Release Issued by Lexar:
ActiveMemory System revolutionises workflow for professional photographers
First announced at Photokina in 2004, Lexar's ActiveMemory™ System (AMS), is designed to make workflow more efficient for digital photographers, increasing productivity in and out of the photo studio. The first products to support AMS are certain Professional CompactFlash® cards, new Lexar Professional FireWire and USB 2.0 card readers, and Photo Mechanic™ 4.5 professional image browsing software.
AMS-enabled Professional CompactFlash cards are at the centre of the System, storing user preferences and host device settings in a protected area on the card. These settings can only be modified by the host application that created them and can be used to automatically configure multiple AMS-enabled products within the system. Because the AMS data is stored outside the standard DOS file structure on the card, settings are preserved even when the card is formatted or other data files on the card are deleted.
Inputting information made easier
"ActiveMemory System takes the drudgery out of captioning images," explains Steve Marriott, Senior Marketing Manager EMEA, based at Lexar's UK Headquarters in Woking, Surrey. "It comes into its own with photo agencies and newspapers that have a number of photographers covering an event, for example, the Olympics.
"At the moment, photographers send their images back to the desk and then someone has to caption every image with the photographer's name, copyright details, and the name of the event. With AMS, the photographer inputs the information prior to shooting the images.
"When the card is loaded into an AMS enabled reader, PhotoMechanic 4.5 browser software is opened and the images can be captioned together with search keywords.
"All of this information is automatically attached when the images are downloaded."
AMS-enabled cards also allow photographers to configure their cameras with their preferred settings which are automatically loaded when the card is inserted into an AMS-enabled camera.
While many cameras and software applications already allow favourite settings to be saved, storing this information on a memory card is far more flexible because, not only does it allow established information to be transferred immediately, it makes it easy for more than one photographer to use the same camera simply by inserting a card containing their details and settings. In the same way, it improves situations in which a photographer is using more than one device.
New AMS card reader
A new AMS card reader will be available in the next few months and is designed to be stackable, allowing multiple concurrent downloads at super fast speeds. It will be available in Firewire or USB 2.0
AMS Software Applications
Photo Mechanic 4.5, is the latest version of Photo Mechanic professional image browsing software and will be available in the Spring It features AMS technology that allows users to store download preferences and IPTC captioning, including copyright information and database keywords. When an AMS-enabled card is inserted in the new Lexar Professional CompactFlash reader, Photo Mechanic automatically launches and begins to download the images on the card. During the download process the IPTC information is automatically appended to each image.
AMS will enable photographers to change the sequence of traditional workflow by eliminating redundant and repetitive manual tasks like captioning, adding search keywords and copyright information from the post-processing stage.
AMS Camera Applications
Digital cameras can also use the AMS technology to store user preferences and other camera-specific set-up parameters, such as CSM settings, on the card. This information can be used to quickly configure a camera to known and trusted settings, or for specific shooting conditions.
Today's professional digital SLR cameras are feature-rich with multiple pages of menu and set-up options. While this provides professionals with maximum flexibility, it can also increase the possibility for user error. This is particularly true when cameras are shared among multiple photographers or with rental equipment. Users of AMS-enabled cameras will be able to plug in the card and be confident that the camera is ready to use in the way they expect.
The Future of ActiveMemory
AMS technology will have other applications beyond professional digital photography. AMS is ideal for any software or host application that uses flash memory and can benefit from automating or configuring tasks, based on reading software settings or user preferences that reside in a protected area on a memory card.
www.lexar.com/activememory
