Camera Guru's

[MTR]

I was out taking pictures at the weekend and saw something a little strange on my CF card when I got home.
I formatted (as usual) my Sandisk Ultra II CF 2GB card and my 30D tells me I have 497 shots in Large jpg format which seems normal to me.
When I got home and downloaded the images from my card I had 786 image files in the new folder. I have never filled my card before!
At first I thought my computer had misread some of the files but this was not the case I checked the folder and they are all genuine shots and no duplicates.

So why does my camera tell me 497 and I get 786?
Has any one else seen this before?
Does anyone have any kind of explanation?
Is it related to this type/make of CF card?

[Boddie]

Were they in 2 different folders or in one folder?

[eeyore]

i take you are sure that you didnt inadvertantly change your jpeg setting from jpeg large fine to jpeg large compressed during the heat of the action ie after you had checked your initial shot number ?

that would have the effect of pretty much doubling your shot capacity

[Boddie]

I dont think he is talking about capacity.

His camera said he had taken 497 shots
His computer found 786 image files.

So I think his camera could only see one of two files i.e the one with 497 shots

Its strikes me that there was a second file, that his camera could not see, with 289 further shots on it.

Perhaps if he changed the settings, the new images went in a second file?

So when he looked at how many images he had taken it was only recognising the file that contained the images with the new settings?

This has happened to me before.

I formatted the card in the camera but only the most recent file. It happened at Gigrin and I wondered how I filled a card so quick despite formatting it in the camera.

When I got home I found seal images on it, in a seperate file. And there were no seals at Gigrin

[eeyore]

a 2GB card could be reasonably expected to hold 700 images if shooting jpeg - I get arround 350 on my 1gb card (less at high isos) thus i think you have cracked it - when the card was formatted it didnt erase all the previous shots

a sure way to avoid this is to clear the card using the computer after download , then format it in camera

btw if it keeps happening it is a sign that the card maybe about to die unexpectedly and ought to be despatched to silicon heaven before it lets you down on something critical

[MTR]

The pictures were all taken at Formby or Martin Mere.
If you format the CF card that should erase any folders on the card.
I definitely did not change the jpg settings during the day.
The only setting that I changed was the ISO from 400 to 800 at the end of the day and by that time I was on my second CF card

[eeyore]

were you shooting on auto bracket - that takes 3 shots for every one shown on the counter ? or shooting on jpeg + raw which takes 2 for every 1 counted ?

btw i know that formatting should delete everything on the card , but sometimes it doesnt

[MTR]

Originally Posted by eeyore

were you shooting on auto bracket - that takes 3 shots for every one shown on the counter ? or shooting on jpeg + raw which takes 2 for every 1 counted ?

btw i know that formatting should delete everything on the card , but sometimes it doesnt

No auto bracketing, I have never used this function ever
And only jpg large was used

[eeyore]

some 2gb cards are actually 4gb cards that have faulty areas and have been "blocked" to allow only 2GB to be used - sometimes this blocking is imperfect leading to higher capacity than indicated - however this practice of recycling faulty high capacity cards generally limited to cheap generic brands and i would be suprised to encounter it with a sandisk card

the only other thing i can suggest then is a glitch with your camera's counter - mine occasionally wrongly reads the size of the card suggesting that i have half as many shots available as i actually have.

beyond these two ideas i am confuzzled

[FungiJohn]

Originally Posted by MTR

I was out taking pictures at the weekend and saw something a little strange on my CF card when I got home.
I formatted (as usual) my Sandisk Ultra II CF 2GB card and my 30D tells me I have 497 shots in Large jpg format which seems normal to me.
When I got home and downloaded the images from my card I had 786 image files in the new folder. I have never filled my card before!
At first I thought my computer had misread some of the files but this was not the case I checked the folder and they are all genuine shots and no duplicates.

So why does my camera tell me 497 and I get 786?
Has any one else seen this before?
Does anyone have any kind of explanation?
Is it related to this type/make of CF card?

Hi MTR

This is due to the subject you are photographing ... or more correctly the binary detail within the image. The camera is programmed to think of an average image in terms of size i.e. an image of say 50 - 50 black / white .. we can ignore colour.

An image taken, say of the sky will take up far less space (image size) than an image of a very strongly coloured subject. In other words we are talking about the size difference between black and white .... in other (technical) words, 1's and 0's.

You can easily prove this by comparing the image size of a photograph of a white card with that of a dark coloured or black one. The dark or black image will be about twice the size!

Hope this helps.

John