[ChrisTrevino]

So, for some odd reason my K-5 with a 16gb SDHC says it can only hold 466 pictures. Yet it actually holds 700+

Anyone have any idea why that is?

I don't remember if it always did it or if it started at some point after I got it.

Last night I shot 688 and the Top LCD said I had 20 left. Thought after a fresh format it still says it only holds 466 images.

Thoughts?

[interested_observer]

I am going to guess that you are shooting in JPG? With JPG, they use a standard size (the largest possible), however as you shoot an image and its stored, the JPG is compressed, some images take more space than others, so as you accumulate images, it essentially leaves more room on the SD card.

[Adam]

The # of images left depends on the file format and quality that you're shooting. You'll have fewer shots shooting at JPEG fine than JPEG normal, and even fewer when shooting RAW/RAW+.

[Ole]

The camera is making a "worst case" estimate. The actual capacity depends on the compression ratio of the format you shoot in, and also on the amount of detail in your images.

[ChrisTrevino]

I shoot RAW.

I dunno, it throws me off sometimes. I can't tell if the card is close to full because the number keeps reporting incorrectly.

In my K-01 with the same settings it says 611 Images and my 8GB card says 295 Images. Which is roughly half of the 611 so that makes sense.

The 8gb card says 225 in the K-5 which is also roughly half of 488.

So, I dunno, it just annoys me.

[Dario79]

Did you format card in camera or on computer? Maybe you formated it to fat32 insted NTFS?

[ChrisTrevino]

Did you format card in camera or on computer? Maybe you formated it to fat32 insted NTFS?

It was formatted in camera, haven't even looked to see if it was FAT32 or NTFS.

[rawr]

The file size in JPG and RAW also varies according to ISO - high ISO generally producing larger files than low ISO. That's another thing that is going to produce a lot of variation in how many images you fit on a card.

[interested_observer]

I shoot RAW.

I dunno, it throws me off sometimes. I can't tell if the card is close to full because the number keeps reporting incorrectly.

In my K-01 with the same settings it says 611 Images and my 8GB card says 295 Images. Which is roughly half of the 611 so that makes sense.

The 8gb card says 225 in the K-5 which is also roughly half of 488.

So, I dunno, it just annoys me.

Afternoon Chris, Let me try again. The camera, based on the image format selected, knows what the worst case file size will be. Based on the amount of available storage left, it uses this size to compute the number of images that can be stored in this available space. When you take an image, it will most likely take less than this worst possible file size. This is due to a number of factors, how busy the texture/color of the image is, etc. The camera is unable to predict what type of pictures you are going to take, so it performs this estimate. You will always be able to take more than this number. JPG images compact more than RAW, thus you will always be able to store more JPG files on the SD card than RAW.

This same estimate is done by all the camera brands - Canon, Nikon, Fuji, Olympus, Sony, etc.

This is analogous to filling up your car's gas tank. You can estimate you probably have a range of about 300 miles. However, based on the type of traffic, city driving or cross country you encounter, that number will change according to the driving you actually encounter - the heaviness of your foot, having the air conditioner on, or ??? It is the same type of estimate.

By the way PNG is the most space efficient RAW format.

[ChrisTrevino]

Yes, I use DNG format.

So essentially it recalculates as you shoot to give you a rough estimate based on high file sizes?

[interested_observer]

Yes, I use DNG format.

So essentially it recalculates as you shoot to give you a rough estimate based on high file sizes?

Yup - that's it, you got it.

[ChrisTrevino]

Alrighty, it's still annoying though!