SanDisk on Wednesday introduced the Extreme IV line of CompactFlash cards, aimed at professional photographers looking at the best possible performance for their digital cameras. The cards are available in capacities up to 8GB and at minimum read and write speeds of 40MB per second. The company also introduced a new FireWire 800-based reader for the new cards.
The cards use SanDisk’s Enhanced Super-Parallel Processing (ESP) technology, combining fast NAND flash memory chips, 32-bit RISC processing and advanced math to streamline the speed of read and write data transfer operations. The company said it also worked closely with major camera manufacturers to make sure the cards will work.
The new Extreme IV CompactFlash card is available in 2GB, 4GB and 8GB capacities for $159.99, $319.99 and $639.99, respectively. SanDisk also offers an “introductory bundle pack” that includes a 2GB or 4GB card and reader for $239.99 and $399.99 respectively; the FireWire reader is available on its own for $79.99. An “Extreme USB 2.0 Reader” is also coming in August, for $24.99.
In the U.S. and Europe, the Extreme FireWire Reader also ships with a free 30-day trial version of Photoshop CS2 for Mac and PC.