Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B Card Silver Series Review

When a request to review a crucial imaging pipeline product comes in, the trust issue rapidly rises to the forefront. Do I trust the product for my work during the evaluation, and am I optimistic that I can recommend the product to you?

In this case, trust was not a concern. I've been purchasing and using Lexar memory cards since early in the digital camera days, including when they were owned by Micron Technologies and after late August 2017 when Longsys acquired the Lexar brand and trademark rights. There are retail-purchased 6 Longsys-era SDXC cards in my reserved-for-critical use kit, and these cards have provided flawless performance.

Still, I did not yet have a Lexar CFexpress card, so a tst of a provided Lexar 1TB Professional CFexpress Type B Card Silver Series memory card seemed worthy.

Aside from various around-the-studio needs, I've used this card for several significant event shoots, including one that required video exclusively. The good news is that I don't have much to report aside from flawless performance. The camera rapidly transferred files to the card, and the card didn't get in my way, doing its job without garnering attention.

Performance

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This card is fast. We usually care about write performance more than read performance, as the former can impact a shoot while the latter is often less critical.

Recording 8K RAW video footage is a solid test of the card's write capabilities, and this card was still continuously recording Canon EOS R5 8K RAW footage after 19 minutes when I pressed the stop button upon the R5's heat warning showing. That performance meets my most demanding needs.

Attach this card to a laptop via a Thunderbolt port and reader, and CrystalDiskMark creates this this impressive chart:

Build Quality

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Lexar CF cards have a high build quality, like the other high-end CFexpress cards.

Specifications

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These are the manufacturer's specifications:

Form Factor	CFexpressTM Type B
Interface	PCIe Gen3x2
Performance	Up to 1750MB/s read, 1300MB/s write speeds
Sustained Write Speed	1200MB/s
Operating Temperature	-10°C to 70°C (14°F to 158°F)
Storage Temperature	-25°C to 85°C (-13 °F to 185 °F)
Dimension(L x W x H)	1.16" x 1.51" x 0.14" / 29.60 x 38.50 x 3.80 mm
Weight	7.65 g / 0.016 lbs
Warranty	10-year limited warranty

"This card is backwards-compatible with select XQD cameras."

"All Lexar products undergo extensive testing in the Lexar Quality Labs, facilities with thousands of different cameras and digital devices to ensure performance, quality, compatibility, and reliability." [Lexar]

Price and Value

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A large number of Lexar cards ended up in my kit because they offered reliable performance and high capacity for a low price. This card fits in that description.

Summary

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If you are interested in adding memory capacity to your kit, perhaps to enable original file retention for a bit longer than usual as a backup strategy, or your current cards are aging and increasingly likely to fail, the Lexar brand should be on your shortlist. Lexar memory cards are a great choice for high performance and high capacity at a low cost, and the Lexar Professional CFexpress Type B Card Silver Series is a great choice for that storage format.