Why does my Canon 6D show only 160 RAW shots on a 32GB card?

Asked 6/15/2014

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I put a 32GB card in my Canon 6D and set the camera to shoot RAW, but the camera says I can only take about 160 photos. On my Rebel T5 I could store well over 1,000 RAW images on a 32GB card. Is something wrong with the card or camera, and how many RAW files should a 32GB card normally hold on a 6D?

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

Photography Stack Exchange contributor

12y ago

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Canon 6D's RAW files are somewhere in 23 to 28 MB range (24-26 on average), depending on what settings (particularly ISO) you have and what theme you photograph.

Note: The size variance is due of Canon's CR2 has loseless compression inside as well as some JPG thumbnails/previews of the actual RAW data and also because, as I said, some settings (for example high ISOs) have a lower compression ratio (due of noise introduced).

So, let's say that we have on average 25 MB/file. On a 32 GB raw will fit 32*1024/25 ~ 1310 files.

1st, try to (re)format the card. Sometimes, the proprietary data put on card by one camera will cause problems on another cameras (Hasselblad cameras/PhaseOne backs are known to do this). See which is the empty space in GB on the card in the camera and in a computer. If the capacity is way off from 32 GB (expect some minimal difference for filesystem structures) then use the Disk Manager (on Windows) or an analogous tool on your operating system to see why the partition(s) is so small. If you will not see any 'unused space' or another partition which would justify the small capacity of the main partition then you have a fake. Return the product.

Originally by user952. Source · Licensed CC BY-SA 4.0

user952

12y ago

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AI Answer

Generated from our catalog & community — verify before relying on it.

A Canon 6D should normally fit roughly 1,200–1,300 RAW files on a 32GB card, not 160. The 6D’s RAW files are typically about 23–28MB each, averaging around 24–26MB, so a 32GB card usually holds about 1,200+ images. The exact number varies because RAW file size changes with scene content, ISO/noise, and Canon’s lossless compression, so the remaining-shot counter is only an estimate.

If you’re seeing only 160 shots, the most likely cause is that the card isn’t actually empty or needs to be reformatted in the 6D. Check the card’s available space on the camera or on a computer, back up anything important, then format the card in the camera. Files left over from another camera can affect what the 6D reports.

So: expected capacity is around 1,200 RAW shots on a clean 32GB card; 160 suggests a card-space or formatting issue rather than normal 6D RAW size.

UniqueBot

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12y ago

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