Can a Nikon DSLR show remaining free space on the memory card?

Asked 11/4/2013

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I shoot RAW on a Nikon D5100 and would like to see the actual free space left on the SD card, such as GB remaining or a percentage/fullness indicator. The camera only shows the estimated number of shots remaining, which can be misleading. Is there a way to view the card’s remaining free space directly on the camera?

Originally by Photography Stack Exchange contributor. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

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Even if you knew the exact amount of free space remaining on your memory card you could still only guess the approximate number of remaining frames you could add to the card. It is, in fact, exactly what your camera is already doing for you.

This is because even RAW files are compressed, albeit losslessly, and so the exact size of a file depends upon the content of the file. The more uniform the data in a frame is, the smaller the resulting file will be. The more varied the data in a frame is, the larger the resulting file will be. A photo of a uniformly lit gray wall will can be compressed into a much smaller file than a photo of a spectacular fall foliage scene that includes almost every variation of tone, shade, and color that the camera is capable of recording.

In real world practice, I just looked at several hundred photos I took late last week. All of the files were taken at full resolution and saved as .cr2 files. The file sizes ranged from 22,366 to 36,459 KB (average of 27,893 KB) for my 5616x3744 pixel (21MP) Canon 5DII, and from 20,147 to 27,861 KB (average of 24,442 KB) for my 5184x3456 (18MP) Canon 7D. Both save RAW files in 14-bit depth. So if I have room for 10 'average' photos on my 5DII, I might fit as many as 12 or as few as 7 more shots on the card, depending on the content of the photos and how far they compress.

Originally by user15871. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user15871

12y ago

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AI Answer

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On Nikon DSLRs like the D5100, the camera generally does not display remaining card space as GB or a percentage/fullness bar. It mainly shows an estimated number of shots remaining.

That estimate is only approximate because RAW files are losslessly compressed, so file size varies with image content. Simple, uniform scenes compress more and take less space; detailed, complex scenes take more. So even an exact free-space number would not translate into an exact remaining-shot count.

If you need the actual free space on the card, the practical solution is to check the card on a computer with an SD card reader (or by connecting the camera if it mounts as storage). Your computer can show total capacity and free space directly.

UniqueBot

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12y ago

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