Cheaper here or Europe, would you guess?
Only have 128 mb, and another 32 mb. Reckon I should get one more for a month’s worth of photos. Anyone know how many photos can be taken on 128 mb?
I have a 64MB, can take around 140 at 1600x1200. At the smallest size it can take around 1000, which is just silly.
Should say in your camera book how many you can take.
Fredericka, remember you can delete the ones you don’t want as you go. Also, your camera model can compress the images.
The amount stored depends on the quality setting and size you choose. My 128mb card stores 250 pictures in high quality mode at 1024768 resolution. However, if I choose 640480 resolution (a standard monitor display resolution) I can store almost 600. Try changing the settings and the camere will tell you how many more pictures it can save. Or bring it to work, and I’ll show you! 
If you’re going to be traveling for a month, get 2x 256MB. Better yet, get one of those digital backpacks. You’ll find yourself taking MANY more photos than you expected.
If you’re planning to print them, don’t bother at any resolution under 1200x1600.
It really depends on your camera.
I have a Nikon CoolPix 995. In “normal” mode, it will store about 150 pictures on a 128MB card, which is about how long the battery will last.
In “basic” mode, it can store about 300, and in “fine” mode it will store about 75. I’ve never tried “raw” mode (totally uncompressed TIFF file).
I have no idea whether CF cards are cheaper in Europe or not, but they’re a lot cheaper in the U.S. than they are in Taiwan.
one thing that is NOT cheaper in taiwan is cf cards. i’ve brought back cf cards from the us for my cousin here because you can get much better deals on them there. the fact that most of them are made here doesn’t seem to affect their prices. not sure about prices in germany, but the price difference probably won’t be worth the trouble if you’re here in taiwan now and need it relatively quickly.
Definitely cheaper in the US because of rebates and discounts. I just picked up a 256MB SanDisk at Costco for $29!!
I have this one: Canon Powershot 450 but I can’t seem to find the specs that tell me how many images per mode.
Sorry for being stupid about this, it’s my new toy, but what’s the diff between image quality and the image size and the relation to being able to store a certain number of pics, and which one is sufficient for travel photos (scenery, architeture, etc)?
You think I should buy one more CF card before I go? Can I buy them everywhere, or only at camera shops? Like does Watsons sell them?
I have a Canon Powershot S40, basically the same thing (S45 has better software). Notice that whatever mode you choose, there is a number at the bottom right hand corner of the screen that tells you how many more photos can be taken with (1) how much you already have on the card and (2) the mode you have chosen. When I formatted my 256MB card, I had 123 images available. This is with the best image quality selected (“Superfine, Large”). In this case, the resolution (image size) is “Large”. “Superfine” means that compression is set very low as not to have artifacts.
So, bascially, your camera records pictures in the JPEG format (.jpg). Image size is often referred to as “resolution”. This is given in a measure of pixels wide by pixels high, for example, 1024x768. Then there is “image compression” which uses alogrithims to condense similar image information. You might have noticed that some heavily compressed images on the Web are grainy, blocky or blurry. These are pictures with heavy compression applied.
I always shoot with the highest resolution and lowest compression (referred to as “Superfine” in the Canon world). Just remember, LOW compression means HIGH quality.
Why? Because I want the option to make prints. A 4 megapixel camera, as yours, put on the nicest setting (Superfine, Large) should make 4x6 prints indistinguishable from tradtional film prints. Use a memory-saving options with care.
When I go for travel, I always take two 256MB cards and my 16MB card that came with the camera. This gives me about 250 shots at the highest quality. Since I can erase a lot of duds, I never really need to take more pictures than that for any kind of trip I do.
Oh, take an extra battery. I bought an extra one. You’ll need it for a full day of shooting.
Thanks Jeremy! Didn’t notice that. Haven’t had much time to look at the manual. Suppose I’ll be reading that on the flight.
I am still wondering whether I can buy the CFs everywhere or do I have to go back to the camera shop. What about the battery?
I can never work out what size to set my camera at.
What is the standard picture size that gets developed? Is it 640x480 or 1280x960.
And I realise that is you resize after you’ve taken a photo, you don’t lose quality as long as you’re trimming down is size, not increasing - so what is the reccommended size stting. Thanks.
CF cards are pretty much CF cards. You can buy them in just about any electronics store. There are a ton of makers. I bought SimpleTech cards. Get cards with warranties.
The batteries, as you know, are proprietary. However, there are 3rd party vendors out there besides Canon that make the battery you need. Just make sure you get the battery with the right model number for your camera (NB-2L). This kind of battery are usually sold in electronics stores that have upper-end cameras like yours, not just any store selling digital cameras.
All of the CF memory cards that I have seen are compatible. Better read that manual to find out how much memory your camera can support; Nikon, for example, says the 995 will only take up to 128MB and can’t use the IBM microdrives.
There are about five different kinds of media out there nowadays, all with different shapes and connectors, including Sony’s “secure” (encrypted) memory stick (SDMS), “Smart Media” (dumb name) (SM), and Compact Flash (CF), but as long as you tell the shop you need a CF card – and maybe show them the one you’ve got – they should sell you the right kind.
The “images available” is a best-guess based on a “typical” image. Some pictures compress better than others (e.g., a clear blue sky vs. a cluttered street scene). It seems to be pretty accurate, usually.
Aside:
ABTW, lest anyone take my mentions of Nikon as a recommendation, I don’t particularly like it – it shows an enormous amount of pincushioning, and it won’t focus properly in low light. And since it’s not an SLR, there’s no way to tell that it’s not in focus; the little LCD screen on back doesn’t have anywhere nearly enough resolution to tell. Plus, even in close-up mode in good light, it will randomly pick something on the edge in the far distance to focus on instead of the huge blob in the middle.
I like this Canon Powershot so far. I think I got a great deal from the little fellow down on Po ai.
Anyone know if there are any reasonable camera shops near the Heping/Xinsheng intersection, (have a meeting there later)that might sell canon supplies, such as the Canon
Li-ion battery pack and cf cards. I think I remember one from years ago, but that may be at xinyi and xinsheng instead.
Just go down Heping to Roosevelt. That intersection has T3K, Daichi and T-Zone … a rather festive area for what you need.
[quote=“jeremy”]Just go down Heping to Roosevelt. That intersection has T3K, Daichi and T-Zone … a rather festive area for what you need.[/quote]And yet another 3 floor one between T-Zone and T3K whose name escapes me. They’re all right by the Guting station for all the MRT fans
fredericka: You can buy CF cards at pretty much any computer/digital camera store. I’m pretty sure Watson’s won’t have it.
The battery you’ll almost definitely have to go to a digital camera store, unless you want to order it online.
amos: 640x480 is only good for 2x3" print outs or web usage. You definitely want to go 1200x1600 for 4x6 prints. Although if your camera uses software interpolation to reach that, it’s going to be the same as the lower resolution.
Also, don’t mess around with the size too much. Especially the horiz v vert ratio, otherwise when you get them printed, they’ll be stretched/squashed.
MaPoDoFu: Interesting…I have a Nikon 950 and I just put my 256 card in and it works fine. Having Microdrive support would have been nice but that’s usually only available for higher end cameras.
Have you tried changing the focus modes?
Answerer, I’ve seen reports on digicam websites, talking about the Nikon 995, that say the 256MB CF and 1GB Microdrives both work in the 995. They probably do, but Nikon’s official word is 128 max.
One test report said that the Microdrive was slow and drained the battery quickly. This might be why Nikon says that.