[Pamela Richardson]

Hello everyone! I have just bought a K3, and would really appreciate suggestions re what SD cards to buy. I have some class 10 SD cards (speed of 48 MB/s), with 32 GB. However, I have been advised by the forum member who sold me the camera that I will need some very fast SD cards. I will be using one SD card to save the RAW files, and the other SD card to save the JPG files.

This is my first DSLR, and I am thrilled! I have had Canon point and shoots for about 10 years, which has been fun and easy for family photos. However, I used a great Canon A1 SLR since the late 1970s with good results (IMHO!) until about 2005.

I am also not sure which card slot I should use to save video- any suggestions? Presumably, the SD card saving the RAW files will fill up faster.

I have just received my K3 in the mail about an hour ago, and I have yet to open the box. Hence, I have not read the manual yet. I apologize in advance if my questions here duplicate any information in the manual.

I am excited to join the Pentax Forums just last week, and to now be part of the K3 group!

I am about to go camping for a while, to shoot landscape photographs in the northern wildnerness of Ontario! Yay! I will of course have to look out for the bears!

Thanks in advance for your kind suggestions, from Pamela Richardson

[Adam]

Hello everyone! I have just bought a K3, and would really appreciate suggestions re what SD cards to buy. I have some class 10 SD cards (speed of 48 MB/s), with 32 GB. However, I have been advised by the forum member who sold me the camera that I will need some very fast SD cards. I will be using one SD card to save the RAW files, and the other SD card to save the JPG files.

This is my first DSLR, and I am thrilled! I have had Canon point and shoots for about 10 years, which has been fun and easy for family photos. However, I used a great Canon A1 SLR since the late 1970s with good results (IMHO!) until about 2005.

I am also not sure which card slot I should use to save video- any suggestions? Presumably, the SD card saving the RAW files will fill up faster.

I have just received my K3 in the mail about an hour ago, and I have yet to open the box. Hence, I have not read the manual yet. I apologize in advance if my questions here duplicate any information in the manual.

I am excited to join the Pentax Forums just last week, and to now be part of the K3 group!

I am about to go camping for a while, to shoot landscape photographs in the northern wildnerness of Ontario! Yay! I will of course have to look out for the bears!

Thanks in advance for your kind suggestions, from Pamela Richardson

To keep things simple: you'll get the best performance with UHS-I rated cards. Preferably Sandisk Extreme or Extreme Pro. With a write speed of 45Mb/s or higher you'll get close to optimal performance. Also, it doesn't matter which slot you use for video.

[UncleVanya]

Pamela - I use standard Sandisk Extreme UHS-1 45mb/s and some PNY that are rated 90mb/s and I don't see any difference in my normal use. The only time I think you might see a difference is if you routinely shoot a large burst of raw files and fill the buffer. Since I primarily shoot JPGs I rarely get to test this. I have seen normal short burst raw files write quick enough even on 45mb/s to not cause me any slowdown.

----EDIT----

Just saw Adam's response. LOL - I guess his explanation is why I never see a problem! My "slow" cards are fast enough.

[hcc]

+1 for Sandisk Extreme or Extreme Pro.

Sandisk is known for reliable cards and this is possibly a key point. You would ate to loose your photo because of unreliable card.

[RAART]

Sandisk are proven and reliable but also other brands are not bad too... I used Adata SDXC UHS-1 and it is working without a problem but my workhorse is Sandisk,

You can find those cards at Canada Computers (230-234 Weber St. N. Waterloo) at reasonable prices, much cheaper than at Henry's or any other store. You can look online as well prior going there.

[Pamela Richardson]

Hello! Thank you so much to Adam and to Uncle Vanya for their kindness in taking the time to answer my questions. I am most grateful.

I am also quite relieved because I have some 48 MB/s 32 GB cards, and I really can't afford to buy any more cards. I have overspent my budget in buying a K-3 and a good lens, from very kind forum members who did sell them for quite a reasonable price (for which I am most thankful!) I was worried that I might have to buy some of the very expensive Sandisk Extreme Pro SD cards with a 280 MB/s speed (now that is FAST!) I will however save up to buy some SD cards that are a bit faster than my 48 MB/s, but at least that can wait a little while. I mainly shoot landscapes, and hopefully the land will not be moving too quickly when I go camping (or I will be in bigger trouble than I can imagine!)

Take care, and many thanks, Pamela

---------- Post added 09-22-15 at 09:59 PM ----------

Sandisk are proven and reliable but also other brands are not bad too... I used Adata SDXC UHS-1 and it is working without a problem but my workhorse is Sandisk,

You can find those cards at Canada Computers (230-234 Weber St. N. Waterloo) at reasonable prices, much cheaper than at Henry's or any other store. You can look online as well prior going there.

Hello Raart, Thanks for the recommendation of Canada Computers, and for even providing me with a direct link to their listing of SD cards! That certainly was convenient! I will definitely check out their website and later also their store in person.

---------- Post added 09-22-15 at 10:03 PM ----------

Thank you to everyone who kindly replied to my question. I will definitely take your advice and stick to SanDisk cards from now on. I have had only one SD card failure in 10 years of shooting a LOT of photos, and the only card that has failed me was a Lexar card (but that was after some months of use, not out-of-box).

I have one SanDisk at 48 MB/s and a second one at 30 MB/s, so I will keep those for the JPEG photos. I will buy one new SanDisk faster card before I head off for camping.

Thanks again to everyone! I am so excited to now be an official 'Pentaxian'! Yay!

Kind regards, Pamela

[Hornet]

There is a lot of deceptive marketing used in the advertising and packaging of SD memory cards. Your only real concern should be with write speed and if you look carefully you will see there is very little variation in this for Class 10 cards - what is generally advertised as "fast" is the read speeds. Check out a few websites that test write speeds and see what brands/models their findings point to. Video is more demanding than stills unless you shoot very rapidly but either way your Class 10 cards should be fine. I've used several brands over the years and to be honest I've never noticed any difference in quality or real world performance of same class cards. YMMV

Happy shooting!