Lexar Media Inc. has announced the release of upgraded firmware for its 16x Professional Series CompactFlash Cards. The company claims that the optimized firmware offers up to 15 percent faster minimum sustained write speed than their standard 16x Professional Series cards, when used with Canon’s EOS-1D digital camera in its High-Speed Continuous Mode.
Lexar Media president and CEO Eric Stang described the new 1D-optimized card as “the fastest of all leading brands” and promised that photographers will experience the difference.
“We are able to achieve this remarkable performance by fine-tuning the firmware that resides on our patented controller to more optimally manage the data flow and interaction between the 1D and Lexar Media’s CompactFlash,” said Stang.
According to Lexar’s tests, the EOS-1D was able to write a 4.75MB image file to an optimized Lexar memory card in 1.79 seconds — 15 percent faster than a standard 16x Professional Series card. “Similar improvements were achieved in other modes with varying file sizes,” said Lexar Media.
The news earned praise from Yukiaki Hashimoto, Canon U.S.A., Inc.’s vice president and general manager, Photographic Products Group. Hashimoto explained that the EOS-1D is designed for photojournalists and sports photographers who depend on high speed image capture — the camera can grab eight frames per second for up to 21 consecutive frames at full resolution.
“Lexar Media has aggressively worked to optimize its CompactFlash to achieve higher levels of compatibility between the memory card and our Canon EOS-1D camera,” said Hashimoto.
Lexar Media is offering free firmware upgrades at this week’s Photo Marketing Association (PMA) International Conference and Trade Show in Orlando Florida. Customers can also call Lexar Media at 510.413.1275 for info on how to receive the free upgrade.