Digital Camera News and Reviews

Pretec Compact Flash Card

Pretec has announced some new compact flash memory cards that are the fastest and biggest on the marked today. The new cards have the ability to store a staggering 100GB and 64GB. These two cards are able to read and write data at 233X (35MB/s).
Older card models from Pretec has also been updated with faster read and write speed. Their 32 GB and 50 GB compact flash cards now have 333X (50 MB/s) speed. The cards will start shipping this month.

These type of cards are great when we see all the new cameras that are appearing on the marked. Many cameras now feature HD video and larger image sensors (like all the new FullFrame cameras appearing on the marked) that need CF cards with more capacity and faster read / write speed.

If you are interested in finding good prices on memory cards you can check out a site called TestFreaks.com to compare prices from different webshops.

Press release:
Pretec Releases 64GB and 100GB CF Card – Highest Capacity in the World

Cologne, Germany, September 23rd , 2008 － Pretec, creator of the highest capacity CompactFlash card in the world (48GB) and the fastest CF card in the world (333X) will demonstrate even higher capacities including a 64GB CF card, in the Leaf booth (West Hall 4.2, B009) and CFA (Hall 5.1, G-019) at Photokina 2008.

Continuing the revolution in the field of flash memory card speed and capacity, Pretec today releases 64GB and 100GB, 233X CF cards with access speed of up to 35MB/s, overtaking the Pretec 48GB CF card, the previous world’s record holder for highest capacity CF card; and super high speed 333X 32GB and 50GB CF cards capable of running up to 50 MB per second of Read/Write speed, the highest speed CF card in the world.

Pretec CF 233X and 333X CF cards use metal housing and ruggedized construction to provide extensive ruggedness making the card resistant to impact and shock – at least 10 times more durable than a typical CF card. With the green concept of reuse, recycle and reduce in mind, Pretec 64GB CF cards can be configured or reused to make a 256GB SATA or IDE SSD, the highest capacity 2.5” SSD in the world so far, by using Pretec Q-SATA, a patent-pending technology of flexible, scalable and modular SATA/PATA design based on up to 4 CF cards. This technology provides ultimate flexibility and ease of use, especially for those needing both CF cards and SSDs.

Pretec 233X and 333X CF cards will be demonstrated together with high performance digital cameras from Leaf, a business unit of Eastman Kodak and a world-renowned industry leader in providing cutting edge digital photography solutions, whose AFi professional camera was recently awarded “Product of the Year” at the Photoforum exhibition in Russia. The new Leaf AFi-II system delivers the fastest shooting speeds of any camera in its class, with a practically unlimited burst depth.

These speeds are enabled by advanced communication and CF technologies and Leaf Capture software. “Leaf and Pretec share a similar vision –to offer cutting edge technologies and unique products with unparalleled performance and to provide our customers with exceptional quality and satisfaction,” said Seth Greenberg, Leaf Marketing Director. “We are pleased to have chosen Pretec as our exclusive storage partner at Photokina 2008 and to witness the excitement as Pretec breaks the CF card speed and capacity world records.”

Pretec 233X 64GB and 333X 32GB CF cards with suggested retail price of $399 and $630 are slated to start delivery by Photokina 2008, and 233X 100GB and 333X 50GB are expected to start shipping by the end of 2008.

SanDisk Extreme IV 16 GB

SanDisk has announced that their fast Extreme IV compact flash cards will double their capacity to 16 GB. The whole Extreme IV card series also get improved speed performance with up to 45 megabytes per second. This speed should be welcome to professional photographers needing fast card in their high end DSLR camera that produces big picture files.
The 16 GB version of the card will cost about $400.

Press release:
COLOGNE, GERMANY September 23, 2008 – SanDisk today announced that it is now shipping an upgraded family of SanDisk Extreme® IV CompactFlash®(CF) memory cards to better meet the needs of professional digital photographers. The entire series of SanDisk Extreme IV high-performance memory cards has received a 12.5-percent speed boost up to 45 megabytes per second (MB/s) 1 and the newly-released 16-gigabyte (GB) 2 card is twice as large as previous capacities. The announcement was made at the Photokina trade show where SanDisk is demonstrating products in Hall 5.1, Stand A20.

SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash 45MB/s (300X) memory cards offer advanced technologies that are fully compatible with all CompactFlash cameras including the latest UDMA-enabled cameras. SanDisk Extreme IV CF cards have undergone internal testing with many leading manufacturers’ cameras and DSLRs, such as Canon’s EOS series, Nikon’s D300 and D3 cameras, the Sony Alpha A700, and the Olympus E500 and E3 cameras.

Depending on the camera used, the increased performance of the SanDisk Extreme IV memory card line may help reduce the delay between shots, enabling photographers to take more photos overall. The high-speed cards let all photographers save time and improve their workflow with faster card-to-computer data transfer speeds.

Rob Galbraith, a professional photographer and an independent digital imaging reviewer, tested the 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV memory card and released his review on www.robgalbraith.com. Following performance testing with the Nikon D700 and Canon EOS-1Ds Mark III digital cameras, Rob states that the 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV card offers the fastest write speed of any card at the 16GB capacity. He adds that such top-line performance can be expected when using the card with most or all current Canon and Nikon digital SLRs.

The new high-capacity, high-performance SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash cards are
ideal for professional photographers who typically shoot in RAW or RAW + JPG formats, which require up to ten times more card capacity than JPG images. In addition, photographers who regularly use burst or continuous shooting mode during high-action situations such as sporting, wildlife or fashion photography can also benefit from the increased capacity and performance.

“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. “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.”

“Hasselblad and SanDisk have a long working relationship in advancing digital photography,” said Christian Poulsen, the CEO of Hasselblad. “The 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV card’s increased storage capacity and high speed deliver the performance required to optimize our Hasselblad digital backs and H3D digital cameras for professional-grade uses.”

SanDisk Extreme IV cards carry a lifetime limited warranty and hold the industry’s widest guaranteed operating temperature range, from 13F (minus 25C) to 185F (plus 85C). Finally, Extreme IV CF cards can transfer data from card to computer using a SanDisk Extreme FireWire reader (sold separately), which helps speed up workflow by transferring large image files through the computer’s FireWire port at a speed of up to 45MB/s.

Pricing and Availability
The 16GB SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash memory card is available now and it carries a manufacturer’s suggested retail price of $399.99 in the United States.

Sigma SD15 DSLR

Sigma has announced that they are releasing an improved version of their SD14 DSLR camera. The new Sigma SD15 DSLR features improved image processing and a larger 3″ LCD screen. It also has a 14 megapixel sensor that should please most people.
There is not much else new with the SD15 so Sigma fans might be a bit disappointed with this DSLR release?

Press release:
Sigma Corporation is pleased to announce the new Sigma SD15, a 14 megapixel (2,652×1,768×3 layers) Digital SLR camera.

This camera is the latest model in Sigma’s digital SLR camera SD series, powered by the 14 megapixel Foveon X3 direct-image-sensor it can capture all primary RGB colors at each and every pixel location arranged in three layers.

The developing SD15 incorporates the “TRUE II” new image processing engine. It provides high resolution power and reproduces high definition images rich in gradation and impressive three-dimensional detail. Incorporation of the large 3.0 inch LCD monitor and improved processing speed provide ease of operation of the camera.

Development of the SD15
Since October 2002, Sigma has introduced three digital SLR cameras, the SD9, SD10 and SD14 to the market. In March 2008 Sigma also introduced a high-end compact digital camera, the DP1 which uses the same large image sensor as is featured in Sigma’s digital SLR cameras. They have established a strong following from a wide range of photographers, both amateur and professional. Photographers expressed a desire to incorporate the image processing engine “TRUE”, which is used in the DP1, into a digital SLR camera. In order to meet this demand, the SD15, with high resolution direct image sensor, has been designed around the new “TRUE II” image processing engine. This combination delivers superior image quality as well as improved processing speed, operation and performance.

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