URGENT INFO - A2 only performing as 5MP camera

hanugro · Apr 1, 2004

Yes, I also find this must be fixed by Minolta with a new firmware. It seems that the count down calculation is based by 8MB for each X-Fine pict.

My file is around 4-5MB for X-Fine. Actually it depends on the pict itself. I find that a pict that has a similar color throughout will create smaller file than a pict that has a wide range of color.

Minolta should based the calculation using a 6MB file size for X-Fine.

Alias said:
Ronald Schollaerts said:

A jpeg with a size of 8MByte seems ridiculous, that's almost no
jpeg at all.
Comparing the filesizes of 2 to 2.5MByte for a D7, this would
suggest 3 to 4MByte for an A2, wich is conform your own findings.

Probably an error in the manual.

Click to expand...

If it is an error, then the error is perpetuated throughout the
table on Page 83. The file sizes for extra fine are given as:

3264x2448 7923kb, 3264x2176 7056kb, 2560x1920 4902kb, 2080x1560kb
3289kb, 1600x12001995kb, 640x480 420kb.

TIFF files are shown in 3264x2448 as being 23529kb and 2 should
therefore fit on a 64mb card. That is working fine.

Alias said:

The number of pics taken is not a fixed value due to jpeg
compression, but the drift from the presetvalue should not be so
big, it should be 30+-2, or 100+-4, something in that region. A
future firmware update will certainly fix that, I do not think
retunring the camera is a wise idea. A firmware update on early
D7's also changed the mean file size for a jpeg, thus indicating
different number of free pictures.

Click to expand...

I appreciate that but approximately doubling the number of frames
available is well out of kilter.

archer1945 · Apr 1, 2004

fredman said:
If I understand you correctly, if you put a 256 mb card in your A2
and set it to JPEG extra fine, your countersays you can shoot 50
pictures. If so, there is something odd going on, coz when I just
put a 256 mb card in my A2 it says I can take 31 photos in extra
fine.

Fred

fredman said:

I'm not sure we are addressing the real issue. The issue is not
what size a file is. It is that Phil's A2 is reading his card
correctly and listing the correct (approx) number of pictures in
the frame counter. That's where things go awry. He gets twice
as many pictures as the book and the frame counter indicate.
Twice as many!
Here are my thoughts that I e-mailed him when he and I first
discovered this anomaly.
" That is really weird, Phil. I just filled two 256MB cards
the other day. Shooting 8MP and a combination of Fine and X-Fine
I got just about what the book and the counter say - around 50
pics per card. I checked the cards at 5MP in both the A2 and the
7Hi and also checked some folders where I stored the entire
contents of cards used in the 7Hi. All are as they should be. My
first thought was that your card was actually a mislabeled. But it
sounds as if it is actually 64 MB as that's what the camera is
reading.
If you are getting significantly more pictures on a card, could
your camera, even though it is set and counting for an 8MP shot,
actually be somehow taking a 5MP (or less) picture? I know you
don't have a printed manual, but in mine, on page 83 it says that
an 8 MP photo that is taken in X-Fine will on average produce a
7,923KB file and at Fine the file should be 4,022KB. I have
checked many of mine and they are right in this ballpark. Not
exact, of course, as some subjects compress more than others. At
5MP the file size should be 4,924KB for X-Fine and 2.520 for Fine.
This is what both my A2 and 7Hi deliver.
All of my digital cameras have been Minoltas 404s. 7i, Xt, 7Hi and
now the A2. In every instance, the camera read the card as it
should and the card delivered that number of pictures (sometimes 2
more sometimes 2 less but never 100% more!) that the camera and the
book called for.
I'd really be interested in knowing what is going on." Jim

Click to expand...

Jim

I have the same problem that Fred has. The camera is saying I should be getting only 31 pics on a 256 meg card but I actually got 50.

I wonder if this means I can get around 35 pics if I shoot RAW?

--
Morris

fredman · Apr 1, 2004

Actually I don't consider it a problem, but there's obviously something wrong with the counter. But as long as yo get more rather than less shots than what the camera shows, I guess there is no reason to cry

Fred

archer1945 said:
fredman said:

If I understand you correctly, if you put a 256 mb card in your A2
and set it to JPEG extra fine, your countersays you can shoot 50
pictures. If so, there is something odd going on, coz when I just
put a 256 mb card in my A2 it says I can take 31 photos in extra
fine.

Fred

archer1945 said:

I'm not sure we are addressing the real issue. The issue is not
what size a file is. It is that Phil's A2 is reading his card
correctly and listing the correct (approx) number of pictures in
the frame counter. That's where things go awry. He gets twice
as many pictures as the book and the frame counter indicate.
Twice as many!
Here are my thoughts that I e-mailed him when he and I first
discovered this anomaly.
" That is really weird, Phil. I just filled two 256MB cards
the other day. Shooting 8MP and a combination of Fine and X-Fine
I got just about what the book and the counter say - around 50
pics per card. I checked the cards at 5MP in both the A2 and the
7Hi and also checked some folders where I stored the entire
contents of cards used in the 7Hi. All are as they should be. My
first thought was that your card was actually a mislabeled. But it
sounds as if it is actually 64 MB as that's what the camera is
reading.
If you are getting significantly more pictures on a card, could
your camera, even though it is set and counting for an 8MP shot,
actually be somehow taking a 5MP (or less) picture? I know you
don't have a printed manual, but in mine, on page 83 it says that
an 8 MP photo that is taken in X-Fine will on average produce a
7,923KB file and at Fine the file should be 4,022KB. I have
checked many of mine and they are right in this ballpark. Not
exact, of course, as some subjects compress more than others. At
5MP the file size should be 4,924KB for X-Fine and 2.520 for Fine.
This is what both my A2 and 7Hi deliver.
All of my digital cameras have been Minoltas 404s. 7i, Xt, 7Hi and
now the A2. In every instance, the camera read the card as it
should and the card delivered that number of pictures (sometimes 2
more sometimes 2 less but never 100% more!) that the camera and the
book called for.
I'd really be interested in knowing what is going on." Jim

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Jim
I have the same problem that Fred has. The camera is saying I
should be getting only 31 pics on a 256 meg card but I actually got
50.

I wonder if this means I can get around 35 pics if I shoot RAW?

--
Morris

Jim Angelo · Apr 1, 2004

fredman said:
Actually I don't consider it a problem, but there's obviously
something wrong with the counter. But as long as yo get more rather
than less shots than what the camera shows, I guess there is no
reason to cry >
Fred

There probably is a reason to cry, Fred. If you are getting almost twice what the frame counter and the manual are saying you should, it could mean that even though you have set your camera to take 8MP you are really only taking a 5MP shot. Read the post. For any given resolution and compression, some of these folks are getting twice what the counter and the book say they should. If more pictures on a card is what you want, then just shoot in 640X480. You'll get a zillion.

You can't put 10 pounds of sh*t in a 5 pound bag. (You can if you compress it like crazy, but that is not what's going on here.)

Biu · Apr 1, 2004

Jpeg compress very well with scenes with less detail like the sky or indoor flash pictures where the background is usually dark. Try take a shoot at a forest with lots of leaves and grass and you will see large jpeg files that fit the table.
Biu

Alias said:
I've had my A2 for just about a month and have, apart from a few
shots on the first day, been shooting exclusively in RAW mode.

I'm off on holiday in the next couple of days and, partly because
of storage, have decided to shoot in JPEG Extra Fine. According to
the manual, the file size should be circa 7933kb at 3264x size.
I'm getting 4067kb and, most weirdly, whilst the counter is showing
7 shots on a 64kb card, the camera is giving 15 or 16 depending on
subject with the counter staying on a given number for 2 shots.

If I go to Fine, I'm getting a similar reduction from the expected
file size.

Has anyone else CHECKED the size of their JPEG files? Has anyone
found similar. I've spoken to the retailer who is mystified but I
can't get the camera back to him due to a postal strike as, for
insurance purposes, he wants me to use their preferred courier
which involves the Irish Postal Service.

Apart from a faulty/wrong chip, has anyone any ideas what could be
causing this? Am I missing something elementary?

I've checked the PDF manual and scoured the menus without success.
--
PhilB

fredman · Apr 1, 2004

In that case thre is a reason to cry for sure, but I doubt that is the case. What I get is more 3264x2448 photos. That is 8 MP, right? So I think it's the counter that is the problem.

Fred

Jim Angelo said:
There probably is a reason to cry, Fred. If you are getting almost
twice what the frame counter and the manual are saying you
should, it could mean that even though you have set your camera to
take 8MP you are really only taking a 5MP shot. Read the post.
For any given resolution and compression, some of these folks are
getting twice what the counter and the book say they should. If
more pictures on a card is what you want, then just shoot in
640X480. You'll get a zillion.
You can't put 10 pounds of sh*t in a 5 pound bag. (You can if you
compress it like crazy, but that is not what's going on here.)

sparrowminded · Apr 1, 2004

So many responses here, and I haven't seen anyone advise that you simply check recorded image sizes. Using explorer in XP home edition, my extra fine JPEG files are 3264 x 2448. That is one number times the other equals 7990272 pixels, or 8 Megapixels. If your camera is producing similar dimensions, it is shooting in 8 Mp. Randomly checking recorded file size on 3 images, they recorded at 7.92 Mb.; 7.47 Mb. and 5.83 Mb. Yes, this depends on individual images and conditions. If it's working, why are you burying your face in the book, rather than working to learn your camera by letting IT teach you?

Alias said:
I've had my A2 for just about a month and have, apart from a few
shots on the first day, been shooting exclusively in RAW mode.

I'm off on holiday in the next couple of days and, partly because
of storage, have decided to shoot in JPEG Extra Fine. According to
the manual, the file size should be circa 7933kb at 3264x size.
I'm getting 4067kb and, most weirdly, whilst the counter is showing
7 shots on a 64kb card, the camera is giving 15 or 16 depending on
subject with the counter staying on a given number for 2 shots.

If I go to Fine, I'm getting a similar reduction from the expected
file size.

Has anyone else CHECKED the size of their JPEG files? Has anyone
found similar. I've spoken to the retailer who is mystified but I
can't get the camera back to him due to a postal strike as, for
insurance purposes, he wants me to use their preferred courier
which involves the Irish Postal Service.

Apart from a faulty/wrong chip, has anyone any ideas what could be
causing this? Am I missing something elementary?

I've checked the PDF manual and scoured the menus without success.
--
PhilB

Jim Angelo · Apr 1, 2004

fredman said:
Hi Jim,

If I understand you correctly, if you put a 256 mb card in your A2
and set it to JPEG extra fine, your countersays you can shoot 50
pictures. If so, there is something odd going on, coz when I just
put a 256 mb card in my A2 it says I can take 31 photos in extra
fine.>
Fred

No, Fred, what I said was:

fredman said:
"I just filled two 256MB cards the other day. Shooting 8MP and a combination** of Fine and X-Fine I got just about what the book and the counter say - around 50 pics per card."

Combination in the above means some at Extra Fine and some at Fine. The book and the frame counter say I should get 30 at Extra Fine and 60 at Fine. In this one instance, and with this one combination of XF and F I got 50 pics. So in my note I was telling Phil everything seems to agree.

What he is saying is that in this same scenario his camera with exactly the same card, the same settings, same combination of XF and F and same subjects, he would get 100 shots.
This can't be good.
Jim

Jim Angelo · Apr 1, 2004

sparrowminded said:
So many responses here, and I haven't seen anyone advise that you
simply check recorded image sizes. Using explorer in XP home
edition, my extra fine JPEG files are 3264 x 2448. That is one
number times the other equals 7990272 pixels, or 8 Megapixels. If
your camera is producing similar dimensions, it is shooting in 8
Mp. Randomly checking recorded file size on 3 images, they
recorded at 7.92 Mb.; 7.47 Mb. and 5.83 Mb. Yes, this depends on
individual images and conditions.

Absolutely beautiful. It's what I was trying to say.

sparrowminded said:
If it's working, why are you burying your face in the book, rather than working to learn your camera by letting IT teach you?

I agree completely, Sparrowminded.

Unfortunately, Phil is indicating that his may not be working and is therefore seeking some help. Am I wrong here?
Jim

Thomas Comerford · Apr 1, 2004

This is just a suggestion, but I think the problem may lie in your memory cards. What way are they formatted? Specifically, what size allocation units are you using? If the allocation units are particularly large, the camera might underestimate how many images it will fit on the card. I have seen this myself with my own camera (a Fuji S602) although the effect was fairly subtle.

Thomas.

Alias said:
I've had my A2 for just about a month and have, apart from a few
shots on the first day, been shooting exclusively in RAW mode.

I'm off on holiday in the next couple of days and, partly because
of storage, have decided to shoot in JPEG Extra Fine. According to
the manual, the file size should be circa 7933kb at 3264x size.
I'm getting 4067kb and, most weirdly, whilst the counter is showing
7 shots on a 64kb card, the camera is giving 15 or 16 depending on
subject with the counter staying on a given number for 2 shots.

If I go to Fine, I'm getting a similar reduction from the expected
file size.

Has anyone else CHECKED the size of their JPEG files? Has anyone
found similar. I've spoken to the retailer who is mystified but I
can't get the camera back to him due to a postal strike as, for
insurance purposes, he wants me to use their preferred courier
which involves the Irish Postal Service.

Apart from a faulty/wrong chip, has anyone any ideas what could be
causing this? Am I missing something elementary?

I've checked the PDF manual and scoured the menus without success.
--
PhilB

fredman · Apr 1, 2004

Thanx for clarifying this. I guess you are right, I should be concerned by this. I suppose I'll have to check it up with Minolta.

Thanks
Fred

Jim Angelo said:
fredman said:

Hi Jim,

If I understand you correctly, if you put a 256 mb card in your A2
and set it to JPEG extra fine, your countersays you can shoot 50
pictures. If so, there is something odd going on, coz when I just
put a 256 mb card in my A2 it says I can take 31 photos in extra
fine.>
Fred

Click to expand...

No, Fred, what I said was:

Jim Angelo said:

"I just filled two 256MB cards the other day. Shooting 8MP and a combination** of Fine and X-Fine I got just about what the book and the counter say - around 50 pics per card."

Click to expand...

Combination in the above means some at Extra Fine and some at Fine.
The book and the frame counter say I should get 30 at Extra Fine
and 60 at Fine. In this one instance, and with this one
combination of XF and F I got 50 pics. So in my note I was telling
Phil everything seems to agree.
What he is saying is that in this same scenario his camera with
exactly the same card, the same settings, same combination of XF
and F and same subjects, he would get 100 shots.
This can't be good.
Jim

archer1945 · Apr 1, 2004

Jim Angelo said:
sparrowminded said:

So many responses here, and I haven't seen anyone advise that you
simply check recorded image sizes. Using explorer in XP home
edition, my extra fine JPEG files are 3264 x 2448. That is one
number times the other equals 7990272 pixels, or 8 Megapixels. If
your camera is producing similar dimensions, it is shooting in 8
Mp. Randomly checking recorded file size on 3 images, they
recorded at 7.92 Mb.; 7.47 Mb. and 5.83 Mb. Yes, this depends on
individual images and conditions.

Click to expand...

Absolutely beautiful. It's what I was trying to say.

Jim Angelo said:

If it's working, why are you burying your face in the book, rather than working to learn your camera by letting IT teach you?

Click to expand...

I agree completely, Sparrowminded.
Unfortunately, Phil is indicating that his may not be working and
is therefore seeking some help. Am I wrong here?
Jim

My A2 is doing exactly what Phil's is and we both want to know why. We both have our A2s set up for 8 megs with very slight compression, ie Extra Fine; which, in no way should get no more than 31, plus or minus a couple of pics, on a 256 meg card. Instead we are getting 50 pics. Which means that either the camera is giving Fine instead of Extra Fine compression or our cards are 512 meg which the camera is only reading as 256 meg, but printing as 512 megs.

Personally I think there is a problem with the compression.
--
Morris

Aaron Bredon · Apr 1, 2004

archer1945 said:
My A2 is doing exactly what Phil's is and we both want to know why.
We both have our A2s set up for 8 megs with very slight
compression, ie Extra Fine; which, in no way should get no more
than 31, plus or minus a couple of pics, on a 256 meg card. Instead
we are getting 50 pics. Which means that either the camera is
giving Fine instead of Extra Fine compression or our cards are 512
meg which the camera is only reading as 256 meg, but printing as
512 megs.

Personally I think there is a problem with the compression.

No, you are getting exactly what I would expect, given the conservative way Minolta calculates the remaining pictures.

The Minolta calculation is: Extra Fine JPEGS vary in size, but never go above 8 Megabytes per picture, so we will estimate the number of pictures remaining based on the maximum size the picture can be, so we won't get any complaints about not getting as many pictures on a card as estimated.

(Incidentally, they changed to this more conservative estimate on the Dimage 7i, possibly due to complaints)

Some other cameras may estimate like this: Extra Fine JPEGS average about 4 Megabytes, so we will estimate the number of pictures remaining based on 4 Megabytes or a little larger. This way we will usually be close to correct about the number remaining. We don't care about the users who take pictures of fine detail not getting as many pictures as expected.

Even other cameras may estimate like this: the blurring (or 'Noise Reduction') that we apply means that the pictures never go above 5 Megabytes in size, so we will estimate based on that, and the number of pictures remaining will be reasonably accurate. (although pictures with fine detail will have that detail blurred)

and others: We will do JPEG compression based on output size, so pictures taken with fine detail will be compressed more, and all the pictures will be about 4 Megabytes, so we estimate based on that, and the number of pictures remaining will be reasonably accurate.

Alias · Apr 1, 2004

sparrowminded said:
So many responses here, and I haven't seen anyone advise that you
simply check recorded image sizes. Using explorer in XP home
edition, my extra fine JPEG files are 3264 x 2448. That is one
number times the other equals 7990272 pixels, or 8 Megapixels. If
your camera is producing similar dimensions, it is shooting in 8
Mp. Randomly checking recorded file size on 3 images, they
recorded at 7.92 Mb.; 7.47 Mb. and 5.83 Mb. Yes, this depends on
individual images and conditions. If it's working, why are you
burying your face in the book, rather than working to learn your
camera by letting IT teach you?

I'm not. First I don't have a book, just the pdf file, second I've been round SLRs, digicams, computers so long that I forget when I decided to learn by use, backed by the book, not the other way about and third, my file sizes, across a range of subjects are all around the 3.9 - 4.94MB range.

The frame counter is also a real issue.

If you read the 8th message on this thread you will see I have checked the file dimensions and they are fine, but the size of the files, over a range of shots seem to indicate a lack of data. The most I can get out of a shot is a 4.9MB, I'm pulling in some shots with as little as a megayte less, in extra fine.

If Minolta publishes a guide, as it does on Page 83, it can be expected that a reasonable tolerance would be built in, given the technology. A tolerance between 3MB and 4MB outside of average expectation is way beyond anything I've ever come across, in percentage terms, in any form of manufacturing, ditto the off beam counting.

As, until yesterday, I only shot in RAW (5 frames on a 64MB card) this wasn't an issue as that is to expectation. Similarly TIFF is performing perfectly.

Either Minolta have screwed up big time with their published data or the software in the camera is screwy.
--
PhilB

Jerre · Apr 1, 2004

Large allocation units will have area that pictures can't use so you would get fewer pictures. For example for a 64k unit if your pictures used up just 5k of the last unit for the file there would be 59k wasted. For a 8k unit there would only be 4k wasted. For 50 photos the difference would be 2950k wasted versus 400k. 4k units would allow you to take 2550k more pictures, in the case of a 6000k extra fine jpeg file this would be zero more pictures. So the size of the allocation units will not have any effect on the number of pictures taken, just on how fast the card moves data due to moving bigger chunks.

It sounds like the compression ratio is off on those two cameras. A good image viewer on a computer should be able to tell you the compression ratio of the file. When I save a jpeg I only compress it 10 percent, 20 percent at the most. This sounds like 35 to 40 percent compression going on. I would expect extra fine to have 20 percent compression.

Thomas Comerford said:
Thomas.

Alias said:

I've had my A2 for just about a month and have, apart from a few
shots on the first day, been shooting exclusively in RAW mode.

I'm off on holiday in the next couple of days and, partly because
of storage, have decided to shoot in JPEG Extra Fine. According to
the manual, the file size should be circa 7933kb at 3264x size.
I'm getting 4067kb and, most weirdly, whilst the counter is showing
7 shots on a 64kb card, the camera is giving 15 or 16 depending on
subject with the counter staying on a given number for 2 shots.

If I go to Fine, I'm getting a similar reduction from the expected
file size.

Has anyone else CHECKED the size of their JPEG files? Has anyone
found similar. I've spoken to the retailer who is mystified but I
can't get the camera back to him due to a postal strike as, for
insurance purposes, he wants me to use their preferred courier
which involves the Irish Postal Service.

Apart from a faulty/wrong chip, has anyone any ideas what could be
causing this? Am I missing something elementary?

I've checked the PDF manual and scoured the menus without success.
--
PhilB

Click to expand...

--
http://www.garageglamour.com/portfolios/greatphotos

Alias · Apr 1, 2004

Aaron Bredon said:
No, you are getting exactly what I would expect, given the
conservative way Minolta calculates the remaining pictures.

The Minolta calculation is: Extra Fine JPEGS vary in size, but
never go above 8 Megabytes per picture, so we will estimate the
number of pictures remaining based on the maximum size the picture
can be, so we won't get any complaints about not getting as many
pictures on a card as estimated.
(Incidentally, they changed to this more conservative estimate on
the Dimage 7i, possibly due to complaints)

Some other cameras may estimate like this: Extra Fine JPEGS average
about 4 Megabytes, so we will estimate the number of pictures
remaining based on 4 Megabytes or a little larger. This way we will
usually be close to correct about the number remaining. We don't
care about the users who take pictures of fine detail not getting
as many pictures as expected.

Even other cameras may estimate like this: the blurring (or 'Noise
Reduction') that we apply means that the pictures never go above 5
Megabytes in size, so we will estimate based on that, and the
number of pictures remaining will be reasonably accurate. (although
pictures with fine detail will have that detail blurred)

and others: We will do JPEG compression based on output size, so
pictures taken with fine detail will be compressed more, and all
the pictures will be about 4 Megabytes, so we estimate based on
that, and the number of pictures remaining will be reasonably
accurate.

So why is Minolta's published data so way off beam?

As to the counter, I repeat, the camera in extra fine, full size selected, shows 7 frames with an empty card and, at ISO 100 produces 14 or 15 frames. The minimum number I have achieved is 13 at ISO800.
--
PhilB

jefflins · Apr 1, 2004

I had a slightly different issue...though I didn't go changing the size of the picture in the camera, some of the pix came back at much smaller size (X x X pixels). I was just demoing the camera, so I may have done something wrong, but I expected the image size to be the same for every pic, even if the files size was expected to vary due to compression. I was shooting ~~7mpix size (3:2 mode), and the file sizes were about 3.5mb by the way...I can't imagine that even at full 8 mpix size that the files could be 8 megs (jpeg)! Holy cow!~~

Jerre said:
It sounds like the compression ratio is off on those two cameras. A
good image viewer on a computer should be able to tell you the
compression ratio of the file. When I save a jpeg I only compress
it 10 percent, 20 percent at the most. This sounds like 35 to 40
percent compression going on. I would expect extra fine to have 20
percent compression.

Thomas Comerford said:

Thomas.

Alias said:

I've had my A2 for just about a month and have, apart from a few
shots on the first day, been shooting exclusively in RAW mode.

I'm off on holiday in the next couple of days and, partly because
of storage, have decided to shoot in JPEG Extra Fine. According to
the manual, the file size should be circa 7933kb at 3264x size.
I'm getting 4067kb and, most weirdly, whilst the counter is showing
7 shots on a 64kb card, the camera is giving 15 or 16 depending on
subject with the counter staying on a given number for 2 shots.

If I go to Fine, I'm getting a similar reduction from the expected
file size.

Has anyone else CHECKED the size of their JPEG files? Has anyone
found similar. I've spoken to the retailer who is mystified but I
can't get the camera back to him due to a postal strike as, for
insurance purposes, he wants me to use their preferred courier
which involves the Irish Postal Service.

Apart from a faulty/wrong chip, has anyone any ideas what could be
causing this? Am I missing something elementary?

I've checked the PDF manual and scoured the menus without success.
--
PhilB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
http://www.garageglamour.com/portfolios/greatphotos

Gary Berg · Apr 1, 2004

Have you got the camera in Auto mode, or the ISO set to "Auto"? That would reduce the counter value as the camera probably pessimistically estimate that all shots will be taken at ISO 200. The higher the ISO, the larger the images would be. But if you are shooting in bright light then the camera will actually use ISO 64 or 100, so the file will have less noise and compress better.

fredman said:
In that case thre is a reason to cry for sure, but I doubt that is
the case. What I get is more 3264x2448 photos. That is 8 MP, right?
So I think it's the counter that is the problem.

Jerre · Apr 1, 2004

Camera information is actually way bigger. You get 12bits of data from the A/D converter chip times 3 channels of color times 8 meg of pixels. Thats why TIFF files are 24 meg (they use lossless compression). If KM had kept the A/D chip off the A1 they would be bigger because it used 14 bits.

If your dimensions on the photos when multiplied (X times Y) only come to five meg you are taking pictures at 5 meg. The pixel dimensions doesn't change in JPEG, just the compression ratio (amount of information and number of colors that are thrown away). Sounds like you are shooting with an A1 instead of an A2.

jefflins said:
Jerre said:

It sounds like the compression ratio is off on those two cameras. A
good image viewer on a computer should be able to tell you the
compression ratio of the file. When I save a jpeg I only compress
it 10 percent, 20 percent at the most. This sounds like 35 to 40
percent compression going on. I would expect extra fine to have 20
percent compression.

Thomas Comerford said:

Thomas.

Alias said:

I've had my A2 for just about a month and have, apart from a few
shots on the first day, been shooting exclusively in RAW mode.

I'm off on holiday in the next couple of days and, partly because
of storage, have decided to shoot in JPEG Extra Fine. According to
the manual, the file size should be circa 7933kb at 3264x size.
I'm getting 4067kb and, most weirdly, whilst the counter is showing
7 shots on a 64kb card, the camera is giving 15 or 16 depending on
subject with the counter staying on a given number for 2 shots.

If I go to Fine, I'm getting a similar reduction from the expected
file size.

Has anyone else CHECKED the size of their JPEG files? Has anyone
found similar. I've spoken to the retailer who is mystified but I
can't get the camera back to him due to a postal strike as, for
insurance purposes, he wants me to use their preferred courier
which involves the Irish Postal Service.

Apart from a faulty/wrong chip, has anyone any ideas what could be
causing this? Am I missing something elementary?

I've checked the PDF manual and scoured the menus without success.
--
PhilB

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
http://www.garageglamour.com/portfolios/greatphotos

Click to expand...

--
http://www.garageglamour.com/portfolios/greatphotos

Ronald S · Apr 1, 2004

If the legal system in the US would not allow for the most crazy kind of lawsuits, all this would not be nescessary.

They (KM) are only covering their . I would do the same.

If KM would say you could take 10 pictures with this or that type of card, and by chance it were 9, I am sure someone would sue KM for millions. Ridiculous to all of us in the ROW and to a lot of people in the US too, but unfortunately, we suffer the consequences of these kind of actions.

Ronald

Alias said:
I've had my A2 for just about a month and have, apart from a few
shots on the first day, been shooting exclusively in RAW mode.

I'm off on holiday in the next couple of days and, partly because
of storage, have decided to shoot in JPEG Extra Fine. According to
the manual, the file size should be circa 7933kb at 3264x size.
I'm getting 4067kb and, most weirdly, whilst the counter is showing
7 shots on a 64kb card, the camera is giving 15 or 16 depending on
subject with the counter staying on a given number for 2 shots.

If I go to Fine, I'm getting a similar reduction from the expected
file size.

Has anyone else CHECKED the size of their JPEG files? Has anyone
found similar. I've spoken to the retailer who is mystified but I
can't get the camera back to him due to a postal strike as, for
insurance purposes, he wants me to use their preferred courier
which involves the Irish Postal Service.

Apart from a faulty/wrong chip, has anyone any ideas what could be
causing this? Am I missing something elementary?

I've checked the PDF manual and scoured the menus without success.
--
PhilB

URGENT INFO - A2 only performing as 5MP camera

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