Sony Upgrades Its CFexpress Cards

credits: Sony

Sony is finally joining the CFexpress 4.0 club with updated Type A memory cards that more than double the speed of their previous models. The new cards hit read speeds of up to 1,800MB/s and write speeds up to 1,700MB/s, compared to the 800MB/s cap of the older generation. It’s a hardware upgrade, so unfortunately, no firmware fix will bring older cards up to speed. While current Sony cameras can’t take full advantage of those speeds yet, the faster performance will definitely help when transferring files to a computer.

The new cards come in two sizes: 960GB and 1,920GB. Both are VPG400 certified, which guarantees consistent write performance , useful for anyone shooting high-bitrate footage. Sony is also rolling out a new card reader, the MRW-G3, to match.

It supports CFexpress 4.0 and USB 40Gbps for quicker transfers and includes a heat management design to keep things running smoothly during long offloads. It also works across a bunch of devices (computers, tablets, even phones) so it’s not just limited to a pro studio setup.

That said, Sony is arriving a bit late to the CFexpress 4.0 game. Brands like OWC, Angelbird, and ProGrade have already been offering Type A 4.0 cards for a while now, in fact, OWC’s 960GB Atlas Pro has been out since April 2024. And somewhat frustratingly, Sony’s flagship a1 II camera still doesn’t support the newer spec. Still, it’s good to see Sony stepping up its card lineup, even if it’s at a premium: the 960GB card will sell for $584.99, the 1,920GB for $949.99, and the reader for $149.99. All shipping by August.

You can see full details on Sony’s website here