[Parallax]

I try not to use anything larger than 16gb because they are cheaper and when cards get too big older cameras run into more trouble with the cards in my experience.

There's another benefit to smaller cards as well. If the card fails, or you loose it, the smaller the card the fewer pictures lost. all of my cards are 4 and 8 GB.

[Ken T]

With UHS-1 card, I do not see my K-20D writes any faster compares to the class 6. But with K-30, I can see clearly it writes much faster when stick in the UHS-1. Btw, I use h2testw 1.4 to check card write speed and mark on back of cards so I just pick the fast one to use first.

[Docrwm]

With UHS-1 card, I do not see my K-20D writes any faster compares to the class 6. But with K-30, I can see clearly it writes much faster when stick in the UHS-1. Btw, I use h2testw 1.4 to check card write speed and mark on back of cards so I just pick the fast one to use first.

But it probably runs faster in your computer for transfers.

[Ken T]

Yes, much faster when computer reads it.

[southlander]

Back to my micro SD card question. To clarify, I want to use a micro card so I can transfer files to an Android tablet while on the road, for both viewing and backup purposes. I won't have a laptop with me. A full sized card won't allow this.

I went to a 32Gb micro card as I plan to move to a K5IIs or the rumoured K-3 later this year. At which point, the per-image file size will jump considerably from the K-x's current 13Mb Raws.

Does anyone have experience using micro SDHC cards in their Pentax camera?

[Docrwm]

Back to my micro SD card question. To clarify, I want to use a micro card so I can transfer files to an Android tablet while on the road, for both viewing and backup purposes. I won't have a laptop with me. A full sized card won't allow this.

I went to a 32Gb micro card as I plan to move to a K5IIs or the rumoured K-3 later this year. At which point, the per-image file size will jump considerably from the K-x's current 13Mb Raws.

Does anyone have experience using micro SDHC cards in their Pentax camera?

I tried it, I don't use them any more. I got a deal on 2 for my Nook so I tried the adapter in my K-x. Micro SDHC 4gb Kingston card with Kingston adapter. Just unreliable and slower than a full size SD card.Is there an adapter that you can use to sync a real SD card to the Android when on the road?

[Akarak]

well, the store was closed so i decided a different aproach

i spent the 14 eur on expired film instead of buying the 16gb class10 card, my p50 is hungry for some photographs!
i have 216 exposures, half of what i'd get with the 16gb shooting raw,

i can practice with the dream of having a pentax fullframe dslr and it will last forever!

[VoiceOfReason]

Back to my micro SD card question. To clarify, I want to use a micro card so I can transfer files to an Android tablet while on the road, for both viewing and backup purposes. I won't have a laptop with me. A full sized card won't allow this.

I went to a 32Gb micro card as I plan to move to a K5IIs or the rumoured K-3 later this year. At which point, the per-image file size will jump considerably from the K-x's current 13Mb Raws.

Does anyone have experience using micro SDHC cards in their Pentax camera?

Micro SD simply is NOT the way to go on the card. You might get something like an Eye Fi pro so you can do transfers wirelessly to the tablet, but you're not going to get good performance from a micro SD card in your camera.

[southlander]

Micro SD simply is NOT the way to go on the card. You might get something like an Eye Fi pro so you can do transfers wirelessly to the tablet, but you're not going to get good performance from a micro SD card in your camera.

I am aware a bog standard Micro SD card is only class 2 or 4. But I have acquired a Sandisk Ultra card which is rated as Class 10, and can't see why this wouldn't provide reasonable performance. Rated read speed is 30Mb/s. Let's, for argument's sake, halve this to 15Mb/s for the write speed.

I believe the K-x write speed tops out in the 10-15Mb/s range, so the card write speed should be suitably matched to the camera.

My problem is: are micro SD cards generally troublesome in Pentax cameras, or is it that it is a 32Gb card (which is at the top of the K-x's recommended card size), or is there something specific to my setup?

What I do need to check when I get home tonight is the firmware version on my K-x. I may not be on the latest version 1.03 which was issued to improve SDXC memory card reliability, but could well help on other card types as well.

[VoiceOfReason]

In my experience, even UHS-1 micro SD cards are NOT reliable and do NOT acheive the full write speeds (though read speeds are okay) in any situation where they would need to. I also have full HD camcorders that I have tested in addition to my K-01 and K5. It's the write speed where the bottleneck seems to be. That's why I say if you absolutely have to have connectivity to your tablet then get an eyefi pro card. You get the full size SD card and connectivity to your tablet, and you can stick the micro SD card in there as backup.

I am coming to you from experience on this. My 32 gb Sandisk UHS-1 micro SD card now lives in my Galaxy s3. It will not ever be back in my cameras or camcorders. The other micro SD cards have been given to family members for phones and tablets.

[Docrwm]

I've already related my experience, with a K-x BTW, that was not good. You asked and we answered - Micro SD cards are not reliable when used with an adapter for read/write in the cameras from your experience and mine and others. You don't have to like it, but it does seem to be a pretty solid fact.

[ramseybuckeye]

Related question. I'm using a K-x. Using a Sandisk Ultra micro SDHC 32Gb card in an SD adaptor, I find the card unreliable in that some, say 1 in 4 or 5, images fail to write correctly to the card. I want to use a micro card so I can transfer later photos to an Android tablet while on the road. Any ideas? I'm pretty sure the K-x manual states the the camera can go to 32Gb memory cards. I'm on my second Ultra card with same result, so I don't think a dodgy card is the answer. Have tried formatting in camera and a full format in the pc with no change in outcome.

You are inviting more opportunity for failure by using micro SD with an adapter, it an extra connection to a card that's engineered for a cell phone. But here are two problems you could have, fist formatting the card in the PC will not help it in the camera, it has to be formatted by the camera, it won't hurt it to format it every time you empty it, it will be as reliable as it can that way. Second, have you tried different adapters? Those adapters are cheap freebie items they package with the micro SD card, they really don't expect you to use them. It's unfortunate you tablet does not have a USB port.

[southlander]

@ramseybuckeye Yes, I've used a couple of adaptors but seem to have the same unreliability issues. Both Sandisk, so I would have thought they would have been reasonably well engineered. From what I have read, I thought the micro SD cards were electrically the same as normal SD cards, but maybe not.

@Voice of Reason and @Docrwm I didn't really want to get into a speed discussion - I recognised that I was accepting a convenience vs speed trade off. However, your follow-up comments that the micro SD cards in cameras are just plain unreliable was the information I was seeking to garner from my initial post to this thread. Thank you for the additional postings. Today I've ordered an Eye-Fi X2 16Gb card on-line and it should (better) be here Thursday. I'm off overseas for two weeks Friday and, as a result, can't afford to stuff around further with micro SD cards, trying to resolve their difficulties. Hopefully configuring the Eye-Fi card will not be too complicated as I'll need to fit it in with bag packing. The Android tablet will be coming with me,and I'll report back my experiences transferring files to it on my return in late June. I'll use my existing 32Gb micro SD card as additional storage on the tablet rather than in the camera.

[VoiceOfReason]

Good luck, have fun, and don't overfill that tablet!

[southlander]

Good luck, have fun, and don't overfill that tablet!

'

That is my dread - the number of images to review/pp when I return.

I must be getting serious on this hobby - I plan to drag a tripod around the world in order to get some city evening images