Robert’s Photography Blog

Monday, at Photokina 2006, Canon announced two new portable storage devices featuring large ultra-bright 3.7″ TFT screens with 160º viewing angle for image and video review, and a 30Gb or 80Gb hard disk to store digital images, movie and sound files of various file formats. Dubbed the M30 and M80, the only difference is the 1.8″ HDD capacity. Clearly, Canon expects to muscle it’s way into the already crowded portable storage device market with these well-designed and well-engineered units!

Key features include:

• 3.7″ ultra-bright TFT screen with 160º viewing angle
• 30GB or 80GB 1.8″ hard disks
• CF and SD card reader
• USB 2.0 Hi-Speed connection
• Support for multiple file formats, including Canon RAW, MPEG, MP3 and WAV
• Extended PictBridge functionality
• Up to 8 digit image file password protection
• 1/8″ audio-out headphone jack

Ruggedness is insured by a tough, magnesium alloy outer casing. To avoid corruption, files are validated during upload from memory card. Both units are powered by the same BP-511A battery used in the most popular Canon dSLR models including the EOS 5D, EOS 10D, EOS 20D and EOS 30D.

According to the Canon Germany Press Release, the transfer speed from a CF card is 4.1MB/sec. That is 1/4 the speed of the PD70X CompactDrive that I am currently using. Yikes! A big LCD screen is nice. However, when I am in the field I need speed and more speed!

File compatilbiltiy could be a big issue also. Here is the German text from the press release: “Nur kompatibel zu RAW-Bildern von digitalen Canon-Spiegelreflexkameras, nicht kompatibel mit RAW-Bildern anderer Canon-Kameras“.

And the Babel Fish translation: “Only compatibility to RAW pictures of digital Canon mirror reflex cameras, not compatible with RAW pictures of other Canon cameras“. Yikes again! Not compatible with RAW files from the Canon G-series or from other dSLR camera manufacturers. The marketplace will deal with such limitations harshly!

You can order the Canon M30 Media Storage device from Amazon.co.uk.

The Canon UK press release is here.

Note: There is no press release in the USA yet and no suggested retail prices. Stay tuned!

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