Mini test: Angelbird AV Pro SE CFexpress 1TB card
Posted on Jan 8, 2025 by Pro Moviemaker
Angelbird’s AV Pro SE CFexpress Type B card impressed with its reliable performance and solid write speeds, offering great value for high-end cameras
Words Adam Duckworth
When a company makes officially approved memory for high-end companies like Arri, Red and Atomos, you know it’s a well-respected and quality brand. That’s certainly the case with Austrian memory specialist Angelbird, which offers a wide range of flash memory for various cameras and even monitor-recorders.
One of the most popular cards nowadays is the CFexpress Type B card as used in data-rich cameras – from cinema to high-end mirrorless. While large-capacity versions of these cards were eye-wateringly expensive a few years ago, competition has seen prices fall. Angelbird offers a choice of Type B cards to suit all budget and speed needs, without compromising on quality or reliability.
To test the Blackmagic Pyxis 6K for this issue, we used an Angelbird AV Pro SE CFexpress Type B in a massive 1TB capacity.
Priced at a seriously reasonable £318/$300, it isn’t the fastest of the range, but it just goes to prove you don’t always need to splash out on the quickest versions if your camera can’t make use of them.
The fastest Angelbird AV Pro CFexpress cards are the Pro SX and Pro XT ranges, with a sustained write speed of 1480MB/s. In comparison, the Pro SE and smaller-capacity Pro ranges are a tad slower at 1300MB/s sustained write speed. That’s plenty quick enough for most high-end cameras shooting up to 8K Raw. You can buy a faster card if you want to future-proof your media for any potentially faster cameras.
The actual specs that matter are a minimum sustained write speed of 800MB/s and, in our tests, the card never failed to keep up with the camera. Angelbird’s Stable Stream technology is designed to offer uninterrupted read and write performance throughout the card’s capacity, with thermal protection to stop the card from overheating.
The card was formatted quickly and easily, and we had no issues at all writing to the card or transferring it to the computer for post.
We ingested the data with Angelbird’s CFexpress Type B Card Reader MK2, which uses a USB-C 3.2 Gen 2×2 connection to reach transfer speeds of up to 20Gbps. There is also a recessed connector that’s compatible with any Thunderbolt 3 or 4 cable, but the data rate remains at USB-C speeds only. It’s a quality bit of kit, with a write-protect switch that prevents unintended deletion of files and keeps your system from writing unwanted data to the card. We found it best to use the cable included with the reader, as some standard cables wouldn’t fit.
Having said this, the reader has recently been discontinued and will soon be replaced with a new Angelbird PKT version, which promises to offer the same transfer speed and comes in at £107/$100.
£318/$300
Specifications
- Capacity: 1TB
- Max read speed: 1785MB/s
- Max write speed: 1550MB/s
- Sustained read speed: 1785MB/s
- Sustained write speed: 1300MB/s
- Interface: CFexpress 2.0 Type B, PCIe 3.0 x2
- Features: Temperature sensor, TRIM, ECC, EMS protection, SMART, power management
- Dimensions (wxhxl): 38.5×3.8×29.8mm/ 1.52×0.15×1.17in
- Weight: 7g/0.015lb
Pro Moviemaker rating: 9/10
A great-value card that’s fast enough for the majority of users
- Pros: Speedy and large capacity
- Cons: Not the fastest you can buy
This review was first published in the January/February 2025 issue of Pro Moviemaker
