I use Sandisk Extreme pro 16GB 199 RAW uncompressed. They run from about 35-74meg. Most are in the high 60 to mid 70meg range.

Just got my D800E

8 gig Transcent SDHC

JPEG Fine shows 237 after formatting card in camera (second card 239)
TIFF shows 69 (69)
RAW shows 100 (100)

Sandisk Extreme 20MB/s SD card

235 JPEG fine
68 TIFF
99 RAW

Those are what the display shows, I have not shot out the card to see how close those numbers are.

It is also nice that I can use some of the cheap SD cards from my D90 in the Transcend, though I ordered a lexar 64gig SD just to cut down on card changes.

Format the chip *in the camera*. I've had terrible luck with almost every Nikon body if I format cards externally.

My D800 raw file (compressed lossless, no JPG) run right around 45MB each. That's 400 or so per 16GB CF card.

Yes impossible! Format that sucker. I got a 32 GB Sandisk at 90 mb/s and it gives me around 310 RAW + JPEG shots which I find decent enough. I also have a 16 GB CF card from Sandisk but just 60 mb/s and it provides an extra 140 shots. Close to 500 shots per outing is not bad I think. The RAW files I am finding come in around 45 MB regularly on my D800e and drop to around 18-24 MB in JPEG. I don't need to process the images much like my D700 captures I have found.

picturecross said:
you were exactly right on all of that info thank you, i was reading the buffer size of 14.

Definition of an expert: Anyone who made the same mistake you are making, but 15 minutes earlier...

Welcome the the forum, Ian. Have fun with that camera!

msmoto said:
Oh gosh, and I was working on this answer

Quote:

I've always just highlighted the folders and hit move to trash to clear the card, anyone know how i Format the card on a MAC so that i know its totally clear please.
cheers for reading.
Ian.

Well, on your Mac, if you have the card in a card reader click on the "Go" menu on the top left of the menu bar. Then click "utilities", find "disc utility" and click on this.

On the left of the box, you should see your card. Select this one and then click on "erase". You can also partition the card with one partition MS-DOS(FAT), and then this is the formatting of the card. However, once you get the card back in the camera, go to the menu items with the "wrench" and the top item is format the card. Do this before shooting any photos.

Now, if this is confusing, or does not work, read page 32 of the D800 instruction manual, formatting memory cards. Now, if this still does not work, the card much be defective. Try another card to find out.

And...it all worked out!!!

ill just smile and say thank you lol
i did exactly that :-)

Wataru said:
Ian, it sounds like one of two things:

1. Are you are reading your buffer space, not the amount of space on your card? When you put your formatted card in, you should see a number like "200" that reflects the space available on the 16 GB card. If not, format the card (press the two red buttons on the camera, wait for the LCD to flash FORMAT then press them again.)

The number of shots left being around 14 is the buffer space. Once you fill up the buffer, wait for the red light to go out and that will go back to 14.

2. Be sure you use the camera itself to format the card. Deleting the files first on your computer, and then putting it into the camera, won't clear the card of non-D800 data that you will need to clear.

I could be wrong, but that's what it sounds like to me.

you were exactly right on all of that info thank you, i was reading the buffer size of 14.
i didn't realise i could fomat the card in the camera like that but before i read your post i used the MAC utility and that removed everything ok.

Thanks again for all the help.

Ian.

Oh gosh, and I was working on this answer

Quote:

I've always just highlighted the folders and hit move to trash to clear the card, anyone know how i Format the card on a MAC so that i know its totally clear please.
cheers for reading.
Ian.

Well, on your Mac, if you have the card in a card reader click on the "Go" menu on the top left of the menu bar. Then click "utilities", find "disc utility" and click on this.

On the left of the box, you should see your card. Select this one and then click on "erase". You can also partition the card with one partition MS-DOS(FAT), and then this is the formatting of the card. However, once you get the card back in the camera, go to the menu items with the "wrench" and the top item is format the card. Do this before shooting any photos.

Now, if this is confusing, or does not work, read page 32 of the D800 instruction manual, formatting memory cards. Now, if this still does not work, the card much be defective. Try another card to find out.

And...it all worked out!!!

ok can i start by thanking everyone that helped me on this, there was a hidden partition and now reformatted the D800 shows i can shoot 362 loverly images this weekend.

once again thanks for all your help.

Ian.

picturecross said:
ok got home from work and had my first evening with the camera.
deleted all the files from the 16 gig CF card (which is listed in the D800 handbook) and put it in the CF slot of the camera.
the number of shots left read 14.....

Ian, it sounds like one of two things:

1. Are you are reading your buffer space, not the amount of space on your card? When you put your formatted card in, you should see a number like "200" that reflects the space available on the 16 GB card. If not, format the card (press the two red buttons on the camera, wait for the LCD to flash FORMAT then press them again.)

The number of shots left being around 14 is the buffer space. Once you fill up the buffer, wait for the red light to go out and that will go back to 14.

2. Be sure you use the camera itself to format the card. Deleting the files first on your computer, and then putting it into the camera, won't clear the card of non-D800 data that you will need to clear.

I could be wrong, but that's what it sounds like to me.

sounds like card is issue, i'm using 16gb extreme pro in my D800 14bit raw lossless compression card reads will hold 200 shots, switching to dx mode makes it close to 500 as others suggested try formatting your card. and thats with no SD card in second slot.

ok got home from work and had my first evening with the camera.
deleted all the files from the 16 gig CF card (which is listed in the D800 handbook) and put it in the CF slot of the camera.
the number of shots left read 14. now i started shooting away in the garden and it went down one at a time sometimes pausing and staying at say 11 for a few shots and so on until i reached 26 shots and the FULL sign flashed up.
the camera was set at Nef (RAW) lossless Compressed14 bit. the chart in the handbook says that with an 8gig card you should be able to shoot 133 shots.
i got 26 with a 16 gig card.
i unloaded the images to the MAC and the file sizes ranged from 36.3meg at the lowest and 43.8meg at the highest.
all added together they came to1035.9meg.
give or take a bit 1gig. so somewhere theres 15 gig missing storage on the card??
when i look at the info for the card it reads
capacity 16.35gig.
available 64.5 meg
used 16.32gig

I've always just highlighted the folders and hit move to trash to clear the card, anyone know how i Format the card on a MAC so that i know its totally clear please.
cheers for reading.
Ian.

Sorry the second "sd" slot is empty of any card.

Ok here's what I've got so far, the primary slot is set to CF and in there is a Sandisk extreme 16gig card,
The camera is set on RAW and shows 14 shots left although when I fire a shot off this number does not go down which is a bit misleading :-/
The file size is 33meg. All I can think is itl take a few hundred shots of that size and then hit 13 when it gets there, sound a bit odd.
Like I said earlyer set on the small image size and jpg normal it shows 600 odd to go,
I'm sure there's an answer to this but if it only shows the last 14 when it gets there that seems odd.

Ian.

what have you got in the second slot?

look at the settings for the "primary slot selection" and the "second slot function"

have you formatted the card in camera

If you shoot 14bit raw with lossless compression (check all your camera settings!) then pictures are around 45mb on average.

Your 16gb card should hold about 350 raw pictures (probably the display is showing you only 200, but in real life you get about 350 on it before it's full).

The full raw has been reported to be around 43 to 70 megs max if I am not mistaken. Even at the worst figure, you should have room for at least 230. Do a search here for confirmation. Some cards brand were also reported not to work. The list of supported cards should be in your manual, if not, search again.

The D800 issues thread would be a good start.

If you still do not want it, send it to me, Ill take it ;)

Try formatting your card.

16 GB raw files don't exist. :)

ok, i just got my D800 in a rush due to my D700 failing and the insurance paid out, i added the rest onto the price and got the D800.
great you may think, until i got home put a sandisk 16gig card in and realised that in raw it would only hold 1 shot? if i turn the quality down to basic and small the camera will shoot 698 shots.

up till now I've always shot in raw on the D700 and i shoot about 1500 to 2000 shots at a shoot. (motorcycle racing)
is 1 shot RAW = to near on 16 gig? if so i believe in my ignorants i have rushed and bought the wrong tool for my trade.
or have i got something drastically wrong,

if so i think i may box it back up and take it back. :-(

thanks for any help on this, what i really would like to know is if shooting on the lowest setting is going to be as good or = to the D700 in Raw full size?

excuse me if I'm totally stupid.

Ian.