At Photokina, an international photo trade show in Cologne, Germany, on September 23, 2008, SanDisk announced two new products changes for their digital cameras flash memory cards.
SanDisk announced that it is upgrading its family of the IV CompactFlash (CF) memory cards to support the needs of today’s professional digital photographers who shoot in RAW or RAW + JPG formats, because these formats need ten times more capacity than regular JPG images. The cards have a 12.5-percent speed boost up to 45 MB/s.
“The new 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash card at 45MB/s demonstrates SanDisk’s commitment to providing serious photographers with the high performance they require,” said Susan Park, director of consumer product marketing for SanDisk’s performance cards, in a press statement released soon after the announcement. “Our goal is to help photographers maximize their productive output by equipping them with cards that offer ample storage space and fast data transfer rates.”
The largest card, at 16GB and priced at $399, is twice the size of the older cards.
SanDisk says that their new high capacity cards are ideal for professional photographers. This is not only because of the size. SanDisk Extreme IV cards come with the industry’s widest guaranteed operating temperature of 13 degrees Fahrenheit to 185 degrees Fahrenheit, a lifetime limited warranty, and an easy way to transfer the photos and video from camera to computer. Using SanDisk Extreme FireWire reader, users can upload large images at speeds up to 45MB/s.
SanDisk also unveiled the Extreme III series CompactFlash cards that range from 4GB to 32GB. SanDisk says that it developed these cards specifically for new digital single-lens reflex (D-SLR) cameras like the Nikon D90 and the Canon EOS 5D Mark II. These digital cameras use high-megapixel still photograph and High Definition video capture, so the company reasoned that a larger memory card should be created to handle these demanding memory needs.
This news should be music to photographer’s ears. Finally, there are CF cards that are large enough for a long photo shoot.