D800 Memory Cards

[Major Sinner]

Can anyone please answer me this...

I have a Nikon D800... with a couple of 16mb SD cards...

When I format the card it shows 199 shots... (Always RAW).. but when I'm actually using it.. I end up with (in the last case) 380 RAW files on the card.. with 14 remaining on the screen...

I never noticed this on my D300... but then.. I wasn't as File Size aware as there was just hundreds to go at so it was never an issue..

Does anyone know why it changes.. or is 199 just a cameras estimate ??

Thanks...

 

[redhed17]

I don't know about the D800 in particular, but Nikon's tend to underestimate by quite a lot the number of potential images remaining.

I don't know what algorithm they use, but they don't seem to be making it any better as time goes on. :shrug:

The best thing to do is work out the size of your largest file and divide that by your card size to give you an idea of how many images you can potentially get on a card, and keep an eye on the number of shots taken. Because not every image will be full size you should always get more than your estimate, but should get at least that number.

 

[Major Sinner]

Thanks for that... That sounds right and the figures add up !!!...

THe D800 is Rumoured to have 90mb file sizes.. but that isn't true.. They average around 45mb...

So if you go off 90mb its around 188.. !? and the camera says 199... But I actually get around 290 !?...

Confused me at first because I thought I may be overwriting on the card..

Thanks for the clarification