Need for Speed: The Growth in Card Technology
Written on Friday 30.10.2009 09:42 AM By: Red Bull Illume
As card technology moves exponentially faster, Red Bull Illume took a breather to ask a photographer on the front line what the growth in speed and memory means to the industry.
A photographer for over ten years, Craig Kolesky has a wide ranging porfolio from fashion and labels to sports and travel. He regularly shoots for Red Bull Photofiles and is well known for his surf photography.
The South African, who resides in Cape Town, is also a member of the SanDisk Extreme Team, a group of photographers selected to represent SanDisk, the world's leader in card technology.
"When I started shooting on digital I could get about 100 images to a card," Kolesky explains. "When shooting surfing sequences, the cards would slow down for the buffer to catch up.
"Now I can shoot as fast and as many images as I want knowing I will not miss a frame. Everything has just become faster and more reliable.
"I am now able to shoot a single event on one card and the speed also helps a lot to get the images out to media a short time after an event is done.
"For example at the South African Red Bull Streetstyle final in Soweto at the end of October, I shot the whole event on a single card and had loaded, edited and sent out images to the media within an hour.
"With the bigger cards I can also use them as storage devices if I run out of hard drive space.
"The way technology is moving now with the digital age, it is important to get news and images out there a lot quicker. A photographer can now shoot faster as well as load images quicker to get them out."
The newest cards on the market now reach speeds of 90Mb/s and are able to store 64Gb of information. Just how large can they get?
"They're going to get faster, bigger and better. I'm sure within the the next year we will see a massive change in the SanDisk and other manufacturers' ranges."
As part of the Extreme Team, Kolesky tests new products as they come onto the market and shares his "knowledge with other photographers and media worldwide."
"I get the opportunity to advise up-and-coming and experienced photographers on the hardware and all aspects of the trade involved with being a photographer. I let guys try my cards and readers at shoots and events.
"I go to photographic trade shows and press launches with SanDisk to teach people about what I do as a Red Bull Photofiles photographer."
For more information on Craig Kolesky visit www.craigkolesky.com. More on the SanDisk Extreme Team can be found here: www.sandisk.com/extremeteam
