CF Express Type B for R5II

[Mark McG]

Currently I own an R6 and have an R5II on order, along with a Lexar 128GB Gold CF Express Type B Card that the retailer were doing as a 1/2 price deal when ordering the R5II.

However, I am looking to get maybe the Prograde Digital 512GB CF Express 4 Type B card or a Nextorage 512GB card.

What are the opinions on these as mid range budget cards?

 

[koenkooi]

The 1TB prograde gold v4 cards works very well in my R5II, zero complaints.
I am a bit annoyed that prograde has dropped the price by 20% on amazon since I bought it last week.

The R5II doesn’t support CFe 4.0 speeds, but pulling the images of the card happens at 2.3Gbyte/s for me, about 8 times faster than the fastest SD cards!

 

[meywd]

I am using the SanDisk PRO-CINEMA CFexpress Type B Card 320GB on my R3
got it cheaper on eBay

 

[OldDudePhotog]

I use these in my R5m2, R1, and R3 and have had nothing but success.

https://www.bhphotovideo.com/c/product/1829203-REG/delkin_devices_dcfx4p512_512gb_power_4_0_cfexpress.html

 

[docsmith]

I have found Thessdreview to be helpful.

Write speed to card will likely be limited by Canon. I haven't seen numbers yet on the R5 II and R1, but for the R5 it was ~520 MB/sec. However, their reports on some cards heating up a bit and also transfer speeds were on the money.

 

[dave7]

What is the difference between the Iridium line and the Gold 4.0 Prograde cards? It looks like they no longer sell the Cobalt line. You can still find the 1.3TB Cobalt line some places but for $1,000. The Cobalt 2.0 is still available but much more expensive. Not sure the benefit of that card with this new series.

Mainly looking for high reliability and speed for wildlife. It looks like the Gold 4.0 and the Iridium both have sustained write speeds of 1500Mbps. Thanks.

 

[koenkooi]

What is the difference between the Iridium line and the Gold 4.0 Prograde cards? It looks like they no longer sell the Cobalt line. You can still fine the 1.3TB Cobalt line some places but for $1,000. The Cobalt 2.0 is still available but much more expensive. Not sure the benefit of that card with this new series.

Mainly looking for high reliability and speed for wildlife. It looks like the Gold 4.0 and the Iridium both have sustained write speeds of 1500Mbps. Thanks.

The iridium line has the vpg400 certification, the gold line hasn’t. Judging from my experience with the gold one, it’s just a difference in labeling, I haven’t seen it dip below 400 yet. You have to pay for the label, so leaving it off makes the cards cheaper

The size of the iridium cards implies they use a different kind of flash, probably TLC with a large pSLC buffer, the gold line is likely using QLC. I haven’t seen Prograde list this in their specs, so it could be all the same flash and the difference is purely in their marketing.

FWIW, there are no Canon bodies that can write faster than 600Mbyte/s, the R5 topped out at 450, the R5II is a bit faster and reviews report the R1 at slightly below 600. That’s a far cry from the 1800MB/s that CFe2 can do. Having said that, I very much enjoy offloading the images at 3GB/s, especially after using precapture+30fps.

 

[dave7]

The iridium line has the vpg400 certification, the gold line hasn’t. Judging from my experience with the gold one, it’s just a difference in labeling, I haven’t seen it dip below 400 yet. You have to pay for the label, so leaving it off makes the cards cheaper

The size of the iridium cards implies they use a different kind of flash, probably TLC with a large pSLC buffer, the gold line is likely using QLC. I haven’t seen Prograde list this in their specs, so it could be all the same flash and the difference is purely in their marketing.

FWIW, there are no Canon bodies that can write faster than 600Mbyte/s, the R5 topped out at 450, the R5II is a bit faster and reviews report the R1 at slightly below 600. That’s a far cry from the 1800MB/s that CFe2 can do. Having said that, I very much enjoy offloading the images at 3GB/s, especially after using precapture+30fps.

Thanks. I wasn't sure if there was some reliability difference or in-camera speed difference but sounds like there isn't. I don't really mind longer downloading times to the computer so good to know.

 

[koenkooi]

Thanks. I wasn't sure if there was some reliability difference or in-camera speed difference but sounds like there isn't. I don't really mind longer downloading times to the computer so good to know.

We won’t know about actual reliability till 2028 or so If the iridium uses a different type of flash, they will last longer, but that’s in the realm of 8 vs 6 years.

I haven’t seen anyone reporting bad experiences with the iridium line, partly because there aren’t a lot of users and partly because the known users tend to be sponsored by prograde

Either way, every CFe card is a piece of very dense flash memory, don’t ever get fooled into trusting it, it will inevitably start failing!

 

[dave7]

We won’t know about actual reliability till 2028 or so If the iridium uses a different type of flash, they will last longer, but that’s in the realm of 8 vs 6 years.

I haven’t seen anyone reporting bad experiences with the iridium line, partly because there aren’t a lot of users and partly because the known users tend to be sponsored by prograde

Either way, every CFe card is a piece of very dense flash memory, don’t ever get fooled into trusting it, it will inevitably start failing!

Thanks. Was that the advantage the Cobalt was supposed to have?
I guess it's higher sustained write speed but it's much faster than the camera can write anyway so the slower memory is ok. They had that 1.3TB version briefly but it's off their website. I think it used SLC memory but not sure. I believe it's been discontinued though. The older Cobalt 2.0 seems to be going out of stock as well. Given that they cost a lot more than the Iridium, not sure what the advantage is. I assume the Iridium has taken over as top tier version but I emailed Prograde to find out.

SLC vs. TLC Flash Memory | ProGrade Digital

Flash memory development has evolved from SLC (Single-Level Cell) to the more recent TLC (Triple-Level Cell). Learn more here!

progradedigital.com

They don't mention in the Iridium press release what kind of memory but the press release for the Gold 4.0 does mention TLC memory. I assume it's not SLC memory as they do mention that for the 1.3TB Cobalt 4.0 card (which is not out of stock).

Prograde Digital CFexpress 4.0 Type B Cobalt-Class 3rd-Gen 1.3TB Memory Card

ProGrade Digital, Inc. announces the 3rd-gen of its CFexpress Type B Cobalt-class memory card in a 1.3TB capacity.

www.storagenewsletter.com

 

[dave7]

I got a reply:

We no longer produce or sell Cobalt Memory cards. These cards are currently at end-of-life status.

The Cobalt cards have been replaced with our Gold and Iridium cards.

The key difference between the Gold 4.0 and the Iridium cards is that Iridium cards have a higher sustained write speed, have longer life span. In short they are more durable and lasts longer than Gold cards.