Hi Glenn,

According to the camera's manual, the file sizes for the highest resolution are:

RAW: 7373kb
TIFF: 14520kb
Extra-fine JPEG: 4920kb
Fine JPEG: 2520kb
Standard JPEG: 1491kb

So for extra-fine JPEG, it should fit on a 512MB card:

512x1024/4920 = 106 pictures

I believe the reason it's only showing 96 is two-fold: firstly, that the formatted capacity of a 512MB CF card is actually a little lower than 512MB, and secondly that I've got the camera's "voice annotation" switched on, so the space calculations are performed not only for the picture, but also for a 15 second WAV file too. If I switch off voice annotation, the number goes up from 96 to 101.

The TIFF image size is what you'd expect for an uncompressed 24bpp 2560x1920 image:

2560x1920x3 bytes = 14400kb

The RAW image format must, from its size, be doing some form of lossless compression (LZW, or similar) on the data, roughly halving the size.

Regards,

Chris

Chris,

I'm curious as to what the actual image size is at Extra Fine mode?

I have a 4 mega pixel camera, Minolta DiMAGE F100. According to the camera's manual, the image size at highest JPEG mode (Fine quality at Full size, 2272x1704) is 2MB. Hence, the frame count is 64 for a 128MB card.

128 / 2 = 64

However, the average image size is about 1.3MB. I usually get around 90 images on a 128MB card.

DiMAGE A1 looks like a great camera. Have you compared images taken with Sony 707?

Looking at the actual pictures I've taken so far (which have more or less just been "test shots"), they seem to be averaging about 2.7MB in size, so it appears as though the camera's estimate of the number of pictures which will fit on the card is rather on the "conservative" side.

I guess I'll find out when I start using the camera "for real" how many I really do get on the card. Now, though, I've got the XS-Drive it's of much less importance than it was previously - even if I do get only 100 shots on the card, that's more than enough for even the most enthusiastic day's shooting!

Regards,

Chris

Remember when the only decision was whether to buy a roll of 24 or 36 shots? Where did I go wrong?? As a new digital member, I have accumulated 900+ shots stored on 3 cds and printed 100+ photos for my album. (on just one tour to France). What the heck will one do with the thousands and thousands that will saved over the years to come?? I guess the digital world has made us victims of the more is better syndrome. I know I have thrown away thousands of negatives over the years as not being needed. (Once every so often I searched for one, but not often). So I will store the cds for a select time in the future when I will have the desire for a slide show. My albums are eveready for a look-see. Say "Cheese" !

Many photographers feel that the _reverse_ of what you say is true, Roxy - that the fact that with digital photography you can make an instant decision whether to keep or delete a shot means that you end up with less than you would with film, where unintentional things sometimes later make great shots!

Do you not think that storing a few CDs is a lot easier than storing lots of strips of negatives which you'll never look at again? I do!

Regards,

Chris

I think with film you become more select in your shots. If you have 10 rolls to shoot in 10 days at 36/per roll that's 360 shots. Now it's shoot till you are out of memory or battery! When the time comes to print, there are hundreds to weed through on the flash card or c/d in order to be able to select which shot you want printed. (the duds already having been deleted) Someone mentioned previously they prefer using smaller CF cards for this reason - I think I am starting to agree with that point!

Actually, you can do both.

Before I got a digital camera, I used a film scanner to digitize film images. I saved the images on cds.

With a digital camera, I save unmanipulated images to cd.

Cds are compact (they hold more than 300 images from my camera) and there is software that will track your images by subject or time or place or whatever.

Glenn

I used a 16MB CF card for a family wedding this weekend...total 28 shots at medium setting. They look fantastic on my tv slide show! I had the shots dumped onto a c/d at Walgreens (first time trying them) and printed at $.29/shot , $3.24 for the c/d and I was done (these for family). The quality of the prints was good, but not great. They were 4x6 glossy, no border. I will now take my cf card to Walmart, who for the same price, has superior prints, which are matte finished borderless. It really, really matters where you get your prints done! Could I have used a 128mb cf card? probably, and probably used it all up too; but, in the end, 28 shots from 16mg did the trick. I was determined to be a disciplined photog this time around.

There is a product called I/O Magic that is a portable 20 Gig hard drive. It's about the size of an old 80's style walkman. It is rechargeable and can easily fit in your handbag. It's real easy to use -- just put in your memory stick (or 2 or 3 other kinds of media) turn it on and press copy. It will signal you when it's done.

I picked mine up at radio shack and just used it on our trip! It was WONDERFUL!!!

I'd recommend it to anyone.

Ken & Lisa Burks,

Looking at the picture on RadioShack web site, the "20GB Digital Photo Library" by I/O Magic is pretty much the same as the X-Drive version 1. I agree it's a wonderful device. There're some discussions on the BB about X-Drive. If you do a search, you'll find more info.