How many digital photos can a memory card store?
Unlike regular film, it's difficult to predict exactly how many photos you can fit on a flash card. The file size for one digital photo can depend on a number of factors:
Resolution: The higher the resolution, the bigger the file.
Compression: Your camera may give you the option of choosing a compression format (for example JPEG or TIFF) or taking uncompressed photos. Uncompressed files are the largest, and compression formats vary in size.
Colours: RGB photos (format for viewing on a monitor) are three times as big as black-and-white photos, and CMYK photos (format for printing) are four times as big as black and white.
Your camera model and the shooting conditions: Each camera gives slightly different results, and you may even get a different number of photos per card, depending on the subject you are shooting and light conditions.
The chart below can be used as a general guide:
| 2,592 x 1,944 - 5 megapixel |
| Quality |
File size (kb) |
64MB |
128MB |
256MB |
512MB |
1GB |
| High |
2,503 |
24 |
49 |
99 |
209 |
409 |
| Medium |
1,395 |
43 |
88 |
177 |
376 |
728 |
| Low |
695 |
136 |
274 |
548 |
754 |
1,426 |
| 2,272 x 1,704 - 4 megapixel |
| Quality |
File size (kb) |
64MB |
128MB |
256MB |
512MB |
1GB |
| High |
2,002 |
30 |
61 |
122 |
244 |
512 |
| Medium |
1,116 |
54 |
110 |
210 |
470 |
910 |
| Low |
556 |
136 |
274 |
472 |
943 |
1,726 |
| 2,048 x 1,536 - 3 megapixel |
| Quality |
File size (kb) |
64MB |
128MB |
256MB |
512MB |
1GB |
| High |
1,602 |
38 |
76 |
154 |
327 |
655 |
| Medium |
893 |
68 |
137 |
276 |
587 |
1,174 |
| Low |
446 |
136 |
274 |
548 |
1,176 |
2,351 |
| 1,600 x 1,200 - 2 megapixel |
| Quality |
File size (kb) |
64MB |
128MB |
256MB |
512MB |
1GB |
| High |
1,002 |
61 |
122 |
244 |
523 |
1,046 |
| Medium |
558 |
109 |
219 |
440 |
940 |
1,879 |
| Low |
278 |
217 |
435 |
868 |
1,886 |
3,772 |
