Sony makes Compact Flash memory

Sony is to start selling Compact Flash memory cards this spring. It is the first time it has supported a different solid state memory format other than its own Memory Sticks it introduced eight years ago.

Compact Flash cards are used by digital single-lens reflex (D-SLR) cameras including Sony's highly-praised Alpha 100.

Sony's support for an open standard card like Compact Flash follows its purchase of Konica Minolta, who also used Compact Flash in its cameras. It has also ensured Konica Minolta lenses are fully compatible with D-SLR cameras.

In a similar move Fujifilm recently added SD support to its new cameras after four years of supporting only its own xD cards.

Compact Flash is based on an open standard that incurs no royalty fees. Both Compact Flash and SD cards are often cheaper to buy than Sony's proprietary Memory Sticks.

Renaud Isnard, from Sony's Europe network media division, described the move so that users could get "a fast and reliable recording media".

The initial line-up will include Type I cards with capacities between 1GB and 4GB and transfer speeds of 133Mbytes/sec. The fastest Memory Stick Pro-HG sticks have maximum transfer speeds of 60Mbytes/sec.