The Extreme models are SLC-based and promise a longer lifespan and higher sustained speeds, while the Express cards are TLC-based and promise higher capacities.
The sustained write speeds seem significantly faster than some other options, but at some point the camera is probably the bottleneck.
I think there was a thread on FM at some point about the original A1 being about to move like 600mb/s, so a card that can write 1500mb/s might not be able to reach those speeds. I don't know if the A9.3 for A1.2 are faster with write speeds.
formula4speed wrote:
The sustained write speeds seem significantly faster than some other options, but at some point the camera is probably the bottleneck.
I think there was a thread on FM at some point about the original A1 being about to move like 600mb/s, so a card that can write 1500mb/s might not be able to reach those speeds. I don't know if the A9.3 for A1.2 are faster with write speeds.
I’m sure the cameras can’t transfer this fast because they are still using pcie 3.0 while the cards are 4.0
But that’s besides the point, which is that these cards are much cheaper than the Sony ones. I just don’t know if they are any good.
512GB / 1TB / 2TB
Sustained Read Speed : 1,700MB/s
Sustained Write Speed : 1,000MB/s
EXPRESS-512G : 1.2PBW
EXPRESS-01T : 2.4PBW
EXPRESS-02T : 4.8PBW <- if you took 2TB of pictures every day it would be 6.5 years of endurance..
Manual says for the "B" Cards
Full SLC (Single-Level Cell) mode operation
(EXTREME-330G/660G Only) <
Sorry, I don't know the brand and hopefully someone else can chime in with first hand experience, I just got my first CF-A compatible camera like 10 days ago...
If you are looking at bang for your buck the OWC Atlas cards seem well liked at $160 for 480gb and $330 for 960gb. Not as good as the Novachip 1.6tb card price wise, but a known quantity it seems.
formula4speed wrote:
Sorry, I don't know the brand and hopefully someone else can chime in with first hand experience, I just got my first CF-A compatible camera like 10 days ago...
If you are looking at bang for your buck the OWC Atlas cards seem well liked at $160 for 480gb and $330 for 960gb. Not as good as the Novachip 1.6tb card price wise, but a known quantity it seems.
I don’t like how OWC does not disclose what NAND they use. when companies don’t disclose I’m going to assume it’s QLC (even though it’s probably TLC). They also don’t disclose write endurance
There’s no way it’s SLC given that the minimum write speed is 400 when the max is 1850. This means there’s cache involved and when the cache runs out the speed drops
Assuming QLC the owc is $330 for 960/4 =240 GB SLC equivalent
I've been using the 1.6tb card. No issues so far and have never had the a1ii buffer out with it. Zero issue with speed. They transfer to the computer fast with the nova chips reader than with my prograde (both CF4 through thunderbolt 4). No issues with reliability, but that remains to be seen. These are cheap enough that it's actually realistic to buy two and run them as backups.
Just wanted to add that I love the novachips CFA reader. It's tiny, but comes with a magnet on the body that attaches to the back of an iPhone and a short USB4 40Gbit/s cable. I you need to quickly get some images into Lightroom mobile on your phone, this is by far preferable for me to trying to wifi connect (which still isn't reliable or fast on Sony and most other brands). Best CF-A card reader out there IMO. It could also be used as an external SSD on an iPad or iPhone in a pinch, especially when their storage is so well priced.
aCuria wrote:
I don’t like how OWC does not disclose what NAND they use. when companies don’t disclose I’m going to assume it’s QLC (even though it’s probably TLC). They also don’t disclose write endurance
There’s no way it’s SLC given that the minimum write speed is 400 when the max is 1850. This means there’s cache involved and when the cache runs out the speed drops
Assuming QLC the owc is $330 for 960/4 =240 GB SLC equivalent
The ratio between QLC and SLC is a factor of 8, not 4. 2^4/2^1 = 2^(4-1) = 2^3 = 8
nhmorgan wrote:
I've been using the 1.6tb card. No issues so far and have never had the a1ii buffer out with it. Zero issue with speed. They transfer to the computer fast with the nova chips reader than with my prograde (both CF4 through thunderbolt 4). No issues with reliability, but that remains to be seen. These are cheap enough that it's actually realistic to buy two and run them as backups.
Every card will hit the buffer on the A1II if shooting at 30FPS. But the at that point the camera drops to 17FPS and then just keeps on shooting. So I'm pretty sure you will hit the buffer with that Novachips card just like every other card in the A1II if shooting at 30FPS. But you may not realize it if you don't have the fake shutter volume on.
You can read Dave's extensive testing on this thread. I don't think the Novachips card has any special sauce built in to extend the buffer past 160 frames at 30FPS as it is all camera limitation...not card.
If you are shooting 20FPS then it doesn't slow till 467 frames which is a long while at 20FPS.
The nice thing with the A1II over the A1 is that with the A1 it had a second drop off to 9.8FPS where as the A1II can sustain 17FPS at 30FPS setting.
arbitrage wrote:
Every card will hit the buffer on the A1II if shooting at 30FPS. But the at that point the camera drops to 17FPS and then just keeps on shooting. So I'm pretty sure you will hit the buffer with that Novachips card just like every other card in the A1II if shooting at 30FPS. But you may not realize it if you don't have the fake shutter volume on.
You can read Dave's extensive testing on this thread. I don't think the Novachips card has any special sauce built in to extend the buffer past 160 frames at 30FPS as it is all camera limitation...not card.
If you are shooting 20FPS then it doesn't slow till 467 frames which is a long while at 20FPS.
The nice thing with the A1II over the A1 is that with the A1 it had a second drop off to 9.8FPS where as the A1II can sustain 17FPS at 30FPS setting.
Didn't say it can't buffer out. Just saying that in pretty aggressive shooting I've never hit it. Have definitely hit it with slower cards. However, I don't go past 20fps because I find Sony's implementation of 30fps really frustrating and don't want to shoot compressed anyway.
aCuria wrote:
I don’t like how OWC does not disclose what NAND they use. when companies don’t disclose I’m going to assume it’s QLC (even though it’s probably TLC). They also don’t disclose write endurance
There’s no way it’s SLC given that the minimum write speed is 400 when the max is 1850. This means there’s cache involved and when the cache runs out the speed drops
Assuming QLC the owc is $330 for 960/4 =240 GB SLC equivalent
Do any other brands disclose NAND type and write endurance? Novachips is the first one I've seen to disclose NAND and AFAIK they don't mention write endurance, but their 3-year warranty on standard cards suggests it's probably the same as most other brands. Their Extreme cards give you more, for a price. Not even Sony discloses this info for the ludicrously-price Tough cards AFAIK.
I'd not knock another other brands for not disclosing such details because TBH they're somewhat irrelevant. If a card has a VPG rating then that's really all that matters to most users. These are not SSDs where you'll be reading and writing wildly different types/sizes of files, often at high volume (which is when the controller used is just as important to know as the NAND and cache). They're memory cards to which you'll be writing specific sized files at specific speeds, so that's what they're optimized for.
nhmorgan wrote:
Didn't say it can't buffer out. Just saying that in pretty aggressive shooting I've never hit it. Have definitely hit it with slower cards. However, I don't go past 20fps because I find Sony's implementation of 30fps really frustrating and don't want to shoot compressed anyway.
Gotcha. At 20FPS you will have to really be spraying to ever run into buffer issues. The A1 series of cameras really have a great buffer management system compared to the competitors. Canon locks you out from doing anything until the buffer fully clears. Nikon can only fit 82 Lossless Comp files in the buffer and that is only 20FPS (although using the HE formats can get the buffer close to unlimited).
Sorry for bumping an old thread but was wondering if you all still like the Novachip card? Though it's gone up $50 apparently I was looking at buying one for my A1 for a big trip in the summer. Any issues or anything?
Jerky_san wrote:
Sorry for bumping an old thread but was wondering if you all still like the Novachip card? Though it's gone up $50 apparently I was looking at buying one for my A1 for a big trip in the summer. Any issues or anything?
I've had one in my A7RV for 6 months or so now. It's great. Zero issues.
I've been using the 800GB card in an A7RV and A1 II for about a year with no issues. I wish I would have grabbed another one before the price increase.
