Pretec, which was the first to offer the 8GB SDHC and 16GB CF in 2006, is once again making a sort of compact flash "fashion statement" by announcing the first 48GB CF (that's forty-eight gigs of storage space).

As the company's press release puts it, this is as much the 12 DVDs or 69 compact discs. If 48GB are a little bit too much, even if you own a 1Ds Mark III that produces humongous files due to its 22-megapixel resolution, you can go for the lower capacity versions, 24GB or 16GB. You won't find too many 24GB CF cards from SanDisk or Lexar, so this one is no small achievement either.

You'd be tempted to think that the large capacity automatically implies a poor performance in speed, but Pretec mentions that these new cards can go up to 333X, which translates into a theoretical 50MB/sec. Once again, if you don't need speeds that high you can always settle for 233X (35MB/sec).

The combo of incredibly high storage space and speed is perfect for photographers who work with the latest 35mm DSLRs or some Hasselblad, Phase One or other professional medium format solutions producing huge files. On the other hand, photographers might prefer several smaller capacity cards than one huge one and the reason behind this lies in two possible unpleasant events: failure and theft.

If your only 48GB card dies on you while you're shooting a beautiful landscape or are in a hurry to finish to photoshoot with an important client, strange words (read curses) might be uttered and even more desperate actions might be taken. The same applies to theft. However, we are digressing.

According to Pretec, these cards also use metal housing and ruggedized construction to resist external impact. You should take this with a grain of salt, but the company says that they are "at least 10 times more durable than typical CF cards".

There's no information on pricing or availability, but given the capacity, expect to pay a hefty sum of money.


We are just a few, but there are many of you, Softpedia users, out there. That's why we thought it would be a good idea to create an email address for you to help us a little in finding gadgets we missed. Interesting links are bound to be posted with recognition going mainly to those who submit. The address is .