SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash Card Ships at Double Capacity and Increased Speed

COLOGNE, Germany--(BUSINESS WIRE)--SanDisk (NASDAQ:SNDK) 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.

“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 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.

Product		Capacities		US$		Euros, Ex VAT		Availability
SanDisk Extreme IV CompactFlash		4GB		$119.99		€84.5		Now
		8GB		$239.99		€169		Now
		16GB		$399.99		€281		Now
SanDisk Extreme FireWire Reader				$79.99		€69		Now

About SanDisk

SanDisk Corporation, the inventor and world’s largest supplier of flash storage cards, is a global leader in flash memory – from research, manufacturing and product design to consumer branding and retail distribution. SanDisk’s product portfolio includes flash memory cards for mobile phones, digital cameras and camcorders; digital audio/video players; USB flash drives for consumers and the enterprise; embedded memory for mobile devices; and solid state drives for computers. SanDisk (www.sandisk.com/corporate) is a Silicon Valley-based S&P 500 company, with more than half its sales outside the United States.

¹ Up to 45 MB/s read/write. Based on internal testing; performance may vary depending upon host device. 1 megabyte (MB) = 1 million bytes. X=150KB/sec.

² 1 gigabyte (GB) = 1 billion bytes. Some capacity is not available for data storage.

SanDisk’s product and executive images can be downloaded from

http://www.sandisk.com/corporate/media.asp

SanDisk’s web site/home page address: http://www.sandisk.com

SanDisk, the SanDisk logo, SanDisk Extreme and CompactFlash are trademarks of SanDisk Corporation registered in the United States and other countries. Other brand names mentioned herein are for identification purposes only and may be the trademarks of their respective holder (s).

This press release contains certain forward-looking statements, including expectations for new product introductions, applications, markets, and customers that are based on our current expectations and involve numerous risks and uncertainties that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate. Risks that may cause these forward-looking statements to be inaccurate include among others: market demand for our products may grow more slowly than our expectations, our products may not perform as expected or may not be available at the prices, in the regions, in the capacities or at the time expected and the other risks detailed from time-to-time in our Securities and Exchange Commission filings and reports, including, but not limited to, our most recent annual report on Form 10-K and our subsequent quarterly reports on Form 10-Q. We do not intend to update the information contained in this press release.