SanDisk has raised the bar in the memory card arena by releasing a new line of professional cards offering the fastest speeds on the market today, rather raining on Lexar's parade since it had only just announced its 8GB, 133x CompactFlash - the previous fastest.
The new Extreme IV range is only available in CompactFlash format at the moment and is marketed at photographers shooting in RAW on a dSLR or medium format camera (with a digital back). Capacity is up to 8GB and minimum read and write speeds are a crazy 40mb/sec, or 266x. This is over twice the speed of SanDisk's previous top-end range, the Extreme III, and of professional ranges of other manufacturers, and a speed like this means that in theory you will be able to copy 1GB of data in a mere 25 seconds.
This speed is guaranteed in camera for sensor to card transfers but card to PC could be an issue - so SanDisk have also released a special Extreme FireWire reader to go with the new cards, and tests have already shown that speeds are over 38mb/sec. The FireWire reader will be available either as part of a bundle with card or separately, and a USB 2.0 reader will be announced in August.
The cards come in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities and will come with Rescue PRO software and a 30-day trial of Adobe Photoshop CS2. Pricing details are below and availability is immediate - US dealers are getting them tomorrow, and Europe won't be too far behind.
Bought on their own, the Extreme IV CompactFlash 2GB is around £87 ex-vat, the 4GB is £175 and the 8GB is £348 (all these prices are converted from euros). Bundled with the FireWire reader, the 2GB is £135 ex-vat and the 4GB is £220 - the 8GB is not bundled with reader. On its own the FireWire reader will be just shy of £50 and when released, the USB reader will be £15.
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