JPEG images, MF, centre metering, ISO 200, mode P, 1/90s, f/2.8
Times in s, continuous mode, stopwatch granularity 0.1s
JPEG ***L
| Pentax *istD Firmware 1.00 | Pentax *istD Firmware 1.12 | ||
| SanDisk Ultra II 512MB | Crucial 64MB | SanDisk Ultra II 512MB | Crucial 64MB |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 | 1.1 |
| 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 | 1.5 |
| 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.4 | 2.4 |
| 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 | 3.7 |
| 5.3 | 5.5 | 5.4 | 5.3 |
| 7.0 | 8.4 | 7.0 | 8.0 |
| 8.7 | 11.3 | 8.8 | 10.6 |
| 10.4 | 14.3 | 10.5 | 13.3 |
| 12.0 | 17.4 | 12.2 | 16.0 |
RAW
| Pentax *istD Firmware 1.00 | Pentax *istD Firmware 1.12 | |
| SanDisk Ultra II 512MB | Crucial 64MB | SanDisk Ultra II 512MB |
| 0.0 | 0.0 | 0.0 |
| 0.4 | 0.3 | 0.3 |
| 0.8 | 0.7 | 0.7 |
| 1.2 | 1.1 | |
| 1.6 | 1.5 | |
| 9.5 | 9.4 | |
| 17.6 | 17.4 | |
| 25.5 | 25.3 | |
Time to write one image into the buffer - test performed 3 times
| Pentax *istD Firmware 1.00 | Pentax *istD Firmware 1.12 | |||
| SanDisk Ultra II 512MB | Crucial 64MB | SanDisk Ultra II 512MB | Crucial 64MB | |
| JPEG ***L | 3.4, 3.4, 3.4 | 4.4, 4.4, 4.4 | 4.4, 4.5, 4.4 | |
| RAW | 8.5, 8.5, 8.5 | 21.5, 21.6, 21.6 | 21.2, 21.3, 21.5 | |
And the answer? It depends on what you're doing and what card you're using.