[AfterPentax Mark II]

According to the K-3iii manual, Windows should mount the two SD cards as storage devices, unless Image Transmitter II is in use.


Steve

Hi Steve, unfortunately it does not show the SD cards as storage devices, it shows your camera with the two slots SD1 and SD2. You can only copy contents to a computer (or from the computer to the camera) but they are not readable as storage devices (disc devices) by other programs, which is the main difference with MSC. With a smartphone you get a screen-message on the phone to choose between photo transfer (PTP), file transfer (MSC) or charging the phone. But with the new K-3 you have only one choice: MTP. Of course there is the CD-Rom setting but according to the manual you can only use it to install the DCU program, which means the camera must be seen as a disc drive (MSC protocol?). This discussion popped up a few times on the forum with people who had set their camera to PTP and got all kinds of malfunctioning while transferring pictures.

[Not a Number]

MTP is two-way. My MP3 player has an option to set the USB to MTP or MSC and I can copy files from the my desktop to the card or built-in memory on the player as well as copying from the player to my desktop. The only weird thing is there is an MTP folder on the built-in memory and if I copy files to that folder than switch to MSC protocol I can't open that folder in Windows. Just that one folder.

I thought the USB on the K-3iii is USB 3?

[stevebrot]

I thought the USB on the K-3iii is USB 3?

USB 3.2 gen 1 according to the camera spec sheet.


Steve

[Not a Number]

So you would need a 3.2 gen 2 or gen 2×2 reader, cable and port to be faster. USB 3.2 gen 1 is rated at 5Gbps vs 10 and 20Gbps for the later generations. And let's not forget the read speed of the card.

This USB naming confuses me.

USB 3.2 explained: Making sense of current and confusing USB standards - CNET

[AfterPentax Mark II]

So you would need a 3.2 gen 2 or gen 2×2 reader, cable and port to be faster. USB 3.2 gen 1 is rated at 5Gbps vs 10 and 20Gbps for the later generations. And let's not forget the read speed of the card.

This USB naming confuses me.

USB 3.2 explained: Making sense of current and confusing USB standards - CNET

Simple thing about USB is that you can use any cardreader, because USB is always backward compatible. What really makes a difference is the speed of the card and of course the processor in the camera.

[Not a Number]

The card reader can't transfer data any faster than the bridge chip in it is spec'ed for. A USB 2.0 card reader will max out at 480Mbps even on a a USB 3.x port. A USB 1.0 card reader will top out at 12Mbps.

And an older SD/SDHC carder reader with only nine pins won't give you UHS-II/IIi, SD Express/Express 2 read/write speeds either. UHS-II/III and SD Express cards have 17-19 pinouts.while SD Express 2 has 25-27 pinouts.

[jatrax]

Matter of taste, I guess. I have a usb card reader. It is the second I bought: The first one didn't work. This one is unstable, it often loses connection during transfer, and I end up with some uncopied photos and some corrupt files, and then I need to figure out which to copy again. Sure, I could buy a third one. But I would rather not.

I think this is still your best option. Not sure if you are Mac or Windows but on Windows I have had good luck with card readers. Don't buy the really cheap ones, get a good quality USB 3 one. I have two on my computer, one I installed in place of the optical drive and includes several USB ports as well as SD and other card ports. The other is on a long cable that sits on my desk and is more convenient than reaching under the desk where the other one is. It plugs into a USB 3 port on the rear of the computer box. Both have worked flawlessly over many years.

[MetteHHH]

I think this is still your best option. Not sure if you are Mac or Windows but on Windows I have had good luck with card readers. Don't buy the really cheap ones, get a good quality USB 3 one. I have two on my computer, one I installed in place of the optical drive and includes several USB ports as well as SD and other card ports. The other is on a long cable that sits on my desk and is more convenient than reaching under the desk where the other one is. It plugs into a USB 3 port on the rear of the computer box. Both have worked flawlessly over many years.

jatrax, it would be great if you could share the brand/model? The first one I bought was very cheap, the second wasn't that cheap really, but I never bothered to return it - I just switched to cable transfer, which I was happy with. But if that option is out, and if I AM going to get another card reader, I might as well do it right this time...

For the moment, I'm going with the tmp-folder. Although it's a bit of a bother. I wrote Faststone to ask if they could possibly add MTP-support in their next update - but I really don't have any idea if that is realistic. They do frequent updates though, so unless there is a coding issue beyond my understanding, it could happen...

[jatrax]

jatrax, it would be great if you could share the brand/model?

The one on my desk is: UGREEN USB Card Reader USB 3.0 Hub 3 Ports with SD TF MS M2 Card Adapter . It isn't anything special and there are dozens like it on Amazon. But I like it because it has a long cable that reaches to my desk. In my new office the computer box sits way back and hard to reach. Anker and Ugreen are both brands that I've used and had good luck with.

The one in my computer box is similar to this one: amazon.com: StarTech.com USB 3.0 Internal Multi-Card Reader with UHS-II Support - SecureDigital/Micro SD/Memory Stick/Compact Flash Memory Card Reader (35FCREADBU3),Black: Computers & Accessories?tag=pentaxforums-20& I don't think they make the one I have anymore, but this gives an idea what it looks like. This type is solid, reliable and doesn't clutter up your desk. But you need to be comfortable opening the computer up and putting it in a open drive bay. And you need an open drive bay of course.


There are so many combinations for this, some that act as a USB hub and have card readers, some with multiple USB ports in addition to the card reader, etc. Just search Amazon for SD card reader and pick one with the features you need and a very high number of ratings. I would avoid the ones that are USB sticks that plug in and have the card slot on the other end. They tend to be less robust. I have one for my laptop but I think the larger ones with a cable are more reliable.

It's sad you had bad luck with readers before but good ones really are very reliable and none of these is what I would consider expensive.

[Wingincamera]

Removing the cards from the camera and sticking them into a card reader is more of a hassle than making and deleting a tmp-folder too, I guess. Apart from the fact that, being a total scatterbrain, remembering to put the cards back in the camera before leaving the house is another tiny risk I don't need in my workflow.

My laptop has a usb3 reader, and there have been times when I start to take a picture and discover I left the card in the laptop. That's why I always have two spare cards in my camera bag. Of course there has been the time when I took a series of photos without looking at the lcd screen and not notice the warning about no card installed.

[MetteHHH]

My laptop has a usb3 reader, and there have been times when I start to take a picture and discover I left the card in the laptop. That's why I always have two spare cards in my camera bag. Of course there has been the time when I took a series of photos without looking at the lcd screen and not notice the warning about no card installed.

Thanks for sharing! Oh, it's SO good to find you are not the only one!

Once I was driving down a dirt lane, passenger seat, my husband at the wheel, and a hare came running along the field. It kept pace with the care, and it was sooo close. My husband slowed down, the hare stopped. Then another hare came by, and they began fighting, RIGHT next to the car. I was shooting away ecstatically through the car window for a long while. Then the hares ran off, and I looked at the lcd-screen: No card in camera.

Of course that was before the dual slots. But WITH dual slots I once managed to leave the house with both slots empty. Luckily I noticed and managed by buy an sd-card before the next hare story developed...

I really liked the cable transfer option. You might say I should just grow up and learn to behave responsibly, but after 48 years of failing at that, my hopes are low.

[jatrax]

No card in camera.

Planned a hike to an overlook on Mt Hood. Drive to trail head, load up gear and head out. 30 minutes later stop for a break and to take a few snapshots. No Card in Camera. Sigh. 30 minute hike back to car. 20 minute drive back to house. Repeat.


My system now is to rotate cards. When I take a card out of the camera it goes into the reader and the one in the reader goes into the card case and the one in the card case goes into the camera. Takes longer to type it than do it. Of course with dual slots I always have a spare anyway. In 10 years of shooting the only time I ever used up a card during the day was in Yellowstone.

[Not a Number]

Using the cable you should be able to get up to 5 Gb/s speeds provided you have at least a USB 3.2 gen 1 port on the device you are transferring to.

The drawbacks with using the cable (at least on older model cameras) is that the camera stays powered on (no time out) and you can drain your battery if you forget to turn it off. I'm also afraid of knocking the camera and breaking either the door, socket or connector.

[erikro]

I allways let the carddor in the camera stay open when I have the card in the computer and first close it when I inset the card again. No problem.

[ehrwien]

Matter of taste, I guess. I have a usb card reader. It is the second I bought: The first one didn't work. This one is unstable, it often loses connection during transfer, and I end up with some uncopied photos and some corrupt files, and then I need to figure out which to copy again. Sure, I could buy a third one. But I would rather not.

That, and worse, perhaps fatally corrupting the files on the card or the card itself, has been my fear after searching for a card reader and reading the reviews. I actually did buy a "slot" type card reader/usb3 port thing for my desktop pc, but the card reader part never worked (but the usb 3 ports do, which is nice because I have not had ones on the front before, and also the reason I didn't send it back).

I would want usb3/uhs II speeds, without it getting too hot in the process of copying many files, and at best internal and reliable from a "big/known" company, but I think there's just no real market for this type of thing anymore.

Using the cable you should be able to get up to 5 Gb/s speeds provided you have at least a USB 3.2 gen 1 port on the device you are transferring to.

In practice you are then limited by the speed of the camera internal controller. With my K-S2 I'm not getting more than 15 megabytes/s, although the USB 2 standard should provide me with 4 times as much. I've got no data for the K-3 III, but I've read that the buffer does not clear nearly as fast as it could be possible for the cards and slot used (and only one of the 2 supports the higher speeds?), so I think when copying from the cards it will be far from the theoretical maximum speed as well?


At least I'm not risking to go out without a card in the camera because I always put in the cable to transfer the files