SanDisk Brings 16 Gig CompactFlash Cards to Cologne, Germany

Yesterday, SanDisk introduced new CompactFlash cards with 12 and 16 GB capacities. The new CompactFlash Extreme III cards were revealed at Photokina, an international imaging trade show held in Cologne, Germany. The new Extreme III CompactFlash drives are specifically designed for professional photographers and anyone using high resolution DLSR cameras shooting RAW. It should be very useful to anyone shooting video complete with audio, which ads so much overhead to storage.

The cards will have minimum write and read speeds of 20MB per second. While respectable for such large capacity drives, they're well short of SanDisk's own Extreme IV lineup introduced last July, which includes a new 8GB CompactFlash drive capable of blistering 40MB/s read / write speeds.

Pro photographers are often a bit nervous about putting so much data on a single card. But those brave enought to purchase one of the new CompactFlash drives will be rewarded with a dedicated tech support number and a copy of RescuePro image recovery software for both PC and Mac. The cards will come with a lifetime guarantee if purchased in North America. Pricing has been announced at $779.99 for the 12GB and $1049 for the 16GB version.

3 comments
Posted by xntrk on September 27,2006 at 12:49 PM
I know someone who'd love to have one of these things. Honestly speaking, if I had a $6000 camera the least of my worries would be a $1000 memory card.  Lenses alone cost more and why gripe about walking around with 5 4gb CF cards jangling in your pocket or bag?  Almost ends up like carrying rolls of 35mm ... which I still do by the way. Nothing wrong with that.
Posted by Kiloblaster on September 27,2006 at 12:44 PM
jeezus.  16mb on my digital camera.  almost makes me not want to remove them and put them on my computer hdd. and yeah, the cost will be for what?! the convenience of having all this room for those too lazy to transfer to their computer.
Posted by Brando on September 27,2006 at 10:40 AM
That be a big card.  Anxious to hear how the peons are going to be able to afford this.