No of recordable images K10D with 8Gb SDHC ...

... I've just bought an 8Gb Class 6 SDHC memory card for my K10D. When set to shoot RAW (PEF) the camera shows the number of recordable images in the top LCD screen as 400 when the card is empty. It should be closer to 750 (at 10Mb approx per RAW image). Is this normal or do I have a problem? I'm using firmware 1.10. Oh and when I attach the camera to the PC via the USB cord, the in-camera memory card shows as Removable Disk with capacity of 7.63Gb
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Mike M. (emem)

I don't know about normal, but yes, it miscalculates the capacity of 8GB cards by about a factor of 2.... JPEG as well as RAW

... I haven't had a chance to see how many images it actually holds. I'm assuming it will hold close to the 750 mark. I've also formatted the card in the camera and it still shows as 7.63Gb on the computer.
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Mike M. (emem)

I am very new at shooting RAW, and just got a new 4GB Sandisk Extreme III memory card ... my first SCHC card. My 2GB cards show 121 frames in DNG format (little if any difference when I change it to PEF format). The 4GB card shows 243. Proportionately, this is much smaller than what you are showing for your 8GB card. What am I doing wrong? No, I do not have RAW+ selected. My camera is the K10D.

Suggestions please.
--

Two places I'd rather be ... on the road with my kit and my lady, or in my favorite store trying to satisfy my LBA.

I just realized that you said that it was showing 400 and it 'should be' 800. I guess we will have to wait and see what it actually holds. I know that in JPG I get more than what the empty counter indicates.
--

Two places I'd rather be ... on the road with my kit and my lady, or in my favorite store trying to satisfy my LBA.

emem said:

... I've just bought an 8Gb Class 6 SDHC memory card for my K10D.
When set to shoot RAW (PEF) the camera shows the number of recordable
images in the top LCD screen as 400 when the card is empty. It should
be closer to 750 (at 10Mb approx per RAW image). Is this normal or do
I have a problem? I'm using firmware 1.10. Oh and when I attach the
camera to the PC via the USB cord, the in-camera memory card shows as
Removable Disk with capacity of 7.63Gb

Click to expand...

The problem is that the calculation for working out how many more photos will fit on the card does not take the PEF compression into account. If you use DNG, which is uncompressed, the "frames remaining" estimate will be more or less accurate.

--
Andy Farrell
http://www.caerphoto.com/
http://flickr.com/photos/caerphoto/

I sincerely hope that you are not shooting until the 8gb card is full. Come on give the camera a rest and read the card once in awhile
--
Don't Forget to Remove the Lens Cap

I can't speak for Mike, but my reason for even getting an SDHC card is that I will be taking two trips in the very near future during which I will not have access to a computer for downloading the images. I would prefer several 2 GB cards.
--

Two places I'd rather be ... on the road with my kit and my lady, or in my favorite store trying to satisfy my LBA.

ATP sdhc 8GB -> 483 , ATP sdhc 4GB -> 246
Pentax K10D
File Format : RAW DNG
Color Space : AdobeRGB
--
amateur documentary photography

Bill Beckett said:

I just realized that you said that it was showing 400 and it 'should
be' 800. I guess we will have to wait and see what it actually
holds. I know that in JPG I get more than what the empty counter
indicates.
--
Two places I'd rather be ... on the road with my kit and my lady, or
in my favorite store trying to satisfy my LBA.

Click to expand...

Lessee, my 4GB card shows 241 empty, but I've gotten more than 350 on it. An 8GB shows 486, and I've put over 700 on that. My 16GB shows 985, and I know I've done over 1,100 on that one.

That's in raw at the highest resolution. I no longer shoot raw+, nor do I find I care for DNG. K10D.

I carry enough cards to shoot something over 4,000 frames without downloading. After that, I'm in trouble. Of course, by that time, all five of my batteries are probably dead, too.

That might happen, but so far, it hasn't. If it does, I've got a 30 GB SmartDisk back at the room. That just about empties the cards. A three day race weekend can fill them. But I figure starting with the 4G, going to an 8GB (I've got three of those) and finishing with the 16 works pretty well, though for some odd reason, this procedure seems to get reversed, with the 16G card as the starter. Most times, that means I don't change cards. For the kinds of things I usually shoot, it would probably be smarter to use the cards 8-16-8-8 and hold the 4 for emergencies.

I'm tossing around the idea of a low cost laptop to replace the SmartDisk, something with maybe a 250GB hard drive to take downloads. It takes two days, or most of two days, to fill the cards, if they're going to fill (actually over 4,500 images, so I've got to be busier'n a one-armed paperhanger). I've only done that once.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

There is an old saying that one pictures is worth one thousand words. How about one good photograph is worth more than one thousand hastily snapped attempts. I too take a lot of action events but I make sure that what I take will be usable.
--
Don't Forget to Remove the Lens Cap

First of all the card is formated with the FAT file system, so part of the card is reserved for system info., thus less than 8gb is available. Different brands of cards will for some reason use more or less space for FAT allocation.

Second, the file will not always be 10mp. The other weekend I took pictures varying in size from 8.6 mp to 13.6mp, using PEF RAW mode. It depends on how much information is recorded. Remember also that exif informationan is added.

I hope this helps. If any of my info in incorrect, I'm sure someone will be happy to point it out.

My Transcend 8gb class 6 card says 471 max images when in the K10D, but it can vary. 400 images seems a bit low.

olivergbus said:

There is an old saying that one pictures is worth one thousand words.
How about one good photograph is worth more than one thousand hastily
snapped attempts. I too take a lot of action events but I make sure
that what I take will be usable.
--

Click to expand...

Well, I think that's marvelous of you. Thanks for the lesson.

Lessee, when you have 20 or more cars entering a corner at something pushing 100 mph, one spins, and the others scatter, crash and generally bounce around, you grab your two or three shots and go home.

Good luck finding any kind of editorial buyer for your article.

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Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

If so, I wouldn't depend on it too much. Mine crapped out while in Gutemala, and when I returned, my friends had done the same while at home. We took them apart...and talk about cheaap. Looked like it was hand assembled in a very low quality plant. Nothing was aligned. All we salvaged was the 40 GB harddrive.
Brent
--

I take pictures.....from walls, galleries, offices, waiting rooms, dentist offices...and rarely return them!
HENRYIMAGES
My gallery: http://www.pbase.com/henryimages

....... you are quite correct - the sizes of my PEF files vary from around 9+ Mb each to 16+ Mb each. It seems that very busy subject matter produces larger files, whereas smooth blue skies and sea views (for example) produce smaller files. So the average of my PEFs is probably closer to 12Mb each. So that means the card should hold around 658 PEF format photographs. I guess I need to give it a good workout and see how it goes.
Thanks everyone for the replies - at least they largely put my mind at ease.
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Mike M. (emem)

The camera calculates the remaining frames using worst case scenario.
( means 16 MBytes / PEF )
of course u can usually shoot 400 PEFs to a 4GB card.

Exactly the same here with PEF format files & 8G SDHC...
Reporting arround 400 & shooting arround 670 frames ...

henryimages said:

If so, I wouldn't depend on it too much. Mine crapped out while in
Gutemala, and when I returned, my friends had done the same while at
home. We took them apart...and talk about cheaap. Looked like it was
hand assembled in a very low quality plant. Nothing was aligned. All
we salvaged was the 40 GB harddrive.
Brent
--

Click to expand...

Usually, I don't need the SmartDisk, and, in fact, half the time it gets forgotten (just like my cell phone). It feels cheap. I think a new laptop a bit earlier than I had expected might be a good idea, though I've ordered another 16GB SDHC card, a Ridata with a supposed speed of 233X. We'll see. My current (and never used any more) laptop has an immense 15 gig hard drive.

--
Charlie Self
http://www.charlieselfonline.com

I owe you an apology as I didn't realize you were into a commercial endeavor on auto racing, that changes my outlook. The last time I was on that beat when I shot Mauri Rose winning his second consecutive Indy 500 driving one of Lou Moores machines. Of course digital was not around and you were lucky to get those two shots with a Speed Graphic and then go home. All my work now is pro bono and I donate the best to local galleries and friends who are redecorating.
I am known for my pushing black and white as the only true photography.
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Don't Forget to Remove the Lens Cap