ProGrade Digital has announced a new 120GB version of the company’s Gold CFexpress Type A cards. It offers the same level of performance as the 240GB and 480GB Cold CFexpress Type A cards but in a smaller capacity. And with a lower price.
And that was the goal. ProGrade wants to target those entry-level Sony users and take some share away from Sony themselves. Lowering the capacity allows ProGrade to introduce its products to potential customers earlier in their camera journey.
Like the big ones, but smaller
The new ProGrade Digital 120GB Cold CFexperss Type A card is simply an expansion of its existing lineup. The 240GB and 480GB versions of these cards were announced in January.
Both of those cards offered up to 900MB/sec read speed and up to 800MB/sec write speeds. While it conforms to the VPG 200 specification, which guarantees at least 200MB/sec sustained write speeds, ProGrade goes a little higher.
This is the one slight loss with the 120GB. With the 240GB and 480GB cards, you were guaranteed a minimum sustained write speed of 600MB/sec. With the new 120GB card, that guaranteed minimum is 450MB/sec. So, bear in mind the bitrates of your camera when buying.
The new capacity card lowers the price point for ProGrade customers. This lets the company target customers while they’re still figuring out which brands they like.
Not CFexpress 4.0
Like the two previous cards, the new ProGrade Gold 120GB CFexpress Type A card is a CFexpress 2.0 card, not a CFexpress 4.0 card. It also doesn’t appear to be of the variety that can be upgraded from 2.0 to 4.0 via a firmware update, like those from OWC.
This isn’t really a big issue, as no cameras utilise CFexpress 4.0 yet anyway. And also, at least with the 120GB card, anything that needs those sorts of speeds is usually going to require a higher capacity, too. So, no big loss.
That being said, if you don’t want to have to upgrade again in a couple of years time a CFexpress 4.0 starts to become widespread, it’s worth taking into consideration.
Price and Availability
The new ProGrade Digital Gold 120GB CFexpress Type A memory card is available to buy now for $159.99. Twin packs are also available to buy now for $289.99.
