Angelbird’s New CFexpress Cards for Sony Cameras Are Properly Verified

Angelbird announced a new pair of CFexpress Type A memory cards for Sony cameras that are VPG certified, bringing the company into line after it removed its last Type A card from sale earlier this year.

In April 2023, Angelbird launched what was the highest capacity CFexpress Type A memory card on the market: a whopping 1TB capacity. Not only was the capacity huge, but it promised very fast speeds: Up to 820 MB/s and write speeds of up to 720 MB/s. More importantly, it promised a sustained write speed promise of 650 MB/s which was, at face value, enough to qualify for VPG400 certification.

However, it was later revealed that many manufacturers weren’t having their cards tested by the Compact Flash Association for VPG compliance which is, importantly, required at a firmware level to unlock all recording features of some of Sony’s most popular video cameras. Some brands were getting around this by faking the firmware flag and while Angelbird was never named as a brand that did this, the company removed its 1TB capacity card from sale just 10 months after it hit the market — just three months after PetaPixel revealed the widespread violations of VPG certification across the industry.

Now, six months after the 1TB card was discontinued, Angelbird has returned to the Type A market with a pair of new Sony memory cards that promise similar speeds as the now defunct card but are now VPG200 certified. Of note, the capacities are significantly lower: 160 GB and 330 GB.

“Angelbird’s AV PRO CFexpress A SE memory cards are ideal for Sony Alpha and FX series cameras such as Sony a1, Sony a9 III, Sony a7 IV, Sony a7R V, Sony a7S III, Sony FX3, Sony FX30, and the Sony FX6,” Angelbird says. “These entry-level cards are designed for project versatility and high-speed performance and maintain essential speed for up to 8K RAW stills and 8K video recording. Capture lengthy, high data rate, 4K+ resolution stills, seamless video content, and get extended buffer support for burst photography.”

Angelbird rates the new cards to peak at 850 MB/s read speeds and 730 MB/s write speeds, with the promise of sustained write speeds at up to 650 MB/s. On that note, the cards are VPG200 verified, which means the Compact Flash Association was only able to verify it would sustain at 200 MB/s. That’s good enough, though, to work with all Sony cameras that require the VPG firmware flag. The release of these cards follows the trend in the last half year where the messy CFexpress Type A market has largely cleaned up, with most brands falling into line.

At the time of publication, the CFA had not updated its chart of VPG verified brands, but assures PetaPixel that Angelbird’s new cards are VPG certified. Angelbird should appear there as soon as today.

The Angelbird AV Pro CFexpress A SE 330GB capacity costs $250 while the 160GB version costs $180 and should be available soon.

Image credits: Angelbird