 | How much memory will I need for my digital camera? |
Technical Answer:
To determine how much memory you will need for your digital pictures, you must:
1) Determine for what purpose you will be using the camera.
2) Determine the size (in MB) of each picture.
3) Determine how many pictures you need to store before you can upload to your home computer.
Determining for what purpose you will be using your digital camera will help you decide both the size of the individual pictures that you take, and how many photos that you need to be able to store between uploads. Once you have these two bits of information, you must multiply them together, and then round up to the next power of two. The number that you get is the size in megabytes that you need.
Digital Pictures are composed of pixels, or picture elements. If you enlarge a digital picture, you will see these pixels as large dots, compromising an image. For example, look at this closeup of a rabbit's eye:
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In the closeup we can clearly see the pixels. This particular closeup consists of 784 pixels. If there were more pixels, then the detail would be sharper. However, the image would also take more space to store. Thus, a higher resolution camera needs more memory capacity to store the same amount of pictures as a lower resolution model. The pictures that a typical consumer digital camera takes consist of between 3 million pixels to 7 million pixels. This is often abbreviated to megapixel, or MP. Thus, a 5 MP camera takes pictures that are made up of 5 million picture elements.
Memory cards are available in powers of 2 megabytes (MB), a technicality of the EEPROM technology that they are based upon. The smallest cards available for purchase today are 32 megabyte cards, though most cameras are provided with only 16 megabyte cards from the manufacturer. Even at the lowest resolution possible a 16 MB card is not adequate for a day trip. At higher resolutions, a 16 MB card is good for 5 or less photos. In either case, a larger card is necessary.
EEPROM memory consists of a grid with two transistors at each intersection of the columns and rows. The two transistors are known as the control gate and the floating gate, and between them is a very thin oxide layer. The control gates are connected to the rows of the grid, and they block the flow of electrons from reaching the floating gate This is considered a value of 1. If the control gate lets the electrons pass, then the flow gate has a value of 0. The grid is duplicated many times to create a matrix that can store and retrieve the vale of each intersection, thus providing memory. As duplicating increases values by twofold, memory is sold in multiples of two: 32 MB, 64 MB, 128 MB, etc.
Now that we know a little bit about the way pictures are stored and how the storage medium works, we must decide how many pictures we need to store. A good rule of thumb is 100 photos for each day that you will be away from your computer. Of course, this will vary with the situation. A professional photographer going to a wedding may need ten times that amount, yet a trip to the supermarket and the gas station will require much less! In general: when in doubt, more is better!
But where can you pinch corners when you can't afford the amount of memory that you need? For one, with most digital cameras sold today, you can see the photos while they are still in the card on the camera. After each shoot, you can delete the photos that you don't like. Just remember to erase based upon content, not upon colors or clarity. The small LCD displays on digital cameras are not meant to accurately represent the colors in the photo or to show detail. Rather, they serve to show you what made it into the picture and what got cut out. The photo will always look much better on your computer screen than on the camera's built-in LCD display. And don't forget that erasing photographs uses the same amount of battery power that snapping photographs uses, so make sure that you have enough battery power before you start erasing.
Another way that you can save the maximum amount of photos in the minimum amount of space is to lower the resolution of the photos. Most 5 megapixel cameras, for example, can save photographs as 4 or 3 megapixel images, thus saving space on the memory card. Just don't lower the quality of the photos. Always leave this setting on High or Fine.
Short Answer:
To shoot at least 100 photographs, or the equivale...
Long Answer:
The factors determining the amount of memory you will need are:
1) The resolution of the images ...