Lexar XQD dead... Again!

Seems like it's back to Sony only....

 

Makes you wonder what's in the next top-of-the-tree Nikon DSLR?

Mike, remember you started a similar thread last year?

Lexar ends XQD Manufacture - Actually Lexar Shuts Down Altogether

 

You are spending too much time on rumor sites, which often manufacture news to generate web traffic. Lexar has made it very clear that they will continue to supply XQD cards. Memory card manufacturers frequently refresh their models, discontinue the old version and replace it with something slightly improved or perhaps just a different packaging to keep the price high. It is like the 2017 model of whatever your favorite model of automobile is discontinued, but it doesn't mean that company is getting out of the auto business altogether.

 

The Compact Flash Association has already announced that the next standard will be the CF Express:

CFexpress - Wikipedia

 

CF Express cards have the same form factor as XQD, but they are even faster and are supposed to be (but not always) backward compatible with XQD. E.g. Delkin has already announced CF Express cards, but for now they are more like a product looking for an application. The down side is that prices will likely stay high.

Edited February 15, 2018 by ShunCheung

I know I do and I did ;), and everyone thought they'd been fully resurrected, and it now seems they have a bit of a supply problem.

 

If you try and find Lexar XQD's here in the UK, they are pretty much all awaiting stock.

 

As I've got a few for my D500, I'm covered, but if I go and buy (some wish!) a new D850, I've got to feed it Sony or nothing.

 

Is CF Express compatible with a D850? or is it something a Firmware upgrade can cover?

I know I do and I did ;), and everyone thought they'd been fully resurrected, and it now seems they have a bit of a supply problem.

 

If you try and find Lexar XQD's here in the UK, they are pretty much all awaiting stock.

 

Same here in the Netherlands, and if you do find one it is about 3 times the price it used to be before the shortage...

Edited February 16, 2018 by c.p.m._van_het_kaar

Finnish prices for XQD cards are about 2.5x the price at B&H so in practice I always order from B&H. There seems to be high demand now (there is a certain popular camera out on the market which produces a lot of data in a short time and uses XQD cards). I am sure Lexar cards will again be in stock soon, or perhaps it is the same situation as with the camera that you have to make the order (get in the queue) and wait a bit. Sony XQD cards are in stock in many places though.

A quick check with Adorama (and a few other stores) shows that they actually have the 32G Lexar XQD cards in stock, see the screen capture below.

Lexar Pro 2933X XQD

 

Two years ago when Nikon announced the D5 (most of them have two XQD slots) and D500 (XQD + SD), I thought XQD would gradually become popular among high-end, sports-oriented cameras other than Canon, which would stick with CFast for now, even though CFast uses the older SATA technology. Although Nikon has done its part adding the D850, to date, Nikon remains to be the only brand of still cameras that uses XQD. For example, I am disappointed that the Sony A9 only uses SD cards; worse yet, only 1 of the 2 SD slots is UHS-II. The same is true for some of the high-end Micro 4/3 bodies, whose small form factor may favor the smaller SD cards. (I, for one, have cracked or damaged a number of those fragile SD cards that I would much rather not depend on them.)

 

The current "issue" is that the D850 is highly popular. Believe it or not, the D850 has still never been in stock at B&H, Adorama ... after Nikon started shipping them some 5 months ago, and that was when the XQD shortage started. For a while even the Sony 32, 64, 128, and 256G varieties were all out of stock.