Fastest memory card for K-5

I have recently started using a technique I got from another photographer of shooting on hi-speed burst when shooting portraits in natural light, shooting 4 or 5 shots at a time.

Unfortunately I quite often get to the point when the internal buffer is full and I have to wait 20 seconds or so for things to catch up again.

What is the best memory card to use with a K-5 that can reduce the 'catch-up' time? I obviously don't want to pay for a faster memory card if I find I get no benefit.

I filled over 40GB of cards in just over 5 hours yesterday on a natural light shoot, so I'm in need of some new cards

I get about 15 RAW files in a burst (at maximum fps) with a class 10 Sandisk Extreme card with my K7 before any noticible reduction in burst speed. Then it slows to a crawl. I'm afraid I don't have any slower cards so I can't compare.

I would hope that the K5 should have similar or better buffer and write speed performance than the K7.

I should add that 5 shot bursts are usually cleared in 3-4 seconds and a subsequent burst is back to the highest fps rate.

Using a K5 I have found that Sandisk Extreme cards perform the best in terms of speed. As these cards do cost extra, I guess you get what you pay for.

Anyway, there do seem to be some good deals on the web for Sandisk cards.

Thanks Mark and Gareth, I may get some Sandisk Extreme as see if I notice the difference.

Hang on you take mainly posed nudes in the countryside what in hell do you want burst mode for? Are you going to get the poor girl to leap about or something? I'd have thought with that type of photography you could take half an hour per shot to get perfection before hitting the release?

Mike, I learnt this trick from another photographer, when shooting in natural light shoot off a burst of 4-5 when I would normally take one. One of them may be a wee bit sharper than the others, and also you get very slightly different poses and one may be a little bit better than the others.

Tried it when I did a shoot in Aberyswth on Sunday and took 2500 in 5 hours

Also when I shoot dancers in natural light I take loads of images at a time.

Hmm, dancers are moving and I can sort of understand burst although I do feel that one, and especially someone with your skills, should be able to anticipate the right, or indeed decisive moment, in dance.

Natural light, posed model - you should be using a 10x8 film camera so that you make sure each and every shot counts not 500 an hour which is 8 shots a minute. However, that's an old fashioned buffer talking who used a 6x6 TLR and took a week to take 12 shots talking using Pan F. Again with your level of skill I would deem myself failing if I required burst and quantity to get the shot I wanted as it's almost random or Brownian motion not your innate skill.

But we're all different and what gets the result is what counts and I know very well I couldn't achieve what you do no matter how I tried.

Incidentally if you need any derelict stone cottages as a location in and around Mid Wales I know of a couple near Barmouth. let me know and I can forward photos.

Hi Tim ive got one that I use just for that type of work, I use Kodak 60xspeed high speed 8gb card you can get higher I find that very good

Thanks Mike and Shaun.

Mike, a lot of the images are similar because of the burst, but they are subtly different and not identical, and since memory is relatively cheap it's worth it to get a shot that may be just slightly better.
I probably shot around 400-500 different shots on Sunday and then the burst technique multiplied them up.
But each to their own technique.

I would definitely be interested in the location of the cottages, as I now have a very good model in north Wales. I know of one cottage near a reservoir.

I use the duracell 200x cards & they are very good, I get 20 shots before the buffer fills & starts stuttering..