Memory Card Capacity

A question we get repeatedly is "what size memory card should I buy?" The answer depends on several factors including your camera's megapixel count, whether you are using your card for video recording, how many photos you take at any given time and what you intend to do with the photos you take.

Take a look at the chart below to determine your requirements. Bear in mind that the actual number of images you can fit on your card will vary with each camera model, resolution and compression settings. If you shoot a lot of video, get a larger card than indicated, or more than one card.

Image Storage Capacity

Megapixel

Approx File Size

128MB

256MB

512MB

1GB

2GB

4GB

8GB

16GB

4MP

1.94

66

132

264

528

1056

2112

4224

8448

5MP

2.56

50

100

200

400

800

1600

3200

6400

6MP

3

42

84

168

336

672

1344

2688

5376

7MP

3.5

38

76

152

304

608

1216

2432

4864

8MP

4.5

29

59

119

223

446

892

1784

3568

10MP

5.9

21

43

86

172

338

677

1355

2711

12MP

7.5

17

34

68

133

226

533

1066

2133

Approximate number of images a memory card of the given capacity may store

Video Length - 15 frames per sec

Video Resolution

File size/
minutes

128MB

256MB

512MB

1GB

2GB

4GB

8GB

16GB

160x120

5.1

25.06

50.13

100.25

200.5

401

802

1604

3208

320x240

10.2

12.53

25.06

50.13

100.25

200.5

401

802

1604

640x480

20.4

6.27

12.53

25.07

50.13

100.26

200.52

401.04

802.08

Approximate number of minutes of video a memory card of the given capacity may store

All the above are at 15 frames per second with sound

Video Length - 30 frames per sec

Video Resolution

File size/minutes

128MB

256MB

512MB

1GB

2GB

4GB

8GB

16GB

160x120

10.2

12.50

25.00

50

100

200

400

800

1600

320x240

20.4

6.28

12.56

25.12

50.24

100.48

200.96

401.92

803.84

640x480

40.8

3.14

6.28

12.56

25.12

50.24

100.48

200.96

401.92

Approximate number of minutes of video a memory card of the given capacity may store

All the above are at 30 frames per second with sound

 

Sound Recording Length in Minutes

MP3 Quality

64MB

128MB

256MB

512MB

1GB

2GB

4GB

8GB

16GB

64 Kb/per sec

30

60

120

240

480

960

1920

3840

7680

128 Kb/per sec

15

30

60

120

240

480

960

1920

3840

Approximate number of tracks a memory card of the given capacity may store

All storage capacity figures are approximate

 

Transfer Speed Rates

Card Speed

Data Transfer Rate

8x

1.2 MB/sec

12x

1.8 MB/sec

20x

3.0 MB/sec

25x

3.8 MB/sec

30x

4.5 MB/sec

40x

6.0 MB/sec

60x

9.0 MB/sec

66x

10.0 MB/sec

80x

12.0 MB/sec

100x

15.0 MB/sec

120x

18.0 MB/sec
 

1X Speed is equal to 150 kilobytes (KB) per second