Congratulations to Javier Sotomayor, November 2023 PFRE Photographer of the Month! The theme this month was "Open." Javier Sotomayor - Entry #879 Dave Koch - Entry #877 Peter Wingfield - Entry #874 Here's what Javier has to say: Hello First of all I wa ...
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The storage space on your camera affects your output as a photographer. With so many external storage drives on the market, it can be challenging to know which is enough for you. Below I’ve answered the question of how many photos 200GB can hold.
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200GB can hold as many as 55500 JPEG images at a resolution of 12MP. It can also store around 5555 images for the much larger RAW images at the exact resolution. If you've to store JPEGs at the highest possible quality, that could be around 30,300 images.
The number of images you can store using those formats is relative. Depending on the quality you’re storing them with, you can save up to 166600 JPEGs or more than 16000 RAW images. A 200GB has 200 billion bytes which is enough for most immediate needs.
Several factors can determine the average size of an image. Here’s a deeper look into them:
Some quality settings, such as ISO, affect the file size of an image. An increase in the ISO count on your camera increases the noise on the image. This change increases the file size due to the increased complexity of your photo.
The bit depth of an image also affects the file size of your image. It’s the storage space that each pixel requires to display the range of different colors. The more colors on your images, the more the bit depth required, and the greater the file size of that image.
The format you choose to store your photos in will affect the size of every image. Thus, the format size also determines the total number of images you can fit into a certain drive. Here are the two major file sizes for many digital cameras:
When you compress a photo from its original format, you only store relevant data about the photo. As a result, JPEGs have their sizes within the lower megabytes and kilobytes ranges. This size reduction allows storing many JPEGs on a 200GB storage.
So, let's assume that your camera’s JPEG size is 2 MB. This estimate means you can store 100,000 JPEG photos on a 200GB storage drive. If you’re shooting at 14MP, this can amount to 47 600 images.
Most camera lenses allow you to capture in the RAW file format. What this means is that the lens can pick up every data of the scene you capture—color range and all. As a result, these RAW image files are larger than other conventional photo files, such as JPEG.
RAW photos are quite easy to work with, especially during photo post-processing. These RAW image files vary in size, depending on the quality and type of camera used to take the shot. On average, RAW files come with a size of 30MB.
The total number of pixels captured by your camera represents its resolution. This property affects the image display quality and size as a general rule, the greater the MegaPixel, the bigger the image size.
It can easily get overwhelming when considering the several types of memory cards. You have about 7 types to choose from based on your needs. No doubt, each of these varies largely based on their sizes. So, let’s discuss which memory card size is suitable for you.
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A landscape photograph can come in different aspect ratios. Thus, the pixel number for each photo varies. Many landscape images have a standard resolution of 24MP.
For a JPEG, this pixel number equates to approximately 4.5 to 8.2 MB. RAW files for the same image range vary in size from 52MB to 64.9MB. As a result, most landscape photographers choose larger storage space, usually in terabytes.
As a real estate photographer, you can snap a variety of photos. It could be an interior photograph, a commercial property, or a home photograph. You may need to take a few dozen photographs for each customer.
Most real estate images range in size from 10 to 50 MB, depending on the image quality. So, you'll need at least 200GB to have enough space to store your images.
While shooting, a typical wedding photo has a pixel number of 20MP. However, after processing, the JPEG file size is around 10MB. If the smallest size for an image is 10MB, you can store up to 100,000 photographs. Thus, if you mainly capture wedding photos, 1TB will suffice.
Cameras typically rely on memory cards as their primary means of storing images. Virtually any digital camera today should be able to use a memory card. Here are the three memory card formats you can select from:
Many expert photographers use compact flash cards for storage. As far as memory cards go, it has the fastest reading speed. Based on several factors, the capacity of a compact flash can be anywhere from 8GB up to 512GB.
The Secure Digital (SD) card is the standard for digital
Compared to an SD card, its size is noticeably more compact. The small form makes it ideal for use in many modern cameras. While standard models have a storage capacity of 32GB, the ultra-capacity models can hold 128TB.
There are different speed classes for a memory card, and it is measured in mb/s. No doubt, the speed of a memory card depends on its size and the file size of an image. Here’s an example of the four common speed classes:
The best way to determine the number of photos you can store in 200GB is to know the photo size. In other words, do you have RAW photos, JPEGs, or both formats? There’s an average file size depending on whether you store JPEGs or RAW
The list below shows you what JPEG image size to expect based on the camera's pixel quality:
Below's a list showing the average size of RAW photos based on the megapixel of your camera:
300GB can store 1.5 times the number of photos in 200GB. A 300GB storage drive is suitable if you work with RAW files. It offers an extra 100 billion bytes of storage. With 200GB space, you can hold as many as 75 000 images without the hassle.
For most photographers, 200GB is a lot of storage for their immediate needs. However, if you’re looking to store above 50, 000 images, you should consider going for much larger storage. Although, keep in mind that if the average image size is quite low, you’ll have more storage space.
There are tons of storage mediums, and knowing which is ideal for you can be exhausting. A 200GB storage drive can store tens of thousands of images. However, a major contributing factor is the file format, which i’ve discussed above.
