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Essentials

The New ProGrade Digital PGM0.5 Makes Capture One a Breeze

Chris Gampat
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08/01/2022
3 Mins read
Chris Gampat The Phoblographer ProGrade Digital PGM0.5 Mobile Card Reader USB-3.2 review product images 41-250s800

With Capture One Pro finally coming to the iPad, I’ve got more reasons to want to edit on the go. And the ProGrade Digital PGM0.5 seems to have come at the perfect time too. This small USB 3.2 adapter plugs into the iPad Pro for loading images to edit. But most importantly, it’s insanely fast.

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The Essentials

Here’s what you should know about the ProGrade Digital PGM0.5.

  • Dual-slot memory card reader for SDXC USH-II and microSDXC cards 
  • Transfer rate of up to 625MB/s 
  • USB 3.2 Type-C connector (Gen 1)
  • Mobile reader can be inserted in either direction 
  • MSRP – $34.99   

Adoring the ProGrade Digital PGM0.5

My workflow is a bit different from others on staff. When I say my 2019 iMac is beefy, I mean that I fed it all the hormones and steroids Apple would allow. And for travel, which I rarely do anymore, I bring an iPad Pro 12.9 inch with me from last year. Since our staff uses Capture One for ethical reasons and the trust the manufacturers put into it, we also are elated at the new iPad version. And now, editing on the go is pretty simple. 

Using the ProGrade Digital PGM0.5, I decided to take a look at photos shot with my X Pro 3 for the Laowa 10mm f4 review I’m working on. I plugged it in, and after a super short period of time, the photos were in Capture One. From there, I set my ratings, made small edits, exported, and stored the photos in the cloud. Later, at my computer, I did some extra refinements like changing the names of the files. 

What makes this experience so different is how minute the ProGrade Digital PGM0.5 is. It fits in the palm of your hand. In fact, I just put it up against a bottle of eyedrops on my desk, and the PGM0.5 is smaller! If you’re well organized you will rarely lose things, but if you’re messy, you might lose it because it’s so small. Otherwise, you can put it in your pocket or a camera bag pocket and be perfectly content.

My issues here aren’t the fault of the ProGrade Digital PGM0.5. Instead, they’re Apple’s fault. Disconnecting devices from the iPad Pro is tricky business. Unlike a desktop or laptop device, you can’t eject it. You essentially just need to pull it out after closing your editing software. That feels a bit dangerous to me, but it hasn’t caused any issues with SD cards yet. It did cause issues with LaCie Rugged Raid Hard drives, but I’ve had problems with those things for years. And now, with Capture One’s cloud storage and 1TB on my iPad Pro, I don’t even need to bother.

I genuinely wish I had the ProGrade Digital PGM0.5 with me when I went on my last press trip with Canon for the EOS R7 announcement. The same goes for Capture One for the iPad, but neither was officially announced. I produced so many images during that trip that even I was shocked with the unusually gargantuan catalog folders I imported. I could’ve easily put them on my iPad, culled, and synced to the cloud. 

If I travel in the future, this handy device is surely coming with me. And even if I don’t, it’s got a ton of value for working on news stories while on the go.

Essentials is a series featuring products we’re currently lusting over in quick, easy-to-digest posts.

canon canon eos r7 capture one fujifilm ipad iPad Pro Photography Photojournalist prograde digital ProGrade Digital PGM0.5 review xpro 3
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Chris Gampat is the Editor in Chief, Founder, and Publisher of the Phoblographer. He provides oversight to all of the daily tasks, including editorial, administrative, and advertising work. Chris's editorial work includes not only editing and scheduling articles but also writing them himself. He's the author of various product guides, educational pieces, product reviews, and interviews with photographers. He's fascinated by how photographers create, considering the fact that he's legally blind./ HIGHLIGHTS: Chris used to work in Men's lifestyle and tech. He's a veteran technology writer, editor, and reviewer with more than 15 years experience. He's also a Photographer that has had his share of bylines and viral projects like "Secret Order of the Slice." PAST BYLINES: Gear Patrol, PC Mag, Geek.com, Digital Photo Pro, Resource Magazine, Yahoo! News, Yahoo! Finance, IGN, PDN, and others. EXPERIENCE: Chris Gampat began working in tech and art journalism both in 2008. He started at PCMag, Magnum Photos, and Geek.com. He founded the Phoblographer in 2009 after working at places like PDN and Photography Bay. He left his day job as the Social Media Content Developer at B&H Photo in the early 2010s. Since then, he's evolved as a publisher using AI ethically, coming up with ethical ways to bring in affiliate income, and preaching the word of diversity in the photo industry. His background and work has spread to non-profits like American Photographic Arts where he's done work to get photographers various benefits. His skills are in SEO, app development, content planning, ethics management, photography, Wordpress, and other things. EDUCATION: Chris graduated Magna Cum Laude from Adelphi University with a degree in Communications in Journalism in 2009. Since then, he's learned and adapted to various things in the fields of social media, SEO, app development, e-commerce development, HTML, etc. FAVORITE SUBJECT TO PHOTOGRAPH: Chris enjoys creating conceptual work that makes people stare at his photos. But he doesn't get to do much of this because of the high demand of photography content. / BEST PHOTOGRAPHY TIP: Don't do it in post-production when you can do it in-camera.
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