[jzimages]

I have had some issues with both my sd cards and my camera and am not sure which came first the camera or the card!
The brand new SD cards I have (Samsung 64 GB) have needed to be reformatted several times - causing the loss of images!
And the camera sometimes "freezes" meaning the only way to get it working again is to remove and replace the battery!
Any help with either or both issues would be great!
thanks!

[VoiceOfReason]

I would do a test with a different card, preferably a different brand and size such as a Sandisk Extreme 16gb sicne they can be had for under 20 dollars even at Walmart. If it still does it then you know it is the camera, if not the cards may be suspect.

[jzimages]

Thanks - just ordered new (dif sz/brand) to see - have had no issues with the two 32gb cards I have been using - just seems odd that both the new 64gig cards would be bad...which makes me wonder if it's camera/firmware related with the larger size card...thanks for the "reasonable" reply!

[fgaudet]

Make sure your camera firmware is up to date. Pre 1.13 had issues with larger cards. Even if your camera is brand new, you may still be running firmware 1.0

[aleonx3]

I have had some issues with both my sd cards and my camera and am not sure which came first the camera or the card!
The brand new SD cards I have (Samsung 64 GB) have needed to be reformatted several times - causing the loss of images!
And the camera sometimes "freezes" meaning the only way to get it working again is to remove and replace the battery!
Any help with either or both issues would be great!
thanks!

Did you realize that the 64GB is the SDXC card which may require latest firmware and/or hardware to support it? Why not try another SD card (with less than 32GB or preferably lower capacity) to see if the problem exists?

[Steve.Ledger]

The brand new SD cards I have (Samsung 64 GB) have needed to be reformatted several times - causing the loss of images!

I don't understand this comment. How can formatting cause a loss of images?
It would be pretty foolish not to have downloaded the photos to your computer before formatting the card in your camera.

[jzimages]

Uhm, Steve - do you empty your card every time you shoot and before you turn off your camera? If not imagine the next time you turn it on the display reads "card not formatted" and you had just taken a bunch of shots.

[aleonx3]

Uhm, Steve - do you empty your card every time you shoot and before you turn off your camera? If not imagine the next time you turn it on the display reads "card not formatted" and you had just taken a bunch of shots.

Don't understand why you have to format the card every time you turn on the camera. You only have to do it once (assuming it is formatted properly), you can upload (read off the card) and delete any images without re-formatting it - and you don't have to empty your card every time you shoot, just continue shooting until it is full.

[fgaudet]

display reads "card not formatted" and you had just taken a bunch of shots.

1- Take card out of camera before reformatting the card
2- Plug into computer
3- Transfer pictures
4- If this doesn't work,
4b- Buy a 32GB card and be done with it

To further aleonx3 comment, 32GB is the limit of the supported capacity of the K5. The camera does support SDHC and SDXC but is limited to 32GB as per Pentax literature. Some 64GB may work but technically, the camera doesn't support them.

[Adam]

I have had some issues with both my sd cards and my camera and am not sure which came first the camera or the card!
The brand new SD cards I have (Samsung 64 GB) have needed to be reformatted several times - causing the loss of images!
And the camera sometimes "freezes" meaning the only way to get it working again is to remove and replace the battery!
Any help with either or both issues would be great!
thanks!

Be sure to update your camera's firmware to the latest version, as better memory card stability is generally offered via the updates.

Also, if your camera isn't playing nice with the card, try formatting it to exFAT on your computer. Then just put it in your camera and you should be good to go! There's no need to format on a regular basis.

[Steve.Ledger]

do you empty your card every time you shoot and before you turn off your camera?

No one should remove the card before they turn off their camera... That's just asking for trouble.
But yes I do copy the photos to my PC before I format the card in the camera.

Anyhow, you have received some good advice from members in this thread. Good luck

[jzimages]

Thanks everyone.

32gb cards are on the way, and I will be figuring out how to update the firmware to see if that helps!

Great advice from all - and so fast!

[JohnX]

There's a bigger consideration here - literally.

In my view it does not make sense to use such large cards as you lose so much if the card fails - and they do.

Surely a larger number of smaller cards is the way to go; so much less to lose.

I only use larger cards (8gb) for video; normally I use 4gb cards and change them regularly.

Discuss

[elpolodiablo]

I got 2 Sony 32GB SDHC cards , 90MB/s version, painfully slow to clear buffer after a burst and can only be recognised by my K-5, got card error msg when put them in K-30 and K-01, formatting doesn't help at all. I now uses 3 Sandisk Extreme 32GB 45MB/s version and 2 80MB/s version, only time one failed on me is when I sat on it and broke it physically...

My 2 cents

[fgaudet]

Surely a larger number of smaller cards is the way to go; so much less to lose.

I only use larger cards (8gb) for video; normally I use 4gb cards and change them regularly.

+1 on that.

I normally use 8 or 16GB cards when travelling, switching them a few times during the day. If one fails or get stolen or whatever, I'll still have some pictures from everywhere I have been. But when I'm around the house or when shooting less important or easily replaceable stuff, I do have a couple 32GB I sometimes use (it was the only thing I could find while out of town while running out of room on the 8GBs) But 9 times out of 10, there's a 8GB in the camera. I don't trust the cards, I lost irreplaceable pictures because of a card failure a few years ago.