INTRODUCTION

   Even though i may not be lucky enough to own an CFexpress Type A/B/C compatible camera (don't really need one after all - still 8K recording sounds interesting) i can't avoid being intrigued by just how fast such cards can be. Lexar with their Gold and Diamond series has been doing extremely well in the market and why not, their cards are incredibly fast and available in multiple capacities. Still, Lexar is far from the only CFexpress Type A/B/C card manufacturer out there, in fact there are quite a few and so today I’ll be testing the 512GB Gold CFexpress Type B card by ProGrade Digital.

   The founders of ProGrade Digital are industry veterans in the removable storage and digital photography industries. Each, having spent time at leading companies such as Lexar and SanDisk, brings extensive expertise in the design, development, and manufacture of digital storage products, plus longstanding relationships with key manufacturing and supply chain partners. The company focuses exclusively on the development of memory cards, card readers, and workflow software for professional imaging markets. Flagship products, ProGrade Digital CFExpress, SDXC UHS-II, and CFast 2.0 are optimized to render maximum performance when paired with high-end DSLR, mirrorless, camcorder, and digital cinema cameras from manufacturers such as Canon, Nikon, Panasonic, Sony, RED, and Blackmagic. ProGrade Digital memory cards expand the creative visions of cinema and photography professionals around the world.

   The Gold series of CFexpress Type B cards by ProGrade Digital includes 128GB/256GB/512GB/1TB capacity models all of which are based on the PCIe 3.0 NVMe v1.3 specification (Gen3x2) thus allowing for speeds of up to 1700MB/s in reads and up to 1300MB/s in writes (1TB model). The 512GB model that i have here with me today is capable of going all the way up to 1700MB/s in reads and 850MB/s in writes (800MB/s printed on the card itself but 850MB/s is reported on the box and online) and just like every other model of this line is covered by a 3-year limited warranty. The Cobalt is clearly their higher end line but the Gold seems to be even enough for 6K RAW video recording so let's see what real world numbers you can expect from the 512GB model.