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After the announcement of the new CFexpress 4.0 standard by the CompactFlash Association, we’re already seeing the first cards and devices being announced. It looks like ProGrade beat everybody to the punch.
The company has announced a new 3rd-generation CFexpress 4.0 Type B memory card with a massive 1.3TB capacity. They’ve also announced a new PG05.6 CFexpress 4.0 reader, which utilises USB4 to hit those new speed limits.
ProGrade Digital has announced its new 3rd-generation CFexpress Type B cards in 2TB capacity. ProGrade says the new 3rd-generation 2TB card offers the same performance as their 2nd-generation 128GB and 256GB capacity cards. Obviously, however, with the 3rd-gen card, you get a lot more storage space.
The new 2TB card has burst read speeds of up to 1,700MB/sec and burst write speeds of up to 1,500MB/sec. It provides sustained write speeds of up to 1,300MB/sec with a PCIe Gen3 X2 interface. The new larger capacity cards allow for more footage with today’s high-bitrate cameras that shoot 8K video.
In November, ProGrade Digital announced the largest SD cards to date in their Gold V60 UHS-II lineup. With the data storage needs of video shooters today, such large cards are in high demand – especially at reasonable prices. So, we took the new $199 ProGrade Gold 512GB V60 UHS-II card and put it through speed tests to compare it with ProGrade’s $499 Cobalt 512GB V90 UHS-II SD card.
While there is a little difference in the maximum hypothetical read speed of the card (250MB/sec vs 300MB/sec), they offer minimum sustained write speeds of 60MB/sec and 90MB/sec, respectively. For many of us, this may not matter. 60MB/sec equates to 480Mbps – more than plenty for most cameras on the market – but is it worth getting the V90 card (720Mbps) if you don’t really need it? Let’s find out.
I bet you all thought CFast 2.0 was a dead format, huh? Yeah, me too. But there are still plenty of devices out there on the market that use CFast 2.0, like the Blackmagic Pocket 4K or the XDynamics Evolve 2 drone (review here) so there’s still a need for the cards. They may have been more difficult to get as manufacturers drop them from their lineup in favour of CFexpress, ProGrade is here to help.
They’ve today announced their new 320GB and 640GB CFast 2.0 Cobalt series memory cards. They offer maximum read speeds of up to 550MB/sec with minimum sustained write speeds up to 470MB/sec and burst write speeds up to 520MB/sec. More than plenty for the needs of pretty much all cameras that still use CFast 2.0.
ProGrade Digital has announced a new memory card reader and this one’s designed for mobile creators to let them quickly copy and shift files two and from their Android and other portable Type-C USB devices. It supports UHS-II microSD and SD cards on the USB 3.2 Gen 1 protocol (which is way more than UHS-II SD cards need), letting you transfer to and from laptops and mobile devices at maximum speed.
ProGrade says that the new ProGrade PGM0.5 reader is in response to the “new wave of content creators [that] has emerged over the last couple of years”, primarily targeting platforms like TikTok and YouTube with many creators working in a mobile environment that doesn’t always afford the luxuries of weight and space that a home desktop solution demands. The PGM0.5 is their way to help support these more mobile creators.
ProGrade Digital has announced its new CFexpress Type A cards. At the moment, this means that their only real competitor is Sony and their target market is Sony shooters. The new cards offer read speeds of up to 800MB/sec, with sustained and burst write speeds of 400MB/sec and up to 700MB/sec respectively for high-resolution video capture.
There aren’t many companies out there making UHS-II microSD cards, as there are virtually no cameras out there that can fully support them yet (still). One of the companies that does make them, though, is ProGrade Digital. They launched their initial V60 UHS-II microSD cards back in September 2018 with read and write speeds of up to 200MB/sec and 80MB/sec respectively.
Now, ProGrade has launched new V60 UHS-II microSD cards with increased read and write speeds of 250MB/sec and 130MB/sec respectively. As well as speeding up the cards, a new higher capacity 256GB version will be available. Oh, and they’ve cut the prices virtually in half.
CFexpress is coming. Of that, there is no doubt. It’s the drop-in replacement for XQD and will also replace many of the CFast 2.0 slots on the next generation of cameras. ProGrade Digital was the first to announce support for the new format, back in April last year, but they’ve been holding off on releasing it until hardware comes out that actually supports it.
See the update at the bottom of this article containing a response from ProGrade Digital.
ProGrade Digital has officially announced the launch of their new CFexpress cards. But the range has expanded since they teased us with the 1TB CFexpress card last year at NAB. It’s also gotten a bit of a speed boost, too! Along with a new CFexpress card reader, two lines of CFexpress cards are coming in Gold and Cobalt flavours offering read speeds of up to 1.6GB/sec and write speeds up to 1.4GB/sec.
ProGrade Digital is rounding out their card reader lineup quite nicely to appeal to as many different types of user as possible. They’re now up to four card readers, covering CFast+UHS-II SD, CompactFlash+UHS-II SD, dual UHS-II microSD cards and now dual UHS-II SD cards. The new card reader is priced at $79.99, same as the other three, and is available now.
Udi Tirosh is an entrepreneur, photography inventor, journalist, educator, and writer based in Israel. With over 25 years of experience in the photo-video industry, Udi has built and sold several photography-related brands. Udi has a double degree in mass media communications and computer science.
Alex Baker is a portrait and lifestyle driven photographer based in Valencia, Spain. She works on a range of projects from commercial to fine art and has had work featured in publications such as The Daily Mail, Conde Nast Traveller and El Mundo, and has exhibited work across Europe
Dave Williams is an accomplished travel photographer, writer, and best-selling author from the UK. He is also a photography educator and published Aurora expert. Dave has traveled extensively in recent years, capturing stunning images from around the world in a modified van. His work has been featured in various publications and he has worked with notable brands such as Skoda, EE, Boeing, Huawei, Microsoft, BMW, Conde Nast, Electronic Arts, Discovery, BBC, The Guardian, ESPN, NBC, and many others.
John Aldred is a photographer with over 20 years of experience in the portrait and commercial worlds. He is based in Scotland and has been an early adopter - and occasional beta tester - of almost every digital imaging technology in that time. As well as his creative visual work, John uses 3D printing, electronics and programming to create his own photography and filmmaking tools and consults for a number of brands across the industry.
Dunja Djudjic is a multi-talented artist based in Novi Sad, Serbia. With 15 years of experience as a photographer, she specializes in capturing the beauty of nature, travel, and fine art. In addition to her photography, Dunja also expresses her creativity through writing, embroidery, and jewelry making.
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