The latest media cards for CFExpress-supported cameras show that media card companies are future proofing their products for an 8K standard. The Type B CFExpress has gotten so fast and reliable, that nobody really talks about Cfast or XQD cards anymore.
The latest really fast CFExpress card comes from ProGrade, and its affordable Cobalt line promises to bring read/write speeds of up to 1700/1500 Mbps. And the first card, the Cobalt 165GB card, will do it for under $200.
“The introduction of this new lower capacity, less expensive capacity point in our CFexpress Cobalt line is ideally suited for still shooters that don’t prefer to store an entire shoot on one larger card and typically don’t focus on shooting video,” said Wes Brewer, founder, and CEO of ProGrade Digital.
“These cards are perfect for the photographer that wants the best high-speed burst shooting to write performance at a lower capacity and price point than has previously been offered.”
ProGrade accomplishes these speeds thanks to the incorporation of an NVMe SSD drive interface, with a PCIe Gen 3 X4 bus. In addition to the same read/write speeds as their higher-end Type B CFExpress cards, the Cobalt 165GB Type B also offers a sustained write speed of 1400 MBps.
It’s important to keep in mind, however, that these speed specs are from ProGrade itself, and not a part of the VPG 400 Certification by the CF Association. To date, ProGrade has yet to receive that official certification.
The card is built in a metal exoskeleton for protection against heat dissipation and shock impact and can function in temperature ranges of between 14 and 158 degrees Fahrenheit (between -10 and 70 degrees Celcius).
The cards are also protected against dust and X-rays, and ProGrade stands behind their cards with a three-year limited warranty.
So far, the 165GB Cobalt is the only model that ProGrade has announced, and with that small of a size, it’s not going to be able to store a lot of 8K footage. But for 4K, it’s a decent storage size for shorter content. The ProGrade Cobalt 165GB Type B CFExpress card is available for a retail price of $180.
There’s also a two-pack for $324. For longer forms, ProGrade also has a 325 GB card for $450 and a 650 GB card for $770. Two packs are also available at the links below.
[source: ProGrade]
Order Links:
- ProGrade Digital 165GB CFexpress 2.0 Type B Cobalt Memory Card (B&H)
- ProGrade Digital 165GB CFexpress 2.0 Type B Cobalt Memory Card – 2-Pack (B&H)
- ProGrade Digital 325GB CFexpress 2.0 Type B Cobalt Memory Card (B&H)
- ProGrade Digital 325GB CFexpress 2.0 Type B Cobalt Memory Card – 2-Pack (B&H)
- ProGrade Digital 650GB CFexpress 2.0 Type B Cobalt Memory Card (B&H)
- ProGrade Digital 650GB CFexpress 2.0 Type B Cobalt Memory Card – 2-Pack (B&H)
Disclaimer: As an Amazon Associate partner and participant in B&H and Adorama Affiliate programmes, we earn a small comission from each purchase made through the affiliate links listed above at no additional cost to you.
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