[WA-surfer]

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What speed card maximises the K3's faster read and write times?

[Adam]

What speed card maximises the K3's faster read and write times?

The faster, the better. This is one of the best currently available:
SanDisk 32 GB SDHC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class SDSDXP-032G-A46

[WA-surfer]

Thanks Adam

[scunning14]

The faster, the better. This is one of the best currently available:
SanDisk 32 GB SDHC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class SDSDXP-032G-A46

Adam, is there any performance difference between a 45mb and 95mb card with the K-3/K5II?

[K David]

I have both and have used both in my K-3. Yes. There's a substantial difference and with the 8.3 fps frame rate the 90 mbs card is basically a must to capture images at that speed for more than a few seconds.

[7samurai]

I went with Sony 64GB SDXC UHS-1 Class 10 Memory Card (SF64UX/TQN). They are rated at 94 MB/s. I'm seeing consistent 70MB/s - 80MB/s reading and 40MB/s writing speeds.

[agkchang]

I also got the Sandisk card which Adam recommended and just before I saw the review he did. I also have the 32GB Sandisk Extreme card that B&H included and rated at 80mbs

[Belnan]

Will a faster sd card prevent the hour glass wait time? Just realising my sd cards are a bit behind in terms of speed. only 133x as opposed to 600x I really detest the hour glass.

[Adam]

Adam, is there any performance difference between a 45mb and 95mb card with the K-3/K5II?

On the K-3, yes, there is a big difference. On the K-5 II there isn't.

Will a faster sd card prevent the hour glass wait time? Just realising my sd cards are a bit behind in terms of speed. only 133x as opposed to 600x I really detest the hour glass.

In your case, they definitely would. See this page of our review:

Pentax K-3 Review - Performance and Burst Mode - PentaxForums.com

[Reltih]

I went with Sony 64GB SDXC UHS-1 Class 10 Memory Card (SF64UX/TQN). They are rated at 94 MB/s. I'm seeing consistent 70MB/s - 80MB/s reading and 40MB/s writing speeds.

Reading speed is not important. We should care about writing speed: 40 MB/s is quite slow for RAW shooting because a DNG file is larger than 30 MB.

I go for cards with 90 MB/s writing speed such as Toshiba SDHC UHS-I Card EXCERIA™ Type1 or SanDisk SDHC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class 10 UHS-I.

[Ahab]

Reading speed is not important. We should care about writing speed: 40 MB/s is quite slow for RAW shooting because a DNG file is larger than 30 MB.

I go for cards with 90 MB/s writing speed such as Toshiba SDHC UHS-I Card EXCERIA™ Type1 or SanDisk SDHC Memory Card Extreme Pro Class 10 UHS-I.

.......or the PNY Elite Performance SDHC Class 10 UHS-1.

[7samurai]

I went with Sony 64GB SDXC UHS-1 Class 10 Memory Card (SF64UX/TQN). They are rated at 94 MB/s. I'm seeing consistent 70MB/s - 80MB/s reading and 40MB/s writing speeds.

Sorry, meant to say 60MB/s write speeds. I believe it's faster than my Sandisk 64GB SDXC UHS-1 cards I have which are rated at 80 MB/s (read).

[ChrisJ]

It seems we are better served in the UK (for once)

SONY 16GB SDHC MEMORY CARD CLASS 10 UHS-1 94MB/S EXTREME HIGH SPEED SD | eBay

This Company I have used many times, all they stock is memory of all types, the are in Jersey (Channel Islands) and legally don't have to charge VAT for delivery into the UK or the EU. They usually take a couple of days to deliver to UK addresses.

Chris

[the_snark]

I never shoot in continuous mode, so I don't care about burst performance. I do care about responsiveness when viewing / zooming captured images, deleting, etc. I have upgraded from an old K100d, so the K3 is already impressive even though I'm using a Sandisk Ultra (I think?) card. The speed in scanning through the images (left/right) is fantastic compared to what I'm used to, but deleting still could be quicker. I'm guessing a card with faster write speed would help me here?

With the K100d I would cull out dud shots mostly on the computer because it was painful on the camera. With the K3, with its bigger screen and better speed, it's the reverse!

[kenyee]

.......or the PNY Elite Performance SDHC Class 10 UHS-1.

FYI, this PNY is only 60MB/sec write, but 90MB/sec read. The Sandisk Extreme Pro is faster w/ 90MB/sec writes and reads...