from it and yes it was a wedding day :) Things can happen so prepare yourselves for it and if they happen you make sure you still deliver and exceed the expectations of clients :)
I started with a single roll of film, I'm still using a single card slot.
I've several cameras with double, when I've used them I've used them as overflow as I was too cheap to buy bigger cards.
But hey, if some people are paranoid, they probably travel to every job with 2 cars anyway, in case one breaks down.
It's funny, I've shot with two cards since switching to Nikon almost 10 years ago. I've had exactly two cards fail on me both in 2 of the few cameras I've owned without 2 slots. Well, the Olympus E-3 that had a card failed in it technically had two slots, but the second was a weird format that I never used.
10 years of dual slots, no failures. I've owned a z6 for like 6 months and one failed on me at the in-law's house over Thanksgiving. Only lost a single video file. Unfortunately it was a good one. Go figure.
Josef do you also back up all your images to one hard drive? I have had xqd fail on election day 2016. It was a new one bought from BH Photo a couple of days before the big day. Got the err message and thankfully had plenty of CF cards. So those who say XQD is bulletproof are just victims of an accident waiting to happen. For big client events I shoot both cards and thanks to new sony i can shoot uhs-ii now to both. peace of mind is very important when the stakes are high.
The Ninja V, by the way, has also only one storage slot (SSD), so people should complain also about this.
Yep, definitely worth reaching for the keyboard to complain about.
Canon, are you watching? BTW, I'm a long time Canon shooter. So, there's no Canon hatred here.
The CFe support is comical, at best. Not really sure why they even bothered. Hopefully the other updated features makes it worthwhile for Z owners.
Explain the comedy to us that just get on and use the kit.
Um, only ONE card is supported? You have more XQD options, please!
Utterly comical.
Still not getting the punchline here. Really.
Not sure what your issue is. To be honest, leave it there, I'm not bothered what it is.
So can you only put ONE manufacturer's SD card in whatever device you may have that takes one? Are there multiple CFe standards? WTF is that about? You either read ANY CFe card, or you don't.
You don't seem to understand. The cameras probably work fine with any CFE card. But Nikon is not going to officially state that is true without extensively testing them. Many people have reported Sandisk CFE cards working fine.
It's no different than Blackmagic releasing a list of "supported" SD cards or SSDs. It doesn't mean another one won't work, it just means they can't say it definitely will.
TypeB cfe cards are a standard. so going from this i gather they only tested the cards they had available. as Nikon is rebranding Sony XQD cards i am guessing they had cfe cards by sony.
How is the CF Express support comical (at best)? It's literally what they said would happen and I'm not sure how it could be better. Why they even bothered is that CFE is insanely faster and it offers more options - previously we just had Delkin and Sony offerings for XQD.
Maybe you're referencing the Sony-brand only "support" at the moment. 1) Nikon says “the number of supported cards will continue to expand as additional cards are tested and certified" so clearly they are testing and making sure which cards they can guarantee and 2) people are reporting other brands working just fine (Sandisk from what I've seen so far).
So more than likely, most - if not all - CFE cards should work right now, Nikon just doesn't want to guarantee compatibility without thorough testing.
It is a worthwhile feature . You will also be able to still use the XQD cards . Lastly , as others have mentioned the list of usable CFexpress cards will only expand .
The CFe support is not comical, its quintessential.
For years nobody supported XQD, there was almost only one source of these cards, readers were rare. Not even Sony itself used these anyplace. XQD is in a sense dead man walking, like the Memory Stick. XQD is the reason that I never touched D500 and similarly I did not consider Z6/Z7: I did not wanted to sit on a dead tech. The CFex B is a different game. In the moment Canon and others will start using these, and that's the ongoing rumor, they will become mainstream and replace CF Fast. The CFe speed and heat dissipation will be though mostly needed for something like 8K cinema. Not sure though if they will not rather use the bigger CFex A.
Dude, there's support for ONE CFe card. Oh look, it happens to be a SONY card. Gee...
I mean, the only other brand of CFe that's actually currently available is SanDisk, so... it's not like there are a lot of other options to choose from anyway. Can't test and certify what isn't available. Sony and Nikon have long had a partnership for XQD (Used in the FS7, FX9, and a couple of camcorders), so it stands to reason that they would also partner for CFe.
OK, but a standard is a standard, no? Are manufacturers simply not making cards to spec? Also, if a card manufacturer wants to sell them, don't you think they would be working with the companies that will be using their products before launch?
There's a pretty long history of some manufacturers not making cards to spec.
And the onus of working together isn't really on Nikon.... the other companies want Nikon's customers to use their products, not the other way around.
You don't seem to understand how camera companies work. Here is a summary. They use a documented standard and develop software compatible with that standard. Then they test actual cards supposed to be meeting this same standard to confirm that their implementation is ok. When they complete their tests without issues they declare their camera compatible with that card. Since they have only tested Sony CFE cards so far, they announced compatibility. There is 99.99% chance that other CFE cards will work just as well. This will move to 100% after Nikon tests then.
Nikon is the first camera company to have cameras compatible with the best memory card format on the market. Besides, this is becoming available on one year old cameras. This isn't comical, it's just great.
Think of the poor Canon users who invested in CFast cards... that is truly comical because Canon picked a dead end format and forced their millions of users to buy memory cards that have now no value whatsoever.
Where's the promised update to handle CF Express cards for the D5, D850, and D500?
I saw that complaint coming too. ;-)
It's not really a complaint, Spy Black. I just find it strange that they would provide the CF Express update for the Z series of cameras, but not the D5, D850, and D500. I don't particularly care since I'll continue to use XQD. But, didn't they promise this update 6 months ago?
I use the atomos ninja V and I ahve the 10bit ProRes raw output to Ninja Atomos V with my Z7, Is it worth it to pay 200$ + shipping to go from 10bit to 12 bit
"I ahve the 10bit ProRes raw output"
You have 10 bit Log, not RAW. We have yet to see if the difference is worth $200.
For me, it's a no-brainer, as I get it for free as a Z6 filmmaker kit purchaser.
Maby I don't understand but the Atomos records apple prores raw from my Z7 ... But it's nice to see the option for the future!
No, it doesn't.
It currently records ProRes LT, ProRes 422 and ProRes 422 HQ, but not ProRes RAW.
You would need to update the firmware on the Atomos and the paid upgrade from Nikon for RAW to work.
There's a difference. Some YouTube viewing will explain it better than I could.
Thanks !!!
Having done the update I can confirm the SanDisk CFexpress cards now work
Rumor had it that the faster card would allow internal saving of 10bit log files? Will it let you do that or will that come later?
And another crappy update. I wonder when Nikon fixes stuff that really matters, like being able to really manually turn on/off D8, also when you attach a flash trigger. Now it’s impossible to see your exposure when you mix flash/ambient. And worse, if you have backlight you can not see your subjects face!!
Incredible comment... this update is just great. They could definitely update even more things, but few firmware updates in the history of digital cameras have delivered as much value as this one with CFe support and video raw.
Will these work with XQD card readers?
was wondering the same thing. as i understand you do need to have installed the latest NVME drivers or something. atleast they talking about license for those drivers.
I don't think so, Sony has announced the availability of a new CFe reader
getting my Z6 tomorrow. cfexpress cards are not available over here yet. ill use my XQD cards,.
In all the camera's I owned, I've never had a card failure. Maybe it's dumb luck, maybe I take good care of my equipment or maybe it's because I reformat my cards every time I use them or maybe it's because I throw salt over my shoulder once a week (not really).... I looked at the prices at the CFexpress cards and I'm happy with that. I don't need $220 128GB cards.... a 32GB is usually more than enough as I upload into a new catalogue for every shoot.
please tell me you dont use lightroom. i dont see a difference in prices for XQD or CFe cards. maybe because its just the start and it will get lower next year. im shocked that XQD cards are 20% higher now as they were last summer. its crazy when you buy a 1400 euro camera you have to pay 240 euro for a 120gb memory card or 185 euro for a 64gb card. that XQD in the Z series was a huge mistake by Nikon. yeah it works perfect but prices, geez,.i dont mind spending money but i hate wasting it. 128gb sd card 19.95 dollars on Amazon.
I’m a little disappointed that there’s not going to be any or little in camera improvements with (such as increased continuous shooting speed, but the buffer may clear faster) this but unloading photos should be a breeze. I’m looking forward to seeing the difference once cards are released.
Now for some stupidity. I got home from Christmas at the kids and took my memory card out and left it near the stairs and went and turned on my Mac. I came back a few minutes later to find my dog chewing on my XQD card from my Z7. it had teeth marks in it but didn’t look too awful. I tried plugging it in and it wasn’t recognized so I went to pull it out and it was hot. Lucky I didn’t damage my USB port. So I’m out my Xmas photos and a card to upgrade my camera to cfexpress because I’m sure not going to buy another XQD card. But I’ll have to borrow one or something to upgrade though. Live and learn. I’m just glad there weren’t any one of a kind photos on there even though they would have been nice to have. Now if the Z7 had another slot like my D800 did, I’d be ok or I could have put the card in my pocket away from the dog too. Stupid mistakes!