 | How much memory will I need for my digital camera? |
Long Answer:
The factors determining the amount of memory you will need are:
1) The resolution of the images that you are shooting. This is usually the highest resolution that the camera is capable of, which is printed on the front of the camera.
2) The amount of pictures that you want to be able to shoot.
To a lesser degree, there are other factors that determine how many pictures you will be able to fit into a certain amount of memory. One of them is image compression, and in some of the better cameras (such as Fuji) you can adjust it. However, I recommend that you always leave it set to the highest setting. The other factors make a very small difference, and are often impossible to calculate before the image is shot, so we will not discuss them here.
The resolution that you will be shooting at is determined by what you intend to do with the photos. For email and website use, a 600*400 image is adequate. These images can be shot at one megapixel resolution, no matter what type of camera you have. However, if you plan on printing the photos, or keeping the photos for the future, I recommend to always shoot at the highest resolution that the camera is capable of. The pictures can be easily resized for email, yet the full quality of the photos is available for future prints.
For home use, a 50 photograph limit may suffice. If you fill it up, you can just download the images to your computer. However, for day trips a minimum of 100 photographs is recommended. This is about the amount of photographs that would consume three rolls of film. This may sound like a lot, but when you are not paying per photo, it goes by quickly! For trips longer than one day, consider 100 photographs per day. If you are planning to be away from your computer for a week or more, then buy some CD-R's and carry them with you, along with the cable that connects the camera to the computer. You will need to take your camera to a computer shop and have them burn your photographs to the CD-R. Buying the CD-R's one at a time at the computer store would be very expensive, however.
This chart estimates the amount of pictures that will fit into a given memory card, per resolution:
| 16 MegaByte | 32 MegaByte | 64 MegaByte | 128 MegaByte | 256 MegaByte | 512 MegaByte | 1024 MB (1 GigaByte) | |
| 1 MegaPixel | 45 photos | 90 photos | 180 photos | 365 photos | 730 photos | 1460 photos | 2925 photos |
| 2 MegaPixel | 15 photos | 35 photos | 70 photos | 140 photos | 280 photos | 570 photos | 1140 photos |
| 3 MegaPixel | 12 photos | 25 photos | 50 photos | 105 photos | 210 photos | 425 photos | 850 photos |
| 4 MegaPixel | 8 photos | 15 photos | 30 photos | 65 photos | 130 photos | 255 photos | 510 photos |
| 5 MegaPixel | 6 photos | 10 photos | 25 photos | 50 photos | 100 photos | 205 photos | 410 photos |
| 6 MegaPixel | 5 photos | 10 photos | 20 photos | 40 photos | 80 photos | 160 photos | 320 photos |
So, we have come to the conclusion that a 5 megapixel camera that will be going on a two day trip will need at least 512 megabytes of memory.
Short Answer:
To shoot at least 100 photographs, or the equivale...
Technical Answer:
To determine how much memory you will need for your digital pictures, you must:
1) Determine for wh...