With its new 1,920GB monster, Sony has taken back the title of the largest CFexpress Type A card. That is a tremendous amount of storage, but the cost is also significant. The nearly 2TB card surpasses Angelbird’s 1TB card, introduced in April, and prioritizes overall storage capacity over all other factors. Although it advertises maximum read rates of up to 700 MB/s and read speeds of up to 800 MB/s, it is only classified as a VPG 200 card; thus, those numbers may not always be met.

The Compact Flash Association (CFA) developed the VPG standard in 2011. It rates cards based on their maximum sustained write speeds so that primarily video shooters may determine which media can shoot high-data-rate footage. The most frequent rating, VPG 400, guarantees that the card’s write speeds will never go below 400 MB/s. This new 1,920GB card puts total storage over speed and is only certified as VPG 200, suggesting it only guarantees to sustain a maximum of 200 MB/s write speeds. Sony’s smaller capacity CFexpress Type A cards are classed as VPG 400. However, Sony doesn’t appear overly concerned about this.

This new 1,920GB card puts total storage over speed and is only certified as VPG 200, suggesting it only guarantees to sustain a maximum of 200 MB/s write speeds. Sony’s smaller capacity CFexpress Type A cards are classed as VPG 400. However, Sony doesn’t appear overly concerned about this. The producer claims that even when recording XAVC S-I 4K footage with high bitrates, the VPG 200 Video Performance Guarantee rating enables stable recording at 200 MB/s with no missed frames for a prolonged period of time.

“For video shooters, the VPG 200 Video Performance Guarantee rating enables stable recording at 200 MB/s with no dropped frames for an extended period, even when recording XAVC S-I 4K footage and high bitrates,” the company says. “An original alloy with superior heat transmission characteristics is used to conduct heat out of the cards and maintain optimum performance. This results in long-term stability and reliable operation when internally recording the large volume of data required for 4K 120p video.”

Few photographers would ever require a card with this enormous capacity, so the promise of steady 4K 120p recording is noteworthy. In fact, many photographers are hesitant to rely on a single card to keep even twice as many photographs as a 1TB capacity card can.

Additionally, that great capacity has a cost, quite literally. More than twice as much as Angelbird charges for its 1TB VPG 400 memory card, Sony is charging $1,400 for this new card. Shooters must choose whether a single 2TB card that is slower than two 1TB cards that are faster is really worth $400 extra.

Starting on June 19, Sony CFexpress Type A cards with a 1,920GB capacity will be sold.