What kind of cards are you using?

*LeDave* · 11-03-2009, 09:39 AM

What kind of memory cards are you using for which camera and how does it work with it in terms of speed and using the camera to it's full potential?

Right now I have a SanDisk Ultra II 4GB and a PNY Optima 4GB, both are class 4 and record at 14MB/S.

Now both are unable to shoot my K-7 to it's full potential, I tried shooting it on continual and it will shoot really fast for about 6-8 shots and then it will stop and lag a lot. The pictures take forever to load up onto the camera too. The 4GB can also hold 161 images in RAW DNG with K-7 compared to 330'ish images in RAW DNG with K2000 with maximum resolution so I definitely need a upgrade.

I used these cards on my older K2000, I bought these cards for it and it will work with it to it's full potential, no lag on the continual shooting, and faster memory uploading. I guess when I upgraded to the K-7, it's no longer fast enough. These cards aren't bad at all, it's good but it's not up to my standards. Believe it or not, I still haven't shot a video with my K-7 yet and I've owned it since last week. I will have to try it some day, but I know it won't be able to record much.

I think the next memory card I will have to buy is a 8GB Extreme III Class 10 that records 30MB/S. I am curious if anybody has this one and know if it uses their K-7 to it's full potential.

libbyh · 11-03-2009, 10:02 AM

I've been shooting with the lexar pro 133x 4 & 8GB cards without any problem. They are rated class 10 with a guaranteed min write speed of 20Mb/s and you'll see that they rival the Sandisk Extreme's and can be had for a bit cheaper when they go on sale at Best Buy or FS in Canada.

Having said that I don't generally shoot more than 5 or 6 frames continuous at a time, so it's really hard for me to say whether there are any perfornance issues in maxing out the continuous frame rate.

innershell · 11-03-2009, 12:57 PM

6-7 frames sound about right. Now take the memory card out and shoot in continuous. You will notice that it will do about 6-7 frames as well before slowing down. Your limitation is in the buffer, not the write speed to the card.

*Ash* · 11-03-2009, 01:12 PM

I'd agree that the Ultra IIs probably have enough speed about them to stand up to the K-7's write speed. The camera will have its limitations which cannot be overcome by the SD card in the camera. So that all sounds like everythings working optimally.

It may have been overkill for me but the Extreme IIIs are in my K20D, and an Ultra II in my K10D - no difference that I've noticed between them, and they both have the same write speeds and buffer sizes (although different image file sizes...)

*Wheatfield* · 11-03-2009, 05:23 PM

Originally Posted by innershell

6-7 frames sound about right. Now take the memory card out and shoot in continuous. You will notice that it will do about 6-7 frames as well before slowing down. Your limitation is in the buffer, not the write speed to the card.

That actually sounds a bit low. Do you have the voodoo lens correction software turned on?

*LeDave* · 11-03-2009, 10:04 PM

Originally Posted by Wheatfield

That actually sounds a bit low. Do you have the voodoo lens correction software turned on?

Aaah! No wonder, that must be why. I have turned on chromatic aberrations correction as well as lens distortion correction on. I heard they take a bit longer to upload your file into the memory card because the camera has to process them for it.

PentaxPZ · 11-04-2009, 01:37 PM

Well i use 16GB APACER class 6 cards in my K100D Super and my K-m

never had an issue!
and lifetime warranty!