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How Many Photos Can 32GB Hold?

In: 
Published: 30/11/2022

As an Amazon Associate we earn from qualifying purchases.

Saving your images is as important as shooting them in the first place. A 32GB storage device is ideal for storing your images. If you've asked, how many photos can 32GB hold? Below, you'll discover the answers to your question and how to calculate it yourself.

How Many Photos Can 32GB Hold?

32GB can hold between 480 to 26,500 photos. It can store about 1,780 RAW images shot with a 6MP camera. That figure amounts to about 17,800 JPEG photos with the same resolution. Besides, it can store around 6,300 images shot with a standard 12MP iPhone camera.

Memory cards were placed on a red and black card case beside a silver laptop and a black drawing tablet

The size of each image determines the total number of photos you can store.

Yet, other factors could determine how many images will fit into 32GB storage. You'll be stunned at how wide apart the range for this number of images is. I've discussed below

What Factors Affect the File Size of an Image?

It's not enough to assume that all your photos will have the same properties mentioned above. Let's discuss factors that affect your image's file size:

Quality Settings

The ISO settings correspond to the film's sensitivity on your camera. So, when you crank up your camera's ISO figure, the noise on the image increases. As a result, the file size will increase because your photo will be more intricate to compress.

The image's bit depth affects the size of your image file. The amount of storage needed for each pixel to showcase all the colors. The more colors in an image, the higher the bit depth and the larger the file size.

File Formats

The format you use for shooting your images also plays a huge role in determining the size of the image. The most common formats for photographers is the RAW, JPEG, and PNG file format.

JPEG Image

JPEGs are processed using a technique called lossy compression after the original image has been captured. When you compress an image this way, you conserve only the data that is essential to the image.

Thus, JPEGs tend to be smaller, between a few hundred and a few thousand bytes. The quality will be decreased as well compared to the original photograph.

RAW Image

The quality and type of camera used to take a shot can affect how large the RAW image file will be. It is compressed in a way that results in a smaller file size without sacrificing quality. Instead of erasing data from the image, it rearranges or stacks them up.

RAW files typically weigh in at around 30MB in size. These RAW image files are larger than other photos such as JPEG and PNG.

Camera Resolution

Your camera's resolution refers to the number of pixel layers on each photo you take. The number of pixels will determine the quality of a particular image. The rule of thumb is that the higher the number of pixels, the higher the image quality. Thus, the greater the image size.

What Size Memory Card Do You Need?

When picking up a memory card, it's important to pay great attention so you can choose the suitable size. Now, let's delve into the topic of what kind of storage card would work best for you.

Photo Use

The type of photos you take should guide your choice of memory cards. Image resolution and quality settings might vary greatly from one picture to the next. This explains why some pictures are enormous, and others aren't. Depending on your specific photography requirements, I have some suggestions for you:

A black DSLR camera beside black memory cards and a silver laptop on a gray surface

Landscape Photo

The factor determining how most landscape photos will look is the aspect ratio. Most landscape images have an aspect ratio within the range of 3:2, 1:1, 4:3, 5:4, 16:9, or 2:1. This dimension also affects the image size.

Generally, the greater the aspect ratio, the more the number of pixels. An increase in the pixel number will also increase the image size. For example, an aspect ratio of 3:2 requires around 24MP. The size at this resolution is around 4.5MB for JPEGs and 54MB for RAWs.

A 32GB storage is enough to store most of your immediate landscape photographs. However, if you want to store many years worth of photos, you should consider gouging for 1TB or more.

Real Estate Photo

The standard dimensions for a listing image are 330 pixels wide by 220 pixels high. This dimension equates to around 10 to 50 MB in size. Considering this, I only recommend 32GB storage for your immediate needs. However, you can consider going for more storage space in the long run.

Wedding Photo

A minimum of 1 terabyte of storage space is ideal for most wedding photographers. The typical size of a processed JPEG photograph from a wedding shot is around 10MB. Most wedding photographers only need 32GB of storage capacity.

Types of Memory Cards

As a real estate photographer, you have a wide range of projects you could work on. You can shoot a commercial building, residential building, or interior decoration. There are different types of storage cards depending on which photo you’re taking. Here are the different types of cards you can use:

CF (Compact Flash)

The compact flash storage card is common among many professional photographers. It is known for having the fastest read speed compared to other storage cards. The storage size for the compact flash ranges from 8GB to 512GB, depending on several factors. 

This card fits into most DSLRs without any hassle. So, you can use it for any high-resolution photos.

SD (Secure Digital)

This card fits into medium and small-sized cameras like Pentax and Hasselblad. It is portable and the perfect choice for most home interior shots. You can also use it for many other low-resolution photos. Below’s a table showing the various specifications of this card:

SD card format Storage SizesSpeed 
Secure Digital 2GB or less 2MB/S - 10MB/S 
Secure Digital High Capacity 2GB - 32GB 10MB/S - 12.5MB/S 
Secure Digital Extended Capacity 32GB - 2TB 10MB/S - 12.5MB/S 
Secure Digital Ultra Capacity 2TB - 128TB Up to 985MB/S 

MicroSD

As the name implies, it is much smaller in size than the SD card. You can easily slot it into small and mini cameras. The most common micro SD cards stores up to 2TB. However, the ultra-capacity versions can store up to 128TB.

Speed

The speed of a memory card is measured in megabytes per second (mb/s) and can fall into several categories. Both the memory card's capacity and the size of the image file determine how quickly the card will read or write data. Here are the four common speed classes:

  • Class 2(C2), the minimum speed is 2MB/s
  • Class 4 (C4), a minimum speed of 4MB/s
  • Class 6 (C6): minimum speed of 6MB/s
  • Class 10(C10): minimum speed of 10MB/s
A person holding a black Lexar 64GB SD card pack near a white wall

How to Calculate the Number of Images 32GB Can Hold?

Calculating the number of photos for your storage isn't a difficult process. All you need to know is the average image file size of the image format. Then divide the available space(32GB) by that number.

Average Image File Size for JPEG

  • 4(MegaPixels) = 1.2MB
  • 5(MegaPixels) = 1.5MB
  • 6(MegaPixels) = 1.8MB
  • 7(MegaPixels) = 2.1MB
  • 8(MegaPixels) = 2.4MB
  • 10(MegaPixels)= 3.0MB
  • 12(MegaPixels) = 3.6MB
  • 14(MegaPixels) = 4.2MB
  • 16(MegaPixels) = 4.8MB
  • 22(MegaPixels) = 6.6MB

Average Image File Size for RAW

  • 4(MegaPixels)= 12(MB)
  • 5(MegaPixels)= 15(MB)
  • 6(MegaPixels) = 18(MB)
  • 7(MegaPixels) = 21(MB)
  • 8(MegaPixels) = 24(MB)
  • 10(MegaPixels)= 30(MB)
  • 12(MegaPixels) = 36(MB)
  • 14(MegaPixels) = 42(MB)
  • 16(MegaPixels) = 48(MB)
  • 22(MegaPixels) = 66(MB)

Related Questions

Is 32GB a Lot of Storage for a Camera?

32GB is not a lot of storage for a camera. The average professional takes thousands of high-quality images a year. Many photographers go for larger storage space, probably Terabytes. This decision is due to the large volume of images and their needed size.

How Many Photos Can a 64GB Hold?

64GB can hold as many as 12 000 photos when shot on a 12MP camera with an average image size of 5.2MB. It can also hold around 2,460 RAW and 6,500 JPEG images on a standard DSLR camera.

Conclusion

A 32GB storage space is ideal for the immediate shooting needs of many photographers. It can store up to tens of thousands of high-quality images. Yet, several factors affect the size of your images. I've broken down all you need to know concerning this.

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