*How many images I can get from a 4 GB card?*

[Hide Takahashi]

I just purchased a D300 and I have a few questions.

I'm going on my vacation this summer for my hummingbird photo shoots for 8 days and of which 2 days are a half day shoot because of moving to a different location. So,7 days to shoot. I mostly do high speed flash shoot and probably try some high speed shoot in a high iso using a natural light in the late evening.

I'm guessing that I'll be shooting up to 500 a day for 7 days. So, roughly speaking I'll be shooting about 3500 images or less or a little more.

I don't shoot raw this time since JPEG images from the D300 seem to be very good.

If I use a 4 GB card,how may JPEG images can I get?

Will a larger capacity card affect the battery life?

Since I don't have any other storage device such as Epson P3000 or a laptop,I think I'll have to get several cards.

Thanks.

Hide

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http://www.pbase.com/coffee/madera_canyon

http://www.pbase.com/coffee/humming_birds_by_d50

 

[Mike Hyndman]

--
'Please don't take it personally; take it seriously.'

 

[Hide Takahashi]

If I had the camera with me now ,I would.

Hide

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http://www.pbase.com/coffee/madera_canyon

http://www.pbase.com/coffee/humming_birds_by_d50

 

[malch]

If I had the camera with me now ,I would.

It's on-line:

http://www.nikonusa.com/pdf/manuals/noprint/D300_en_noprint.pdf

 

[Hide Takahashi]

Thanks for the link. I appreciate it.

Hide

--



http://www.pbase.com/coffee/madera_canyon

http://www.pbase.com/coffee/humming_birds_by_d50

 

[roblarosa]

You need a camera too.

 

[Steve Sint]

I've gotten much different results than Nikon's estimate and I think Nikon's estimate is conservative (and yes, I realize they use a 2 GB card for a model). Better still, their own numbers prove it!

Nikon's calling it about 550 images (2 X 276) and file sizes of 5.8 MB. Divide 4000MB (4GB) by 5.8 MB you get 689...so I rest my case..

I shoot heavy - about 320 4GB cards, 75K images per year. I always shoot compressed raw files (about 10 MB each) and fine, large jpegs (between 4.8 and 6 MB each, optimum quality priority) simultaneously and regularly get about 250 of each file on a 4 GB card. It always ends up that the raw folder is about 2.5 GB and the jpeg folder is 1.4 GB.

I think if I shot only L, F, (optimum quality priority) jpegs I'd get about 700, plus/minus a bit, files on a 4 GB card.

my .02, ymmv

Steve Sint

 

[Doc Rak]

I've gotten much different results than Nikon's estimate and I think
Nikon's estimate is conservative (and yes, I realize they use a 2 GB
card for a model). Better still, their own numbers prove it!

I think if I shot only L, F, (optimum quality priority) jpegs I'd get
about 700, plus/minus a bit, files on a 4 GB card.

my .02, ymmv

Steve Sint

I'm at around 700 images for a 4gb card also. It's kind of freaky because you can't trust the counter. I always shoot until the camera counter goes bellow 100 images left and end up pulling around 600 images of the card.

 

[PeeKaa]

jpeg fine best quality optimal

4gb: 391

 

[reddirt14]

I'm getting the same results. I shoot both RAW and JPEG Fine. My RAW files are roughly 11 meg (similar to the 10 meg quoted) and JPEG about 5-6 meg. I get about 115 shots per 2gb card, maybe a tad more.

Memory is so cheap though, could you buy more cards and shoot RAW + JPEG. The RAW images are better quality (14 bit = 16,000+ shades of grey) and hold so much data needed for post processing. I admit the JPEGs are nice and great for quick delivery to others, viewing, etc.

I went cheap on my memory cards and did some thorough testing on them to make sure they would hold up. With the large buffer size, I just don't need the kind of speed a high end card gives me. I've got $10-15 into each 2gb card. It's pretty cheap.

 

[Steve Sint]

I went cheap on my memory cards and did some thorough testing on them
to make sure they would hold up. With the large buffer size, I just
don't need the kind of speed a high end card gives me. I've got
$10-15 into each 2gb card. It's pretty cheap.

Memory might be cheap but my time isn't! I'm using Sandisk Extreme 4's with their FW 800 card reader. It cuts my download time in half (20 vs. 40 MB/sec) and at about 16GB per assignment times 80-100 assignments per year (ugh!) the time savings really adds up.

Also, I've settled on 4GB cards because they fit best on a DVD (which is my offsite backup regimen) without having to combine folders from multiple cards...a big PITA...IMHO...LOL...

Steve Sint

 

[erikstefan]

300 RAW format pictures

 

[RonHrl]

Shooting RAW (lossless compressed, 12-bit) I got 325 photos, or 1.6 times the 197 the camera predicted.
--
Ron
CP 5700, D70, D300
http://www.pbase.com/ronhrl

Every man has a right to his opinion, but no man has a right to be wrong in his facts. --Bernard Baruch

 

[DubaiNeil]

I get around 650 shots (JPEG Large Fine, Optimal quality) using 4GB Sandisk Extreme 3 cards.

My 'simplistic' approach was to buy 2 cards and a rechargeable hard disk card reader (120GB). For my use (predominately motor sport) I shoot one race on card A, then between races place that in the card reader and put card B in the camera. The card reader then backs-up card A to the hard disk. If I then need to re-use card A, I put it back in the camera, re-format, and off I go. I would then put card B in the reader so it is backed up and ready for re-use if necessary.

Repeat until the 120GB drive is full , then spend the rest of your life sorting the images!

Personally I couldn't justify the extra cost of Extreme 4 cards & readers, and making a cup of tea takes longer than downloading the data...

This is the type of product I am referring to:

http://www.amazon.com/Digital-Foci-Photo-Picture-Storage/dp/B000OSG5EI/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=electronics&qid=1210834069&sr=1-1

For almost the price of 2 x 4GB Extreme 3 cards, you get the capacity of 20, and you are not stuck with unusable cards when the formats change again...

 

[rsmith85]

Ok, I do not shoot JPEG that often, but I find on a 4Gb card I get 300-350 compressed RAW images. JPEG I tend to get around 600-700 images on a 4Gb.

As far as battery life, I have shot on my D300 with 2Gb, 4Gb and 8Gb cards and cannot say that I have noticed a difference.

Unless you are using 6fps continuously then getting ultra high speed cards isn't worth much in my opinion. Even with motor racing the offload speed onto a 133x card is fine, you just have to be slightly less trigger happy. These type of cards are a lot cheaper. I used to shoot Sandisk Ex3, but now use unbranded 8Gb cards due to cost and they seem to perform just as well.

I just purchased a D300 and I have a few questions.
I'm going on my vacation this summer for my hummingbird photo shoots
for 8 days and of which 2 days are a half day shoot because of moving
to a different location. So,7 days to shoot. I mostly do high speed
flash shoot and probably try some high speed shoot in a high iso
using a natural light in the late evening.
I'm guessing that I'll be shooting up to 500 a day for 7 days. So,
roughly speaking I'll be shooting about 3500 images or less or a
little more.

I don't shoot raw this time since JPEG images from the D300 seem to
be very good.

If I use a 4 GB card,how may JPEG images can I get?

Will a larger capacity card affect the battery life?

Since I don't have any other storage device such as Epson P3000 or a
laptop,I think I'll have to get several cards.

Thanks.

Hide

--



http://www.pbase.com/coffee/madera_canyon

http://www.pbase.com/coffee/humming_birds_by_d50

--
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Photo-Blog: http://www.rsdwa.com

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'Prediction is very difficult, especially about the future. '
Niels Bohr (1885 - 1962)