The Sony FX5's Memory Requirements Are Wild

Sony has announced the exciting new FX5 cinema camera, and it has a ton of interesting features and improvements. It also has among the strictest memory card requirements of any Sony FX or Alpha Series camera to date.

The Sony FX5 “requires” VPG400 CFexpress Type A memory cards to take full advantage of its most powerful video recording features, including internal 16-bit RAW Open Gate recording.

However, the situation is a bit more complex than that.

PetaPixel‘s Jordan Drake got his hands on the Sony FX5 ahead of today’s announcement, and tested the FX5 to see what happens when a VPG200 card is inserted.

The FX5 delivers a warning, saying that the inserted card is “Not guaranteed media.” Drake was able to record using the VPG200 card and found no dropped frames.

However, it is worth noting that the FX5 PetaPixel used was running pre-production firmware, so it’s possible that the FX5 that ships to customers starting in mid-August will instead gray out incompatible recording options. It’s also possible nothing will change, and users will ultimately just run the risk of issues with a card that does not meet Sony’s specifications.

PetaPixel has been discussing VPG for years, dating back to 2023 when numerous memory card companies were fudging VPG certification. VPG, which stands for Video Performance Guarantee, certification requires strict, rigorous testing to Compact Flash Association (CFA) standards. The extensive testing effectively guarantees a minimum level of performance with absolutely zero exceptions.

In the case of VPG400 certification, a tested, validated, and approved memory card is guaranteed to never drop below 400 MB/s write speeds. Even though every CFexpress Type A card on the market exceeds this threshold at its best, not every card has actually been verified through CFA’s rigorous testing.

Numerous Sony cameras have required VPG200 memory cards for some of their more intense video recording options, but the FX5 is the first to up the requirement to VPG400. We’re not counting the $25,000 Sony CineAlta Burano, which also requires VPG400 memory cards for all its recording capabilities.

It’s not clear why VPG400 is required, as the FX5’s resolution tops out at 5K, and even X-OCN 16-bit Open Gate RAW files don’t exceed 200 MB/s data rates — they’re not even 100 MB/s, actually. A VPG400 requirement may make more sense with something like the Burano, though, as that records 8K video in 16-bit RAW.

In any event, Sony has determined that to guarantee the best possible performance, it must “lock” some codec and frame options to VPG400 (or better) CFexpress Type A memory cards, even though, as of now, it appears to be less a locked door and more a soft warning.

What this means for Sony FX5 buyers is that they probably should be using VPG400 CFexpress Type A memory cards if they intend to record using the FX5’s top-end RAW codecs. For peace of mind, reliability, and versatility, this is the best practice.

Fortunately, the Compact Flash Association has a regularly updated list of certified memory cards on its website, which directly addresses concerns of companies not following the rules and actually having their cards properly tested.

There are a lot of VPG400-certified cards available. However, these days, memory cards are very expensive, with prices ranging from $100 for an 80GB Lexar card to nearly $1,500 for Sony’s own VPG400-certified 1920GB Tough card.

Fortunately, some high-capacity cards don’t cost $1,500, like 1TB cards from Nextorage, Exascend, and Wise that are all below $700. Arguably the best value of all is the Novachips 1.6TB Express Series card, which is $449 and VPG400 certified.

Of course, video can fill up a memory card awfully quickly, so users may require multiple cards, and should certainly be using some form of backup in the field. These memory costs can add up very fast.

When recording 5Kp24 RAW Open Gate video, one of the FX5’s hallmark recording options, the lowest compression option requires about a terabyte of space per 180 minutes. A higher compression choice will let users record 300 minutes of video per terabyte.

The very detail-oriented folks over at CVP built a recording media calculator, which lets users choose their camera, video format, and memory card details to determine just how much footage they can record in all the available codecs, formats, and frame rates.

While Sony has obviously not unveiled any other FX Series cameras today, it is a safe bet that future models could very well have the same VPG400 requirement as the new FX5, at least for some recording modes. And it’s not necessarily impossible that future Alpha bodies could up their memory card requirements as well. While only FX5 buyers need to rush out to get VPG400 cards right now, it is something Sony users in general should keep in mind the next time they’re seeking a new CFexpress Type A card.

Though by that point, VPG200 cards may be relatively rare anyway. ProGrade’s latest cards are even VPG800 certified, and VPG1600 ones have already hit the market for CFexpress Type B.

Image creditsProduct photos by Erin Thomson for PetaPixel