SanDisk unveils new digital photo
memory cards
By Robert Lemos
April 18, 1997 2:45 PM PDT
ZDNN
When it comes to images, digital photographers want more
pictures and better quality.
SanDisk Corp. of Sunnyvale, Calif., intends to give digital
camera users more of both, and at the same time pre-empt
Intel Corp.'s move into the small form-factor flash memory
market.
The flash memory maker announced this week its latest
20MB and 24MB additions to its CompactFlash flash
memory card line--matchbook-sized cards for storing
data. The cards are used in a variety of mobile
applications from digital cameras to personal digital
assistants and from telecommunications to
airplanes--applications where PC cards aren't compact
enough.
In the past, digital photography has relied on cameras
using PC cards for storage of a few compressed pictures.
With better cameras and easier storage options, 1997
could be the year that the digital camera will come into its
own. If so, SanDisk will be a big part of the picture.
The newest release by the company cuts into Intel's
efforts to introduce their Flash Miniature Card standard
into the compact memory card market. The market for such
cards is expected to undergo rapid growth in the next few
years. The Photo Marketing Association predicts that
sales of digital cameras in the U.S. will grow by 160
percent in 1997 and another 50 percent in 1998. Intel,
based in Santa Clara, Calif., has been concentrating its
marketing efforts on this highly visible arena, and hopes to
leverage its share of the PC market into the flash memory
market by placing Flash Miniature Card slots on personal
computers at some time in the future.
SanDisk's cards offer far more storage than Intel's
competing Flash Miniature Card standard --24MB versus
4MB. For the digital photography market, SanDisk's new
memory capacity means that getting a reasonable number
of pictures on a single "roll" of digital film no longer relies
on compression algorithms.
Both companies have formed industry associations that
support their specification. For the consumer, aside from
specific appliance support, there is very little to
differentiate the cards. "They are very close in size," said
Intel spokesperson Anne Hall. "But our approach uses a
low-cost design that is very rugged for consumer use."
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For Kodak, the choice is easy. While the company also
supports Intel's standard in theory, in reality the
Rochester, N.Y. company has only supported the
CompactFlash specification in its cameras. "The focus of
the Intel announcement [in late March] was to
acknowledge the Intel specification as one of many and
our support for it," said Kodak spokesman, Joe Runde.
The CompactFlash specification is supported by Kodak's
newest digital camera--the DC-120. The camera is the
first industry camera under $1,000 that supports saving
raw, uncompressed data. The camera sports a 3x zoom
lens, 1280 by 960 resolution and shutter speeds, just like
most film cameras. This is the second camera for Kodak
that supports the CompactFlash standard.
None of the imaging giant's cameras have supported
Intel's standard, and Kodak does not expect to in the near
future. "The life cycle of a digital camera product does not
lend itself to multiple versions," said Runde.
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The newest sizes of the CompactFlash cards will be sold
at a retail price of $349 for the 20MB version and $429 for
the 24MB version. Kodak will sell a Kodak-brand version
of a 10MB card for $249. |
