ProGrade Digital announces its fastest CFexpress cards yet

ProGrade Digital has boosted the speeds up to 1700 MB/s and capacity up to 1 TB of its CFexpress Type B format memory cards for use in DSLR, mirrorless, and digital video cameras.

New ultra fast CFexpress cards are here, courtesy of ProGrade Digital. Image: ProGrade Digital.

The cards were only launched in 2018, at the NAB show in Vegas, but continue to offer a very competitive alternative to the likes of Sandisk and Lexar.

Perhaps it’s not surprising that the brains behind the company are former Sandisk and Lexar executives.

The upgraded cards come in two flavours: Cobalt delivers a maximum read speed of 1700 MB/s and a minimum sustained write speed of 1400 MB/s for both 325 GB and 650 GB cards – specifically designed for high-resolution video capture and long, sustained burst image capture applications.

Gold labelled cards have a maximum read speed of 1700 MB/s, will burst write speeds up to 1500 MB/s and delivers a minimum sustained write speeds up to 400 MB/s depending on card capacity (128 GB, 256 GB, 512 GB up to 1 TB).

You can use them both in top of the range imagers including the Panasonic Lumix S1 and S1R, the Nikon Z6 and Z7 and the Canon EOS-1D X Mk III. Sony, Fuji, Olympus, RED and Blackmagic also support the format.

ProGrade CFexpress card prices

Prices for the Cobalt labelled cards start at U$400 for the 325 GB model and the Gold cards start at U$160 for the 128 GB model. All cards come with a three-year warranty.

The CFexpress Type B is gaining adoption due to its backward compatibility with XQD, and its open industry standard support from major device manufacturers.

Further specs for both cards include:

• Fully compliant with CompactFlash Association 2.0 specification
• NVMe host interface with PCIe Gen3 X2 interconnect
• Extended battery life and low standby power through NVMe PS0 – PS4 support
• Metal enclosure for improved durability and heat dissipation
• Unique serialized tracking of every card enabling identification of key components and manufacturing data for the highest quality control
• Rigorous 100% full card testing down to individual memory chips for optimal quality
• X-ray proof and shock-proof
• Temperature ranges: operating 14 to 158°F/ -10 to 70°C; storage -4 to 185°F/ -20 to 85°C

Other products made by ProGrade Digital include a line of USB 3.1/3.2 Gen 2 and Thunderbolt 3 card readers.