Forgot Password
Pentax Camera Forums Home
 

Reply
Show Printable Version Search this Thread
10-15-2017, 04:46 PM   #1
Pentaxian
jddwoods's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2012
Location: Newark, Delaware
Posts: 1,035
Question on memory cards

Hello All

I recently used up my stash of memory cards I got from Costco two years ago. I looked online at B&H and visited the local Costco wholesale club and it looks like the selection of SD cards has changed a lot in two years. It used to be a 32 GB card was a high capacity card now they seem to be 64 GB and up! My question is regarding my K-5 and K-3 camera bodies, and my son's K10D. Can they use these faster, higher capacity cards? Before I buy, I would want to be sure that what I get will be compatible with my cameras. All of them are on the latest firmware. Any feedback on what works and what is too much would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, John

10-15-2017, 05:14 PM   #3
Administrator
Site Webmaster
Adam's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Arizona
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 51,584
QuoteOriginally posted by jddwoods Quote
Hello All

I recently used up my stash of memory cards I got from Costco two years ago. I looked online at B&H and visited the local Costco wholesale club and it looks like the selection of SD cards has changed a lot in two years. It used to be a 32 GB card was a high capacity card now they seem to be 64 GB and up! My question is regarding my K-5 and K-3 camera bodies, and my son's K10D. Can they use these faster, higher capacity cards? Before I buy, I would want to be sure that what I get will be compatible with my cameras. All of them are on the latest firmware. Any feedback on what works and what is too much would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks, John
We have a very detailed article on SD card specs, performance, and compatibility:

Comprehensive SD Card Guide for Photographers - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com

The TL;DR is that any UHS-I card with a 90Mb/s write speed will deliver optimal performance with your cameras, and any SDXC, SDHC, or SD card can be used with your K-5 and K-3. (i.e. sizes <1Gb up to 2048Gb)

The K10D can only use SDHC and SD cards, i.e. sizes <1Gb up to 32Gb. Aim for Class 10 for the best performance.

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:
10-15-2017, 06:09 PM   #4
Veteran Member




Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 351
For bang for the buck I love the PNY Elite cards. You can get a 64GB for $30 on Amazon.

For most shooting you don't really need more than 30MB/s, but you'd notice it slow down when you shoot many consecutive shots or during a long burst. Where I notice it most myself is in playback when you hold down the right or left button. The K-3 flicks through extremely fast with a 90MB/s card but lags a bit with slower cards.

I always migrate my cards down to other devices when I get newer ones so I use microSD to fit everything. They work great in my K-3 with an adapter. (I always test new cards with h2testw to make sure there are no issues before I trust them with thousands of new pictures.)

10-16-2017, 01:00 AM - 1 Like   #5
Veteran Member




Join Date: Oct 2009
Location: Far North Qld
Posts: 3,301
QuoteOriginally posted by jddwoods Quote
Hello All

I recently used up my stash of memory cards I got from Costco two years ago.
Are you not emptying your cards onto your PC for processing then copying onto backup devices?
Then formatting the card in camera (or with SDFormatter) for re use?
10-16-2017, 05:11 AM   #6
Senior Member




Join Date: May 2017
Posts: 126
at the moment, I can assure you, that it doesnt make any sense to buy an SD-card that offers faster write speeds than 100MB/s, cause thats pretty much where UHS-I bus write speed tops out.

not a chance to profit from higher write speeds.

I would especially avoid to buy UHS-II cards, since i hope that PENTAX - RICOH Imaging shows a last bit of common sense
and switches to XQD very soon, since that is the memcard-technology of the future,
that already offers app. 500MB/s write speed at nearly the same pricing as 100MB/s writin mere UHS-I SD card...

and in its 2nd generation it will offer 8GBit/s write speed (that is one Gigabyte per second!!!) and more than 1TB capacity should be possible.

I suggest you to not invest too much and rather buy max. 16GB moderately fast SD cards.
Toshiba Exceria Pro N401 SDHC 16GB


... seems to be the best bang for the buck right now.

(not so sure how much capacitiy is supported by the K10D though)

Much Luck!
10-16-2017, 11:10 AM   #7
Forum Member




Join Date: Oct 2011
Posts: 68
QuoteOriginally posted by TheOneAndOnlyJH Quote
I always migrate my cards down to other devices when I get newer ones so I use microSD to fit everything.
That's what I was going to ask - whether anyone uses microSD cards regularly and what are your thoughts and experience with them. In terms of reliability, there isn't any reason why they should differ from the regular SD cards, is there?

Thanks for the tip about the h2testw, btw.

10-16-2017, 04:06 PM   #8
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
Wingincamera's Avatar

Join Date: Oct 2012
Location: Pine Haven, Wyoming
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 1,176
Maybe I am lucky, but I've never had a problem with my SD cards, or compact flash cards from my Canon days. I use three class 10 SD cards that I rotate through. After I use a SD card I insert the card into my laptop for downloading, then back to the camera to be formatted. I never delete a file in camera, all get downloaded first then I will delete unwanted files in LR. I used the same cards in the K-5 II, then KS-2 and now my KP. One card is 32 gig, other two are 16 gig.
10-16-2017, 08:32 PM   #9
Veteran Member




Join Date: Dec 2013
Location: Buffalo, NY
Posts: 351
QuoteOriginally posted by Happyman Quote
That's what I was going to ask - whether anyone uses microSD cards regularly and what are your thoughts and experience with them. In terms of reliability, there isn't any reason why they should differ from the regular SD cards, is there?

Thanks for the tip about the h2testw, btw.
A few years back some people said microSD was less reliable as more heat generating circuitry was crammed into smaller packages. I think it really took off as cheap, slow, large storage for phones but the technology has progressed quite a bit since then. As with any technology, the longer it's been out the better they get at making it. If anything I just wouldn't completely trust the newest 256GB cards yet. (I've never been one to put all my eggs in one basket anyway.)

I've been using microSD in all my cameras with no issues since 2009, including an HD video camera and my K-3. I've corrupted a couple cards on my computer, but they were my fault since I was messing around with bootable partitions and such. My only major card fail was a slow 64GB card partitioned as extended memory in a phone, so it had higher than normal write cycles. It was still readable when it failed, it just wouldn't write anymore.

Definitely stick with reliable brands though. You should be safe with Samsung, SanDisk, PNY, and a few other well known brands. Of those three I think Samsung has the fastest cards at the top end but PNY is the best bang for the buck.

As with any card, format it when you empty it to keep it running at to speed. If you're doing anything you don't want to risk losing it's also not a bad idea to rotate through a few cards during the event just in case.
10-16-2017, 10:52 PM   #10
Loyal Site Supporter
Loyal Site Supporter
Canada_Rockies's Avatar

Join Date: Nov 2007
Location: Sparwood, BC, Canada
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 12,385
I prefer SanDisk. I have a couple I bought with my K10D in 2007 that are still 100% functional. I always format in camera. I seldom delete in camera, and only do so when running off the end of the card in an emergency. (I do use Continuous High ....). I second the motion above that the write speed should be 90 or higher. I bought a couple of 80's at the Source and the buffer clearing times were terrible.
11-12-2017, 04:24 PM   #11
Pentaxian
Lord Lucan's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2017
Location: South Wales
Photos: Gallery
Posts: 2,898
QuoteOriginally posted by Adam Quote
We have a very detailed article on SD card specs, performance, and compatibility:

Comprehensive SD Card Guide for Photographers - Articles and Tips | PentaxForums.com
The guide does not mention that Linux and BSD operating systems cannot natively read SDXC cards, although they can be read with third party drivers (of which I have no experience). That is because SDXC uses the extFAT file system which requires licencing from Microsoft.

Also I would question the idea of using micro SD cards in full-size adaptors in the camera. The adaptor contacts are an extra point of potential failure - introduced for what purpose? I am not intending to transfer my camera SD card to a phone or anything else at any time in the future, and full-size SD card readers (if that is how you download pictures from the card) will be around for far longer than the life of the card itself or the camera.
11-12-2017, 04:29 PM - 1 Like   #12
Administrator
Site Webmaster
Adam's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2006
Location: Arizona
Photos: Gallery | Albums
Posts: 51,584
QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
Also I would question the idea of using micro SD cards in full-size adaptors in the camera. The adaptor contacts are an extra point of potential failure - introduced for what purpose? I am not intending to transfer my camera SD card to a phone or anything else at any time in the future, and full-size SD card readers (if that is how you download pictures from the card) will be around for far longer than the life of the card itself or the camera.
The micro card itself is a point of failure, IMO. They are super fragile. My recommendation is to go for a standard size card whenever such a card is supported.

QuoteOriginally posted by Lord Lucan Quote
The guide does not mention that Linux and BSD operating systems cannot natively read SDXC cards, although they can be read with third party drivers (of which I have no experience). That is because SDXC uses the extFAT file system which requires licencing from Microsoft.
Did a quick search on this and it looks like the exfat-fuse and exfat-utils packages are all you need, and they seem to be widely available for many different distros.

Adam
PentaxForums.com Webmaster (Site Usage Guide | Site Help | My Photography)



PentaxForums.com server and development costs are user-supported. You can help cover these costs by donating or purchasing one of our Pentax eBooks. Or, buy your photo gear from our affiliates, Adorama, B&H Photo, KEH, or Topaz Labs, and get FREE Marketplace access - click here to see how! Trusted Pentax retailers:
11-05-2018, 09:35 PM   #13
New Member




Join Date: Nov 2018
Posts: 1
memory card Winter File mate 32 gb class 10 is good for k10d

memory card Winter File Mate Profesional 32gb class 10 is good for k1od
11-06-2018, 09:04 AM   #14
Veteran Member
noblepa's Avatar

Join Date: Sep 2007
Location: Bay Village, Ohio USA
Posts: 1,142
QuoteOriginally posted by n.rodriguez. Quote
memory card Winter File Mate Profesional 32gb class 10 is good for k1od
I have a K10d. I seldom use anything larger than 8GB. The K10d does not do video, so there are no huge video files.

When I shoot RAW+, the combined file sizes (raw and jpeg) are about 16MB. That means I could fit 2048 images on a 32GB card. I transfer images to my PC far more often than that.

Also, if I ever DO have a card failure, I lose fewer images with the smaller cards.

YMMV.
Reply

Bookmarks
  • Submit Thread to Facebook Facebook
  • Submit Thread to Twitter Twitter
  • Submit Thread to Digg Digg
Tags - Make this thread easier to find by adding keywords to it!
camera, capacity, card, cards, costco, dslr, gb, memory, photography, question, question on memory
Thread Tools Search this Thread
Search this Thread:

Advanced Search


Similar Threads
Thread Thread Starter Forum Replies Last Post
SD cards and Micro SD cards seeking more Knowledge, facts and opinions aslyfox Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 13 09-14-2016 07:51 PM
Question about memory cards ivanvernon General Photography 11 12-25-2014 06:12 PM
Question on Memory Cards slappyfin3 Troubleshooting and Beginner Help 11 04-10-2012 09:00 AM
question on memory cards wade7060 Pentax DSLR Discussion 7 02-17-2007 10:39 AM
memory cards, instruction book, and computer question barondla Pentax DSLR Discussion 14 02-14-2007 02:23 AM



All times are GMT -7. The time now is 07:02 AM. | See also: NikonForums.com, CanonForums.com part of our network of photo forums!
  • Red (Default)
  • Green
  • Gray
  • Dark
  • Dark Yellow
  • Dark Blue
  • Old Red
  • Old Green
  • Old Gray
  • Dial-Up Style
Hello! It's great to see you back on the forum! Have you considered joining the community?
register
Creating a FREE ACCOUNT takes under a minute, removes ads, and lets you post! [Dismiss]
Top