Pentax K-X and continous shoot in sports mode...

Hi,

I'm new to DSLR and was attracted to this. It is, so far, a great piece of kit.

I am using Sandisk Extreme III (Class 6) memory cards. On the whole I find them good. I've tried the camera yesterday taking action shots of my dog but found in sports mode and continuous shooting that I am able to take only 3 shots before it pauses. I believe the camera is able to shoot at 4.7fps and up to 17 shot sequence. This is obviously not happening.

Any tips or help welcome. Was wondering if my memory card wasn't quick enough. Any recommendations?

Thanks

Jaq

Are you shooting in RAW or JPEG?

JPEG. I figure that is the best choice?

Definitely need to shoot in jpeg, and try using a class 10 card.

Hmmm... That is something that crossed my mind but figured class 6 was sufficient. Is it noticably diffrent?

It all depends - the class ratings are based on a synthetic benchmark averaging read and write performance using (IIRC 64k blocks) - this is not the only way you can drive an SD card. This means that my Panasonic class 10 card is poorer in performance than a Sandisk Extreme III class 6 and is useless for recording video on a GF-1 or K7 as it uses the incremental write profile rather than block writes.

I think it is best described that not all class 6 are created equal.

Chris

edit: On my K20D and with a class 6 Sandisk Extreme III I can do bursts of 30ish JPGS before lockup - you should get at least 15 with a K-x

"Definitely need to shoot in jpeg, and try using a class 10 card. "

A class 6 card should be good enough & I'm doubtful whether class 10 would make any difference whatsoever. My K-7 only requires class 6.

Pentax specs "Multi-Exposure Continuous FPS: Approx 4.7 FPS (Continuous Hi: 17 JPG, 5 RAW), 2 FPS (Continuous Lo: unlimited JPG, 11 RAW)"

I wonder about your card, perhaps you should try another one. Then if the card is OK I would wonder about the camera. You could try re setting the camera to factory defaults - you never know but that might help.

Regards, Ian.

I'm using a Sandisk class 6 and clearly for consecutive shooting after 3 shots the buffer is loaded so not benefitting the advertised 4.7fps 17 shoot sequence I would like with this memory card. If it isn't the card what is it??? Has anybody used a class 10 with a K-X with sucess and achieved this frame rate and burst?

Thanks

I think I'll have a good look at all the settings. :-/

Wild speculation:

I wonder if formatting the card will have an effect - if the file-system on it is fragmented it could slow down rates. Try a deep format when the card is plugged into the PC. I had a Ricoh that wouldn't do bursts unless I had formatted the card beforehand.

C

Setting are correct. Set for JPEG. 12mp. Tried again... First 3 are taken fast then about a second lag before shoot 4 is taken and likewise for the 5th etc...

I formatted the card via camera. Same result. I did a full format on PC. Same result. I'm awaiting delivery of another memory card (same spec/type but 8gb instead of the existing 4gb) and will try this out. It could be the card is simply ok for normal camera use but too slow (despite being class 6) for continuous drive. Will report back.

Would be great to know if there are any K-X owners out there with this problem.

Thanks again...

Cards should be formatted in the camera they are to be used in.

Have you got lens correction switched on?

I'm not sure if the K-x has this but it causes the same problem with the K-7.

Tried card formatted both ways. Both giving same result. Will try lens correction!

Will report back. Thanks for all your suggestions so far.

The K-X has a buffer that can hold 5 RAW photos or 16 jpg's therefore the performance of the first 3 photos can not be influenced by the speed of the SD card.

Also the fastest official SD class is 6, Class 10 isn't official so far as I know.

Also the Sandisk extreme III are very fast cards, 20mb/s or 30mb/s if you have the new ones so speed can surely not be an issue here.