Delkin Black 325G CFexpress Type B Deal

[ShunCheung]

The deal is back again, card only for $199.99 at B&H, good through the end of today, July 11, 2023 at 11:59pm EDT, Amazon Prime Day

Delkin Devices 325GB BLACK CFexpress Type B Memory DCFXBBLK325 (bhphotovideo.com)

[Dieter Schaefer]

If you need more space, ProDigital currently has a 41% discount on the single 650GB card - $455 instead of $770 as the Deal of the Day: https://shop.progradedigital.com/products/prograde-digital-cfexpresstm-2-0-memory-card-cobalt-1700?variant=31798214787149&utm_source=Klaviyo&utm_medium=email&_kx=uFZ9_SqpUr1nXYBazTl6OGAb8nOONVgEEYNxftSSElE%3D.M4gRwE

That's just a few dollars more than their 325GB card costs ($450). Still more expensive than getting two of the Delkins linked to above.

Edited July 11, 2023 by Dieter Schaefer

[Mary Doo]

Excellent, however, this implies at least one card is in the camera for an extended period. When the card is full or nearly full, it might take a considerable amount of time for the computer software to read it. As a matter of fact, my Breezebrowser Pro now takes an incredibly long time to read anything, so I end up doing something else. While I am aware that I should invest time in setting up my desktop system, the thought of dealing with a 650gb card filled with massive files is quite frustrating. 😬

[ShunCheung]

Mary, I fill 325G cards often shooting 8K video. Reading them on a MacBook Pro onto SSDs is pretty quick.

[ilkka_nissila]

17 hours ago, ShunCheung said:

Mary, I fill 325G cards often shooting 8K video. Reading them on a MacBook Pro onto SSDs is pretty quick.

Right, even with Prores 422 HQ 4K50 video, one can fill a 325 GB card in about 25 min. However, for 4K50 one shouldn't need the very fastest of cards, and I believe, e.g., Delkin Power (which exist in larger capacity cards and are normally less expensive per GB) should work fine.

 

For photography (not video) a 325 GB card may indeed seem excessive. On the other hand the price is definitely attractive with this deal and these are reported to be the coolest-running cards.

[ShunCheung]

I saw this deal on B&H's web site into 2, 3am EDT on Wednesday, July 12, but it is gone now and back to $425. For whatever reason, this 325G Delkin Black is discounted repeatedly, every 2, 3 months, but I haven't seen any deep discount on other capacities.

[mike_halliwell]

My trouble with high capacity cards for stills, is it reduces the pressure to 'make space' now, ie Edit and Delete.....🤣

For video, not such an issue....👍

[ilkka_nissila]

On 7/12/2023 at 6:59 PM, mike_halliwell said:

My trouble with high capacity cards for stills, is it reduces the pressure to 'make space' now, ie Edit and Delete.....🤣

For video, not such an issue....👍

I think deleting shots in camera is quite risky. When I only had small cards and I was traveling, I lost one really good shot by accidentally deleting the wrong image instead of the adjacent one, and couldn't recover the better one. I try not to do any such editing in camera now. With a computer, one can see more clearly what one is doing and there is always the recycle bin.

 

These capacities are overkill for still photography but for high-quality video, they're kind of small and limiting. 😄  I guess that could be why the 325 GB are discounted from time to time. For video, maybe 2 TB would be a good card size. For stills, I can't even fill a 128 GB with intense shooting.

[ShunCheung]

What would one want some totally unnecessary pressure to save memory card space at the time of capture, especially when we are capturing action. My philosophy has always been capture as much as you can with high quality. In particular, with the Z8 and Z9, there is no more mechanical shutter and flipping mirrors to wear out. At home, I don't mind deleting 99% of my images.

At home, I tend to save a couple of copies of my images and the cull. If I accidentally delete something, there is always a second copy around.

For still images, I don't think I have ever filled a 128G card in one day, but at this point, I will only add 1T or above cards, mainly for video.

[ilkka_nissila]

On 7/14/2023 at 6:03 PM, ShunCheung said:

What would one want some totally unnecessary pressure to save memory card space at the time of capture, especially when we are capturing action. My philosophy has always been capture as much as you can with high quality. In particular, with the Z8 and Z9, there is no more mechanical shutter and flipping mirrors to wear out. At home, I don't mind deleting 99% of my images. 

I guess it depends on how often one is shooting. For me I sometimes have to take a month's break from shooting new material because I haven't been able to do the image selections of previous shooting yet. I would therefore try to shoot as little as possible while still achieving my goals at the shooting stage so as to reduce the arduous and very time-consuming and taxing post work. 

[Dieter Schaefer]

The deal is on again - just for today. $199.99.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1702403-REG/delkin_devices_dcfxbblk325_325gb_black_cfexpress_type.html

[ShunCheung]

Thanks Dieter. Yes, that deal is back, but it will end at 11:59pm EDT on 11th September 2023. There is only a few more hours to go as I am typing this.

[ilkka_nissila]

The deal is still active. It seems they might be trying to clear stock as the new generation is coming in:

 

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1785070-REG/delkin_devices_dcfxbb325_325gb_black_g4_cfexpress.html

 

It is a bit odd that the earlier 325 GB model is stated to have min write speed of 1530 MB/s and the G4 325 GB model min sustained write speed of 1450 MB/s. The 1.3 TB G4 model has min sustained write speed of 1560 MB/s. It could be that the min write speed and min sustained write speed are slightly different specs. Anyway the differences in speed appear to be quite small between these generations. What's interesting is the price per GB. The 1.3 TB G4 costs $0.50 per GB, while the 325 GB G4 is $0.86/GB and the deal for the 325 GB G3 is $0.61/GB.

 

So the upcoming 1.3 TB G4 card would seem to be a great deal for this high-performance card type if you need shoot a lot of high-quality video. 325 GB fits just 25 min of 4K50 422 HQ. A larger card would be more practical if one wants to use the highest-quality video formats for longer durations. However, I would wait for reviews of the new generation and especially how the capacity may affect performance and card temperature. The different capacity cards of the same brand and product series can have different performance and temperatures in long recordings. For stills, all of these cards are kind of overkill in terms of size. 😉

Edited September 12, 2023 by ilkka_nissila

[ShunCheung]

That deal is over, for now. Sometimes B&H does not cutoff at the exact time; instead it may be a couple of hours later. But the deal may be on again in 2, 3 months, especially during the holiday season.

[mike_halliwell]

Makes you wonder what the actual cost price is?

Are they selling at a loss? I don't think so...😉

[ShunCheung]

Memory cards tend to drop in price very rapidly. Back in 2004 I spend $200 on a 1G Lexar Compact Flash card, and that was a very good deal back then.

[ben_hutcherson]

Sorry I missed this one, but then as a primarily still shooter a 128gb card is often more than enough to last me a week-long trip with a lot of daily shooting(and I still tend to rotate cards regularly on the "don't put your eggs in one basket" philosophy).

I can't claim Shun's 1gb/$200 story, but I recall in 2019 when I bought my D500 that I paid I think $200 or so for a 120gb Sony XQD card. Fortunately at least Nikon let those of us with older cameras(other than D4 users) take advantage of CFExpress as XQD is still more expensive than CFExpress for similar capacities and of course too with much fewer options. I know it's also a much smaller market, and if I didn't have a D4 I likely wouldn't even bother keeping XQD around.

[ShunCheung]

Actually it was a lot more expensive than $200 for a slow, 1G card. When I bought my D100 back in 2002, I had no CF (compact flash, not express) card. I went to my local Fry's Electronics, which was a huge chain in California, Texas ..., and I bought a "no name" 256M card for $100. At that price 1G would have been $400. I am sure some can go back further for more outrageous prices.

The entire Fry's Electronics chain went out of business a couples of years ago. Another victim from mail ordering and the pandemic.

B&H repeats the Delkin Black deal every 2, 3 months, but other than the one throughout the holiday season last year, they only last 24 hours. But then, the holiday season is fast approaching.

[bgelfand]

I expect you will see more sales of CFexpress V2 cards in the coming months and years. CFexpress V4, which communicates using 2 PCIe V4 lanes versus the 2 lanes of PCIe V3 that the current CFexpress V2 Type B cards use. 

 

Of course no cameras use the CFexpress V4 protocol, yet. Since the change is between PCIe V3 and V4, I do not believe there can be a simple firmware upgrade; this change will require a hardware change.  On the bright side, CFexpress V4 cards are backward compatible with V2 devices.