Acer CFexpress card CFE100 Review

The Acer CFE100 CFexpress Card is one of those midrange cards that often gets missed. What it provides is the speed to keep up with all of today’s CFExpress-compatible DSLRs and Mirrorless cameras, with a huge capacity and price tag that is extremely appealing. Ok, it might not have those gut-busting speeds seen by the top CFExpress cards, but then few cameras in the photography realm can make full use of their potential. This offering, with its maximum read speeds of up to 1600 MB/s and write speeds that can reach 1200 MB/s, makes it well-suited for high-end cameras that require rapid data storage for high-resolution photos and support for capturing 4K/8K video.

The card also boasts industrial-grade NAND flash memory, ensuring durability and consistent performance. When it comes to compatibility, the CFE100 is backwards compatible. Not only is it designed for the newest generation of cameras, but it’s also backwards-compatible with a select range of XQD cameras from Panasonic, Canon, and Nikon.

The card is available in capacities ranging from 128GB up to 512GB, it offers the flexibility to meet the storage needs of both enthusiasts and professionals.

When it comes to memory cards, the build quality is a crucial factor, however when it comes to CFExpress cards, they all seem pretty solid and robuist and the Acer CFExpress CFE100 is no different. The Acer CFE100 CFexpress Card is a well-constructed and of course adheres to the usual industry standards, ensuring it’ll fit and function in any compatible camera, in the case of this test that’s the Canon EOS R5 C.

The Acer CFE100 CFexpress Card comes packed with features designed to ensure that it keeps up with the read and write speeds demanded by your cameras. Although our tests found that the actual speeds are somewhat lower than the advertised maximums of 1600 MB/s for read and 1200 MB/s for write, the card still delivers impressively fast performance and more than enough for the present crop of cameras.

The CFE100 adheres to the CFexpress Type-B form factor, which is the same physical form as XQD cards. This means if you have an older camera that accepts XQD cards, a simple firmware update could render your camera compatible with this newer, faster technology, offering a significant performance boost. Do check the Acer storage website as not all XQD cameras have been upgraded.

The card offers a good range of temperature resilience, operating between -20 ℃ and 70 ℃ which means that even if you freeze or melt you won’t have to worry about the memory card giving up.

Acer also offers a 5-year warranty, giving an extra layer of assurance.

Finally, storage options range from a modest 128GB to an expansive 512GB, catering to different types of use from capturing high-res photos RAW files, to 8K video.

The Acer CFE100 lives up to its promise of providing both speed and reliability. Through my testing with the Canon EOS R5 C, the card proved more than up to the task of handling high-end camera demands. Whether capturing still images or capturing video in the RAW ST or RAW LT formats, the card didn’t drop a frame or experience any latency issues.

Even when it comes to challenging conditions, the card, after returning to room temperature and ensuring that it was completely dry, continued to work to those high specifications. Through the test, I subjected it to a 24-hour freeze test at -18°C, mimicking some relatively harsh environmental conditions. Upon thawing and retesting, the card performed without any hitches.

Though the card clocked slightly lower read and write speeds in the Blackmagic Disk Speed Test compared to its advertised rates, this difference had no impact in real-world usage. In practical terms, this card is more than fast enough to meet the high-speed data-writing requirements of the cameras I was able to test with this card.

As a side, the high-speed data transfer capabilities also helped with post-shoot workflows. We found that transferring a 64GB file to an SSD took just around four minutes, which when you want to get home after a shoot, is a great relief and saves hours uploading content when you get home.

The Acer CFE100’s performance genuinely impresses, meeting and often exceeding the demanding requirements of high-end camera systems.

The Acer CFE100 CFexpress Card is undoubtedly a great option for anyone looking for a reasonably priced CFExpress card. Its speed, capacity, and build quality make it a reliable choice for those who need a CFExpress card for both stills and video.

While it doesn’t break any records in terms of speed, it does provide a reliable solution that will meet the demands of high-end cameras and many camcorders.

Overall, the Acer CFE100 CFexpress Card is a great choice striking that all-important balance between speed, capacity and affordability.