CompactFlash Association At Work On CFexpress Cards Good For 8GB/s

The larger the files you are working with on a digital camera or other device that stores data to a CompactFlash card, the faster the card you need. Large files can really slow a fast camera down when the storage card needs a while to catch up when shooting bursts. To help speed things up the CompactFlash association has announced that it is developing a new breed of memory cards called the CFexpress card.

The big benefit of this new line of memory cards is that the cards have a maximum speed of 8GB/s. The development of these cards was announced last month, so it will be awhile before they are available on the market to purchase. That doesn't mean that photographers who work with very high resolution images or 4k video files shouldn't be excited about this development.

It's worth noting that the 8GB/s number is the theoretical limit for the technology. That means that the actual productions cards might be significantly slower. However, when you consider that the fastest CompactFlash card right now tops out at 540MB/s even if the CompactFlash Association can deliver on half the 8GB/s speed, it will be a gigantic improvement.

The first CFexpress cards to hit market are expected to operate at theroretical speeds of 2GB/s and 4GB/s. The tech the cards utilize will use multipel lanes of the same tech behind the XQD card, PCIE. These new cards will increase the number of PCIE lanes available. For now we have no indication of when the new cards might hit the market, it could be years away yet.

SOURCE: PetaPixel