# SD card capacity help



## smn_xps (Jan 16, 2009)

Hi, 

I bought a canon XSI a few weeks back and have been having fun learning how to work with it. but i am confused about the SD card capacity.I bought a couple of 4 gb san disk ultra II and on the package it says 1907 images when "JPEG 90% Quality=Jpeg compression with 1:20 ratio of raw images" 

OK< 

so given that i am using the smooth hi res setting but not the raw how many images should I expect? 

I recently took photo of my son's swim meet and got 335 images on that card. I am fine with that if that is all i can get with the resolution setting that i am using. but if i can get more than that then i would like to. 

no sense in not using the capacity i paid for. 

thanks for any insight into this.

Jerry


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## stsinner (Jan 16, 2009)

When you use RAW, your files are at least 3 times bigger than your JPEG compressed files.

On my camera, RAW images are about 15.5 Meg each at 6.1 MegaPixels...


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## smn_xps (Jan 16, 2009)

stsinner said:


> When you use RAW, your files are at least 3 times bigger than your JPEG compressed files.
> 
> On my camera, RAW images are about 15.5 Meg each at 6.1 MegaPixesl...



well that suggests that my 12 mp RAW would be 30 mb+ and that my jpegs should be 10 mb+ so 335 on a 4 gb card seems like full capacity. 


Thanks for the quick response, i guess i need to take two cards wherever I go!

jerry


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## MikeBcos (Jan 16, 2009)

stsinner said:


> When you use RAW, your files are at least 3 times bigger than your JPEG compressed files.
> 
> On my camera, RAW images are about 15.5 Meg each at 6.1 MegaPixesl...



Really? On my D40 my 6.1MP Raw images are a little over 5MB. I shoot Raw+jpg Basic and get a little over 950 images on an 8GB card.

335 12MP images on a 4GB card sounds about right to me.


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## kundalini (Jan 16, 2009)

Both of my Nikon bodies have a countdown of images on the top display panel and in the viewfinder.

99% of the time I am shooting RAW. I use 4GB cards (16GB total) in the D300 (12MP) and get 197 images / 2GB cards (12GB total) in the D80 (10MP) and get 161 images.


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## smn_xps (Jan 16, 2009)

so reading this i realized (DUH!) go look at the file sizes on the hard drive. 6.01 mb each for jpeg. 

so 335 x 6.01 = 2013 mb

2 GB, maybe i should be getting more? 

is there some reason why i might be only getting half of the capacity? 

I think i'll go search cannon's website for some help. 

thanks
jerry


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## digitaldetours (Jan 16, 2009)

The higher the resolution of your images, the larger the files.  If you want to "make the most of your card" then go ahead and take lower res photos.  If you want quality photos, use higher resolution and use larger cards if you are going to be taking that many photos.  I personally carry around several cards for days that I shoot a lot.


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## stsinner (Jan 16, 2009)

MikeBcos said:


> Really? On my D40 my 6.1MP Raw images are a little over 5MB. I shoot Raw+jpg Basic and get a little over 950 images on an 8GB card.
> 
> 335 12MP images on a 4GB card sounds about right to me.



Sorry.. Typo..  The images in RAW are 5.5 meg..  Sorry for the confusion.

With my 2 gig card, in RAW I can take 274 pictures.  In JPEG Fine I can take 2100.


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## smn_xps (Jan 16, 2009)

solved it! 

thanks for all the info here, I reformatted the card in the camera and now it seems fine, the countdown reads 630. my other card is a 2gb and it shows 326 on the countdown. 

I think I'll buy a couple of the 4 GB ultra II when i see them on sale, then i should be set for a long time. 

Cheers,
jerry


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