SD card

Stjonnypopo · 12-19-2010, 11:19 PM

Hi there fellow pantaxians,

I recently bought a Pentax K-r with an 18-55 lens, it's currently in transit, and though I already have an SD card (Sandisk Ultra II), its transfer rate is 15 mb/s, which I believe is a class 6, and I don't know whether this is fast enough or not. I wanted some help to know if this card is fast enough or if I should get another card at class 10.

I have a coupon at a site online and I could get a 16GB Sandisk Extreme III for 21 dollars(CAD). Is my current card (15.0 Mb/s) good enough for the K-r or should I upgrade?

I don't know if the deal I have is good enough to warrant purchasing this card. I don't want to buy this card if my current SD card is quick enough.

This might be a pretty general question but I know the K-r can shoot at 6.0 frames / second and I plan on using that feature and I don't want to be restricted.

As a second question, if this deal is in fact a very good deal, should I purchase three of these cards? I have three coupons which would let me buy three of these 16 GB Sandisk Ultra III cards for 21 dollars. Should I do it?

Thanks for your help.

Jon

**Ash** · 12-19-2010, 11:45 PM - **1 Like**

I believe that the Ultra II (even though rated as a Class 4) is fast enough to cope with the PRIME II, both for video and stills. I've had no hiccups with the same card on my K-x, with similar video and stills resolution.

Stjonnypopo · 12-20-2010, 12:27 AM

Originally posted by Ash

I believe that the Ultra II (even though rated as a Class 4) is fast enough to cope with the PRIME II, both for video and stills. I've had no hiccups with the same card on my K-x, with similar video and stills resolution.

I didn't think it was a class 4, but I'd take your word over mine.

But do you think it's worth it to buy one or several Sandisk Extreme III's at such a low price or is it really not necessary?

calculator01 · 12-20-2010, 12:36 AM

I'd say buy them, then resell them if you no longer want them.

Personally, I just bought a 32gb Lexar Platinum 2 (class 6) card from Henry's for $99. It's more memory than I wanted, but for half price, ' couldn't say no

Tom S. · 12-20-2010, 10:44 AM

People tend to only think about one end of card, which is the write portion. Don't forget the read speed as well. Case in point, I recently tried my K5 out with an old 2GB SanDisk card (unknown speed). Shooting was ok, as I wasn't pressed for time and only took a couple shots goofing around. The camera was set to highest JPEG setting, and transferring the shots to my computer was quite slow. I'm not talking about days here, but it was slow. A few days later, my new 32GB class 10 arrived and I popped it in and took a few shots. Up load time to the computer was amazingly fast, even considering how big the files were.

What difference does upload speed make, since you can walk away or multi-task while the files are transferring? Just this: in the past, I have noticed, especially on my laptop, that the longer it takes files to transfer, the more risk I run of having a problem with a corrupted file. In fact, that was what started me coping files instead of moving them, because if I had a hiccup during the process, at least I didn't lose the original file (a painful lesson I learned the hard way). This class 10 is so fast I'm almost tempted to going back to moving files again. Almost...

**Ash** · 12-20-2010, 12:48 PM

Not sure if speed relates to file stability.
SanDisk are a very good brand of SD card and should be considered reliable enough not to have to face file corruption at all.
My Ultra II card indicates Class 4 and Extreme III Class 6. Either way, nethier card has shown any sign of slowing down the performance of either the K-x or K20D. The transfer speed on my iMac via dedicated SD card reader is blistering fast. I believe it's even faster than the rated read speed on the Ultra II card - more like 20Mb/sec, but I haven't formally tested this. In any case, the cards are fast - fast enough for all your needs.

Stjonnypopo · 12-20-2010, 01:36 PM

Another thing people tend to ignore is that SD cards don't last forever. On top of having a contact-life, they also wear away after several years. You can't expect SD cards to last for more than 5 or 10 years, you'll start getting corrupted files and you can't fix it.

Anyway to get back on topic, can anyone else suggest whether it's a good idea or not to buy these cards?

**Ash** · 12-20-2010, 02:18 PM

A good idea?
Well if you're after a quality SD card, then it's been suggested already that SanDisk Ultra II or Extreme III are among the best you can get and are definitely a good idea for your K-r. Either of them is fine.
Multiple smaller capacity cards are considered better to avert having a whole card dying out on you with lots of photos being lost in the process.

My Extreme IIIs (x2) have lasted over 5 years without a single hitch. Fantastic cards well worth the extra money.

stewh · 12-20-2010, 02:20 PM

Go ahead and buy at least one at that price. I find 4 GB cards suit my purposes; I hate to put too many eggs in one basket so I travel with a number of cards. If you don't use all the coupons you can always send one to me!!!!!

Docrwm · 12-20-2010, 06:42 PM

There is a meaningful difference with the SanDisk Class 10 at 30mb/s transfer. Reviews consistently put it head and shoulders above the competition. Your price is an excellent one for 16gb too.

As for it not making a difference...well, you can get good shots with an old Sears 50/f2 MF lens but if I had a choice I would probably take the FA50/1.4 over it. Same here. Nothing wrong with your older Class 6 but for HD Video and high #s of RAW photos it might show you its limits at the wrong time. From what I can tell the SanDisk Class 10 is faster than the K-x's ablity to read/write by a wee bit so it should maximize the potential of the camera from the storage end. Hadn't heard anything about the K-r improving the read/write over the K-x so it should also maximize the K-r's utility on the storage end too.

Welcome aboard!

vievetrick · 12-20-2010, 07:36 PM

Just an FYI I found on adorama they where selling Lexar cards at 1/2. Think today last day. I bought one but know it is out of stock. Got an email they would honor the sale price when new shipment in. LSD16GCRBNA133 Lexar 16GB, 133x High Speed Series, Professional Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Memory Card I am told it's a decent card and pric seemed good. I got it as I am looking to shoot a little more video with the K5 and thought the extra space and speed worth it. So I agree get the bigger better card

Todd Adamson · 12-20-2010, 08:08 PM

For the people who are using Class 10 cards, I'm wondering if you ever have to stop and wait for the card? I'm not talking about sports or high speed shooters....for me, in shooting portraits, sometimes I will rattle off 5 or six quick shots (all single presses of the button, not continuous) when they are reacting, and I think I'm getting a good expression. I've found with my K-5 that I have to wait 20 seconds, 30 seconds, maybe more for those to finish writing. A minor annoyance. I'm using Class 4 cards right now, 15Mb/s.....will that problem go away entirely if I spring for Class 10?

Docrwm · 12-21-2010, 06:48 AM

Originally posted by Todd Adamson

For the people who are using Class 10 cards, I'm wondering if you ever have to stop and wait for the card? I'm not talking about sports or high speed shooters....for me, in shooting portraits, sometimes I will rattle off 5 or six quick shots (all single presses of the button, not continuous) when they are reacting, and I think I'm getting a good expression. I've found with my K-5 that I have to wait 20 seconds, 30 seconds, maybe more for those to finish writing. A minor annoyance. I'm using Class 4 cards right now, 15Mb/s.....will that problem go away entirely if I spring for Class 10?

No, I have not had to wait on the SanDisk or Transcend Class 10 cards to write. I've done bursts, RAW, Video and not had to wait on either card. My son was using a Class 4 that I had for his new P&S and he had to wait on it for that camera. When we put a newer Class 6 in it we got immediate relief. Speed of the SD card does matter, despite what I keep reading here on this forum from several posters.

Todd Adamson · 12-21-2010, 08:58 AM

Originally posted by Docrwm

No, I have not had to wait on the SanDisk or Transcend Class 10 cards to write. I've done bursts, RAW, Video and not had to wait on either card. My son was using a Class 4 that I had for his new P&S and he had to wait on it for that camera. When we put a newer Class 6 in it we got immediate relief. Speed of the SD card does matter, despite what I keep reading here on this forum from several posters.

Thanks for answering. Now I'm wondering if I could even get by with the less expensive Class 6 cards....

Speed definitely matters if you care about it. It's not a huge deal to have to wait a bit for portrait sessions, but it's annoying. Sunday I did a rush session, for prints before Xmas, so I had the clients stick around for quick proofing. It was also really annoying how long it took to upload the files to my computer.

cats_five · 12-21-2010, 09:32 AM

I'm using a Sandisk Ultra card and not aware of it causing problems - by the time I've done a quick check of the image on the back of the camera the red light has stopped flashing - I usually take RAW+JPG. But, if I shot in bursts I'm not sure. This camera & card seems distinctly faster uploading than the previous E510 which used a CF card. I think it's a class 4 card.

Suspect only you can decide if a class 6 card is good enough - if speed matters and you have folks paying (it sounds like you do) then I'd probably cut straight to a really fast card.

For me, a card that is twice as fast (allegedly) is three times the cost so what I have is right for me.

12-19-2010, 11:19 PM	#1
Stjonnypopo New Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 13	SD card Hi there fellow pantaxians, I recently bought a Pentax K-r with an 18-55 lens, it's currently in transit, and though I already have an SD card (Sandisk Ultra II), its transfer rate is 15 mb/s, which I believe is a class 6, and I don't know whether this is fast enough or not. I wanted some help to know if this card is fast enough or if I should get another card at class 10. I have a coupon at a site online and I could get a 16GB Sandisk Extreme III for 21 dollars(CAD). Is my current card (15.0 Mb/s) good enough for the K-r or should I upgrade? I don't know if the deal I have is good enough to warrant purchasing this card. I don't want to buy this card if my current SD card is quick enough. This might be a pretty general question but I know the K-r can shoot at 6.0 frames / second and I plan on using that feature and I don't want to be restricted. As a second question, if this deal is in fact a very good deal, should I purchase three of these cards? I have three coupons which would let me buy three of these 16 GB Sandisk Ultra III cards for 21 dollars. Should I do it? Thanks for your help. Jon

12-20-2010, 02:18 PM	#8
Ash Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toowoomba, Queensland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,920	A good idea? Well if you're after a quality SD card, then it's been suggested already that SanDisk Ultra II or Extreme III are among the best you can get and are definitely a good idea for your K-r. Either of them is fine. Multiple smaller capacity cards are considered better to avert having a whole card dying out on you with lots of photos being lost in the process. My Extreme IIIs (x2) have lasted over 5 years without a single hitch. Fantastic cards well worth the extra money. Last edited by Ash; 12-20-2010 at 03:38 PM.

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12-19-2010, 11:45 PM - 1 Like	#2
Ash Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toowoomba, Queensland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,920	I believe that the Ultra II (even though rated as a Class 4) is fast enough to cope with the PRIME II, both for video and stills. I've had no hiccups with the same card on my K-x, with similar video and stills resolution.

12-20-2010, 12:27 AM	#3
Stjonnypopo New Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 13 Original Poster	Originally posted by Ash I believe that the Ultra II (even though rated as a Class 4) is fast enough to cope with the PRIME II, both for video and stills. I've had no hiccups with the same card on my K-x, with similar video and stills resolution. I didn't think it was a class 4, but I'd take your word over mine. But do you think it's worth it to buy one or several Sandisk Extreme III's at such a low price or is it really not necessary?

12-20-2010, 12:36 AM	#4
calculator01 Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Edmonton, Alberta Photos: Albums Posts: 817	I'd say buy them, then resell them if you no longer want them. Personally, I just bought a 32gb Lexar Platinum 2 (class 6) card from Henry's for $99. It's more memory than I wanted, but for half price, ' couldn't say no

12-20-2010, 10:44 AM	#5
Tom S. Veteran Member Join Date: May 2008 Location: S.E. Michigan Photos: Albums Posts: 4,317	People tend to only think about one end of card, which is the write portion. Don't forget the read speed as well. Case in point, I recently tried my K5 out with an old 2GB SanDisk card (unknown speed). Shooting was ok, as I wasn't pressed for time and only took a couple shots goofing around. The camera was set to highest JPEG setting, and transferring the shots to my computer was quite slow. I'm not talking about days here, but it was slow. A few days later, my new 32GB class 10 arrived and I popped it in and took a few shots. Up load time to the computer was amazingly fast, even considering how big the files were. What difference does upload speed make, since you can walk away or multi-task while the files are transferring? Just this: in the past, I have noticed, especially on my laptop, that the longer it takes files to transfer, the more risk I run of having a problem with a corrupted file. In fact, that was what started me coping files instead of moving them, because if I had a hiccup during the process, at least I didn't lose the original file (a painful lesson I learned the hard way). This class 10 is so fast I'm almost tempted to going back to moving files again. Almost...

12-20-2010, 12:48 PM	#6
Ash Loyal Site Supporter Join Date: Mar 2007 Location: Toowoomba, Queensland Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 23,920	Not sure if speed relates to file stability. SanDisk are a very good brand of SD card and should be considered reliable enough not to have to face file corruption at all. My Ultra II card indicates Class 4 and Extreme III Class 6. Either way, nethier card has shown any sign of slowing down the performance of either the K-x or K20D. The transfer speed on my iMac via dedicated SD card reader is blistering fast. I believe it's even faster than the rated read speed on the Ultra II card - more like 20Mb/sec, but I haven't formally tested this. In any case, the cards are fast - fast enough for all your needs.

12-20-2010, 01:36 PM	#7
Stjonnypopo New Member Join Date: Dec 2010 Location: Montreal Posts: 13 Original Poster	Another thing people tend to ignore is that SD cards don't last forever. On top of having a contact-life, they also wear away after several years. You can't expect SD cards to last for more than 5 or 10 years, you'll start getting corrupted files and you can't fix it. Anyway to get back on topic, can anyone else suggest whether it's a good idea or not to buy these cards?

12-20-2010, 02:20 PM	#9
stewh Senior Member Join Date: Oct 2009 Location: Ontario Photos: Gallery Posts: 284	Go ahead and buy at least one at that price. I find 4 GB cards suit my purposes; I hate to put too many eggs in one basket so I travel with a number of cards. If you don't use all the coupons you can always send one to me!!!!!

12-20-2010, 06:42 PM	#10
Docrwm Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Somewhere in the Southern US Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,285	There is a meaningful difference with the SanDisk Class 10 at 30mb/s transfer. Reviews consistently put it head and shoulders above the competition. Your price is an excellent one for 16gb too. As for it not making a difference...well, you can get good shots with an old Sears 50/f2 MF lens but if I had a choice I would probably take the FA50/1.4 over it. Same here. Nothing wrong with your older Class 6 but for HD Video and high #s of RAW photos it might show you its limits at the wrong time. From what I can tell the SanDisk Class 10 is faster than the K-x's ablity to read/write by a wee bit so it should maximize the potential of the camera from the storage end. Hadn't heard anything about the K-r improving the read/write over the K-x so it should also maximize the K-r's utility on the storage end too. Welcome aboard!

12-20-2010, 07:36 PM	#11
vievetrick Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2006 Location: Easthampton - Massachusetts - USA Photos: Gallery Posts: 5,183	Just an FYI I found on adorama they where selling Lexar cards at 1/2. Think today last day. I bought one but know it is out of stock. Got an email they would honor the sale price when new shipment in. LSD16GCRBNA133 Lexar 16GB, 133x High Speed Series, Professional Secure Digital High Capacity (SDHC) Memory Card I am told it's a decent card and pric seemed good. I got it as I am looking to shoot a little more video with the K5 and thought the extra space and speed worth it. So I agree get the bigger better card

12-20-2010, 08:08 PM	#12
Todd Adamson Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Iowa Posts: 722	For the people who are using Class 10 cards, I'm wondering if you ever have to stop and wait for the card? I'm not talking about sports or high speed shooters....for me, in shooting portraits, sometimes I will rattle off 5 or six quick shots (all single presses of the button, not continuous) when they are reacting, and I think I'm getting a good expression. I've found with my K-5 that I have to wait 20 seconds, 30 seconds, maybe more for those to finish writing. A minor annoyance. I'm using Class 4 cards right now, 15Mb/s.....will that problem go away entirely if I spring for Class 10?

12-21-2010, 06:48 AM	#13
Docrwm Veteran Member Join Date: Sep 2010 Location: Somewhere in the Southern US Photos: Gallery \| Albums Posts: 12,285	Originally posted by Todd Adamson For the people who are using Class 10 cards, I'm wondering if you ever have to stop and wait for the card? I'm not talking about sports or high speed shooters....for me, in shooting portraits, sometimes I will rattle off 5 or six quick shots (all single presses of the button, not continuous) when they are reacting, and I think I'm getting a good expression. I've found with my K-5 that I have to wait 20 seconds, 30 seconds, maybe more for those to finish writing. A minor annoyance. I'm using Class 4 cards right now, 15Mb/s.....will that problem go away entirely if I spring for Class 10? No, I have not had to wait on the SanDisk or Transcend Class 10 cards to write. I've done bursts, RAW, Video and not had to wait on either card. My son was using a Class 4 that I had for his new P&S and he had to wait on it for that camera. When we put a newer Class 6 in it we got immediate relief. Speed of the SD card does matter, despite what I keep reading here on this forum from several posters.

12-21-2010, 08:58 AM	#14
Todd Adamson Veteran Member Join Date: Oct 2010 Location: Iowa Posts: 722	Originally posted by Docrwm No, I have not had to wait on the SanDisk or Transcend Class 10 cards to write. I've done bursts, RAW, Video and not had to wait on either card. My son was using a Class 4 that I had for his new P&S and he had to wait on it for that camera. When we put a newer Class 6 in it we got immediate relief. Speed of the SD card does matter, despite what I keep reading here on this forum from several posters. Thanks for answering. Now I'm wondering if I could even get by with the less expensive Class 6 cards.... Speed definitely matters if you care about it. It's not a huge deal to have to wait a bit for portrait sessions, but it's annoying. Sunday I did a rush session, for prints before Xmas, so I had the clients stick around for quick proofing. It was also really annoying how long it took to upload the files to my computer.

12-21-2010, 09:32 AM	#15
cats_five Veteran Member Join Date: Nov 2010 Location: Fife, Scotland Posts: 835	I'm using a Sandisk Ultra card and not aware of it causing problems - by the time I've done a quick check of the image on the back of the camera the red light has stopped flashing - I usually take RAW+JPG. But, if I shot in bursts I'm not sure. This camera & card seems distinctly faster uploading than the previous E510 which used a CF card. I think it's a class 4 card. Suspect only you can decide if a class 6 card is good enough - if speed matters and you have folks paying (it sounds like you do) then I'd probably cut straight to a really fast card. For me, a card that is twice as fast (allegedly) is three times the cost so what I have is right for me.