Nikon SLR Cameras

How many photos can a 32GB SD Card hold?

Laurence
Laurence

I'm going to buy the new Nikon D3200, a 24.2 megapixel DSLR.

Of course. I don't want to be running out of memory when I'm out and about… So could anyone tell me how many photos and/or videos a 32GB SD Card can hold? And whether I should just go with the 64GB?

fhotoace
fhotoace

Far too many.

You only need a card large enough to hold a days shooting and that usually requires only a 4 gb card. You can carry a spare, freshly formatted card if you think you may fill the card during the days shoot.

You need to get into the habit of copying all your image files to your computer at the end of each shooting day to a new file folder named for the subject and date. Use the card reader on your computer to do this the most efficiently.

Once all the images are placed on the computer, format the memory card using the format feature on the camera.

Videos are limited to 4 gb files (17-20 minute takes). Keeping 4 gb video files on different cards will protect your video if and when one of your cards becomes corrupted.

The largest memory cards I have are 8 gb and they are the ones I use when I do not want to have to open the camera to change cards in dusty or rainy conditions.

Politely Dazed
Politely Dazed

Of course, the answer is dependant on what format you shoot in. Low, Medium, High JPEG or RAW or even RAW + JPEG. But even then the answer is lots and lots. You will never fill that much space.

Take in what fhotoace says. He knows what he's talking about. Hang around here and read his posts and you'll learn some pretty important to the point stuff.

MixedMojo
MixedMojo

There are far too many factors that contribute to how many pictures can be stored on an SD card to give you an exact number. But ask yourself how many pictures you expect to take. I have a 32GB card in my D7000 that holds RAW files while I use an 8GB card to hold JPEG's, the way I have my camera set, I get well over 500 frames on the counter and that's with a 16mp sensor. My D7000 puts out some pretty big files, but like I said, it depends on a lot of different things like compression settings, color, contrast, sharpening, and the histogram. And remember, I'm writing BOTH RAW and JPEG files. You'll be okay with a 32GB card. The 64 gig cards are too expensive.

Photofox
Photofox

It will hold thousands!
But I would recommend getting several smaller capacity cards, say, 16 gb
The reason is, if you only have one card and it gets lost or damaged, then you have lost All your photos.
If anything happens to a smaller card, then you will have lost only some of your pictures.
Also, each day you can take out the used one for downloading later and insert a new one.