How many pics on a CF card?

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Thegreatroberto

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I have two 16gb sandisk CF cards. Lucky me!

One gives me 809 pics and the other says 789. This is when I first insert them formatted. One is a 95mbits/ s and the other a regular 30 mbits/s version.

Any idea why two 16gb cards would not think they can both try and store the same amount?
 
"insert them formatted...", you do remember to only format in camera?

Besides that, one must have more space than the other. Try inspect them in Windows Explorer...
 
Different flash controllers (that is to say, the embedded controller handling all the low-level magic) may reserve different amounts of the total space available, to better handle faults.

It'd be interesting to find out what regulations, if any, govern a card simply misrepresenting itself. I doubt that's an issue with any reputable maker, however - just a point of pondering.
 
Both cards are by sandisk, both are formatted in camera and both are 16gb. But each show a different amount of RAW files they will hold. One must have a capacity less than the other?
 
Porsupah said:
Different flash controllers (that is to say, the embedded controller handling all the low-level magic) may reserve different amounts of the total space available, to better handle faults.

It'd be interesting to find out what regulations, if any, govern a card simply misrepresenting itself. I doubt that's an issue with any reputable maker, however - just a point of pondering.
Click to expand...


Think you are right, it could be a flash controller issue. But then again they are both from sandisk. The faster card appears to hold less photos.
 
Are the cards identical or just both SanDisk 16GB cards? (There are many different specs of cards, presumably with different bits [controllers etc.]) Ah! The last post seems to answer the question!
 
shots per card is very subjective depending on settings and photo content..

are you changing the ISO settings for example? different ISO will result in different file sizes.
 
All my cards of the same size, same make but different speeds show the same quantity.

That's across 16, 32, 64 and 128GB cards.
 
I never checked to see how many shots a card has taken,just shoot to they are full then put in a new one :)
 
Andy_S said:
I would think that any bad sectors would be blocked off and removed from the total available space.
Click to expand...
This could be it as well.
I realise that when formatted, the camera takes a guess at how many pics it could get onto the card, assuming the current settings such as raw or jpeg etc.

I'll see if my two 8gb cads do the same thing as the two 16gb ones.
 
And if you see them in Windows Explorer, what free space does it report then?
 
Just a thought but are you sure both are made bySandisk? theres lots of fake ones about. As for the number of pics you'll get on the card, it'll vary a lot, it depends on type and quality shot on and even content of the image can alter file size (as will different cameras.
My guess if their both real sandisk cards is either different manufacturing companies, or dead sectors.
 
OK My two 8Gb cards report 403 and 393 images! One is a 45MB/s and the other a 60Mb/s version. Just going to try them all via windows explorer 7
 
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