Ultra-reliable memory cards and storage are the most important things for a photographer and filmmaker. If there’s one area where I’m not going to penny-pinch, it’s on a new memory card for my camera. A few months ago, I was approached by a company called Novachips, asking if they could send me their latest memory card and card reader. I’d never heard of them but thought, why not? I’ll take a look.
So the gear arrived, and first impressions—well, it looks good. In front of me on my desk sat some impressive gear, but Nova who? Their website states: “Novachips is a leading provider of a broad range of Flash storage processors and storage drives with breakthrough capacity and scalability.” That went over my head, so I did some digging. It turns out the Korean company has been around for a while and has been making flash storage solutions for large multinational enterprises like data centers, not consumers. That explains the lack of brand presence online, no social media, and a website that is far from consumer-friendly.
Novachips is making incredibly reliable products for enterprises in industries where reliability and performance are paramount. That’s a good thing. One can then assume that quality is carried over to their consumer products like SSDs and memory cards. After a few months of using their products, this appears to be the case.
CFexpress Card Type B
The Express Series 2 TB CFexpress card has a sustained read speed of 1,700 MB/s and a sustained write speed of 1,400 MB/s. This is perfect for my Nikon Z6 III, as I shoot 4K60 ProRes video, which requires around 400 MB/s. With this card, I can even shoot 6K raw footage if required. In my experience, it’s best to buy a memory card with at least 1,000 MB/s sustainable write speed.
Now, with shooting high-quality video or continuous burst shooting, the big problem is heat. Novachips makes their cards without any stickers, as they claim this holds heat in. That makes sense—Angelbird does the same thing, printing directly onto the aluminum casing. Although I’m sure there’s more to it than that. The first thing I did with the card was 30 minutes of ProRes 4K video, and the card was barely warm. So heat dissipation is good. I’m told the real test is shooting 8K video for an hour. I have no need to do that for the work I do, so I didn’t find out. I’m assured, however, this card is tested and good for 8K raw video.
Some more digging, and I find these Novachips cards are RED/Nikon-approved. That’s a good sign. I also discover these cards have been independently tested by the CompactFlash Association and have a VPG (Video Performance Guarantee). VPG guarantees minimum sustained write performance for recording high-quality video.
I haven’t done head-to-head comparison tests with other cards, but I have been using ProGrade and SanDisk cards professionally for my photography and video work. Having now used the Novachips card on a number of projects, I’ve found it to be reliable and seemingly slightly less hot than the other brands I have.
I’ve been using 512 GB cards these past few years, and when shooting video, I have to keep an eye on them because after a few hours of intense filming, they can get full. Using a 2 TB was rather nice because I could insert it and forget about it.
Novachips claims many memory cards have insufficient support in the insert socket and can break. They have addressed this by adding a metal reinforcement.
Card Reader
The card reader is beautifully made out of aluminum and has a premium-quality feel. What’s impressive is it’s capable of 40 GB/s and is MagSafe-compatible. It comes with a nice little zippered hard case and a cable specifically designed for 40 GB/s transfer speeds. The card reader I’ve been using this past year, made by ProGrade, is plastic and feels cheap by comparison.
It performs well and is noticeably faster when downloading a lot of files from a card to my computer.
Conclusion
Novachips has terrible—virtually nonexistent—brand presence. This does not offer any confidence to someone wanting to buy a reliable memory card. But from my experience these past few months, they make superb products to the highest quality. After using their CFexpress card for a variety of photography and video work, I’m impressed. And that memory card reader is a thing of beauty and quality. It’s incredibly satisfying to use and is one of the fastest card readers around.
Novachips are worth consideration when looking to buy a memory card and card reader.
The Novachips Express Series CFexpress Type B 4.0 memory card retails for $399.
The Novachips 40Gbps CFexpress 4.0 Type B Reader retails for $89.99.
I live in Taiwan. My photo guys offer me cheaper, off brand, cards saying they're just as good. Even if more expensive, I'll stick with Sony Tough Cards. I've been burned by off name "just as good" brands before.
Companies like Novachips make the cards for some of those trusted brands you feel safe using. At what stage do you trust a brand?
The stage that i've never had that brand fail.
Well I've never had this memory card fail 👍
That's great for you! My Tough cards have never failed, either. An "it's just as good" card has.
I'm not trying to dump on your article. I just wanted to express the use of caution. I've been srewed by the phrase "It's just as good, but at a lower price." My next trip to buy memory, maybe I will think "Simon says..."
I'm very cautious also, as I produce work for clients and can't afford something to go wrong. All I can say is I tested this card throughly over a few months, using it for many photography and video projects, including actual client work. No issues. There's no guarantee it won't fail in the future, and the same goes with all the known brands like Sony too. Shit happens, as they say. The thing that gives me some confidence with Novachips is their core business is making drives and storage for big enterprise, where reliability is paramount.
For my reasons, I stopped being a pro many years ago. I'm an enthusiast with good gear. All money I spend on photography is my money. I don't recoup anything from clients. I diligently research gear purches. Buying bad gear means holding off on the next lens purchase. Buying bad gear means, well, you're a photographer, you know what it mesns. I do depend a lot on people like you to help with purchases. Just like the famous couple and the guy with the hair that do video reviews. I do come to fstoppers and specifically seek out your reviews. I'm just seeking clarity and justification in the advice that you're giving.
I don't like to give advice, I just report on what products are new to market and share my experiences with them, if I've had a reasonable amount of time testing them. I do state that Novachips are worth considering based on what I experienced, but what suggest anyone with any kind of doubt, should stick to brands they know and feel comfortable with.
I always feel like I should be reading Amateur Photographer, instead of butting heads with more professional minds. However, the advice, or whatever you don't want to call it, is better here. Simon, by nature of publishing your opinions, you're giving advice. Don't back down from it. We want you to be sure and professional about it. When people seek clarity in your articles, answer with authority. Sorry, my English teacher is coming out on you. Keep writing well. Cheers!