When taking photos with a digital camera it is useful to know how many photos will fit on your memory card (SD, Memory Stick Duo, USB, etc), and know how large the JPEG images are.
There are a lot of tables out there showing this kind of information. I don’t trust other people’s numbers so I decided to calculate them myself and produce some charts to show how the number of megapixels you use when taking the photo affects how many photos will fit on the card.
| MP | 0.3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
| 256MB | 1896 | 569 | 284 | 190 | 142 | 114 | 81 | 57 | 47 | 38 |
| 512MB | 3793 | 1138 | 569 | 379 | 284 | 228 | 163 | 114 | 95 | 76 |
| 1GB | 7585 | 2276 | 1138 | 759 | 569 | 455 | 325 | 228 | 190 | 152 |
| 2GB | 15170 | 4551 | 2276 | 1517 | 1138 | 910 | 650 | 455 | 379 | 303 |
| 4GB | 30341 | 9102 | 4551 | 3034 | 2276 | 1820 | 1300 | 910 | 759 | 607 |
| 8GB | 60681 | 18204 | 9102 | 6068 | 4551 | 3641 | 2601 | 1820 | 1517 | 1214 |
The table above is what I came up with. I made the assumption that the images are stored as JPEGs and the compression ratio is 15:1. That is a rough average of what my Sony Cyber-shot W80 camera is compressing my photos at.
The compression ratio can have a big effect on the size of your photos. It can for example make the difference between your photo being 2MB in size or being 4MB in size.
This graph shows the JPEG photo size when using low compression (which I’m defining as 10:1) and high compression (which I’m defining as 20:1).
My second graph shows how many photos you can fit on a 4GB card. I chose 4GB as this is quite a typical memory card size for today’s digital cameras. You can see that a small decrease in the megapixel resolution (that you shoot the image at) can allow you to fit a lot more photos on the card.
Here’s a table of the average JPEG image sizes for differing megapixel resolutions.
| MP | 0.3 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 7 | 10 | 12 | 15 |
| Size (MB) | 0.14 | 0.45 | 0.9 | 1.35 | 1.8 | 2.25 | 3.15 | 4.5 | 5.4 | 6.75 |
If you take a lot of photos then I’d recommend you try decreasing the number of megapixels in your photos. Most digital cameras will allow you to do this very easily. Today 10MP and 12MP cameras are common, but this level of detail is way more than most people need. Megapixels are a marketing game played by camera manufacturers.
By having the resolution too high you are just decreasing the amount of pictures you can take, increasing the space they use on your computer, and increasing the time it takes to process or upload them.
I have a 7MP camera. I have turned it down to 5MP because I find 5MP to be sufficient. You get great photos at 5MP – they look great on screen and great when they are printed out on 6×4 inch or 7×5 inch photo paper.
Give it a go, and see if you notice any difference.
Virgin Trains standard vs 1st class
March 8th, 2010When booking a recent two hour return train journey I spotted that I could take 1st class on the return leg for only £5 extra. I thought I’d give it a go to see if it is any better than standard class.
The standard class outward journey
If you are taking a Virgin Train from a London mainline station like Euston and are in standard class, one of the first things you’ll notice is that you have quite a long walk to your carriage.
The 1st class carriages are nearest to the building entrance. The standard class carriages are at the other end so you might need a minute or two of walking to reach them.
Above is what the seating looks like. There are four seats across in standard class. The train itself is quite narrow so there isn’t a lot of space.
Don’t bother bringing luggage with you, especially at busy times, there’s hardly any space. The luggage rack above the seat is a joke. The space starts off fairly small in the middle of the carriage, and gets smaller and smaller as you get to the ends of the carriage. At the ends of the carriage you’d be lucky to get your coat in there.
There are some luggage spaces in the carriage, but competition for this space can be fierce. If you’ve ever been in standard class before Christmas you’ll know that bringing anything bigger than what you can fit on the floor in front of you, or on your lap is a bad idea.
At quieter times you won’t have problems, but it is sometimes hard to know whether it will be quiet or busy.
If you book on the Virgin Trains website you’ll get an automatic seat reservation. There is a display above each seat which says whether it is reserved or not. If you are lucky then you’ll find your seat unoccupied. If not you’ll have to ask a grumpy looking passenger to move on.
In standard class you’ll find a carriage where you can buy drinks, snacks and magazines. The shop closes about half an hour before reaching the final destination (they seem to need a lot of time to check the stock and count the takings).
There is also usually a quiet carriage in standard class where you are not supposed to use your phone, or play music at audible volume. People still do though, and I’ve never seen a ticket inspector do anything about it.
The 1st class return journey
First class is a bit more spacious. There are only three seats across in 1st class. Other than the extra space there isn’t much different about the interior of the carriage.
During the weekdays they’ll serve you a complimentary meal if you are travelling at the right time.
At the weekend you’ll have to make do with a complimentary tea, drink, and snack. I got a bottle of fizzy water, and a pack of two cookies.
In 1st class there is free WiFi. It is also available in standard class but you’ll have to pay for it there. As with most public WiFi the connection is unencrypted so be careful what you look at, as other (bad!) people could intercept your internet traffic if they wanted. Stick to standard website browsing, and only enter login details, or send sensitive information if you are using an encrypted (HTTPS/SSL) website. Ideally you should use VPN software to keep your sent or received traffic confidential.
On arriving back in London my carriage was very near to the station exit so I got out fast, whereas those in standard class had to walk much further along the platform.
Normally 1st class is much more expensive than standard class so I’d say it isn’t worth it, but if you can get a 1st class ticket for just a few pounds more than your standard class ticket then it is worth a go.
Is it possible to get removed from Interflora’s junk post list?
March 5th, 2010I’ve used Interflora in the past when I’ve needed to get flowers for various people. As a result of this I ended up on Interflora’s postal mailing list. Every so often I would get mailing in the post advertising their services. Especially around the times of flower giving events such as Valentine’s Day and Mother’s Day.
I’m not a bit fan of getting junk mail so I thought I’d send a quick message to them to ask them to stop it. I used the Interflora Contact page to send them my request. This I did on the 1st August 2009.
As always when contacting a company I make a record of it just in case I need to make a further complaint later on. I record the details on my telephone call logging spreadsheet. Despite the name it works well for recording details of emails, and letters that I send as well.
Despite my request, later in the year I received another junk mailing from Interflora, this one saying ‘Trust Interflora to deliver a smile this Christmas’. Their junk mail didn’t put a smile on my face!
On the 29th January 2010 I sent them a second complaint through their contact page. This time I got a message back from one of their customer service people apologising for the inconvenience caused.
Now after two complaints they are bound to have removed me from their mailing list. Right?
Wrong. Come February 2010 I received another one suggesting I send someone flowers for their birthday. And in March 2010 I got another one reminding me about Mother’s Day.
So it is now 4th March 2010 and I have sent them my third complaint. Will I finally be removed from their mailing list? I’m not hopeful, and I’ll update this post if I get any more unwanted Interflora post.
