Memory

[fatrip]

hey guys i am going out tonight and buying a rebel xt and i was wondering how many pictures a 1 gig card holds at 8 MP???

[Dino]

:) Depends weather you're planning on shooting in JPEG, JPEG + RAW, or just RAW. I don't have the XT but I do have the XTi, and with a 2 gig card shooting RAW files I can fit close to 200 shots on a card. So probably somewhere around 100 shots per card if you're using RAW, more if you're using JPEG, and less if you're using JPEG + RAW.

Congrats on the new camera! :D

[fatrip]

thank you dinoman. so i am new to the hi end digital photo world. now you have givin me another question to ask...lol ummm is RAW a better quality pic than jpeg???

[Dino]

Depends a bit on the camera but on both the XT and XTi (as well as most today probably) the difference between a properly exposed JPEG image and a properly exposed RAW image are pretty negligible until you really get into pixel peeping ;). BOTH JPEG and RAW have their places and uses where one might be better to use over the other. It also comes down some to personal preference! What RAW does do though is put YOU in much higher control of your final image, both because it's taking the image data straight from your camera without the camera getting in the middle and mucking things up doing things it thinks you would like. This isn't the end all solution though - RAW is a considerably bigger file, you need some sort of RAW software (not to worry as the XT comes with a fairly good piece of software) to take advantage of the properties of RAW, and as generally is the case it'll take longer to PP the RAW image vs. a JPEG one. :) The biggest thing RAW offers you is control, it puts you in as much absolute control of your final image as is possible.

[fatrip]

thank you for your explaning that....photoshop takes advantage of RAW files right??

[Dino]

:D The newer versions (which I haven't used) do, I have PS7 which I import my RAW files into after working on them in DPP (will come with your camera) but the things I've yet figured out how to do in it without converting the image are kinda limited. The newer CS 2/3 versions are much better, I'm just holding off upgrading so can't say much about working with RAW files in them! :D

[fatrip]

yea i have PS 7 as well... good to know thank you very much.

[fatrip]

what speed memory should i get?

[Dino]

:) I use Sandisk Ultra II cards, if you're buying from somewhere like Staples or Office Depot you should be able to find them and they're coming waaaaaay down in price. On the alternative there is also Sandisk Extreme III cards which are even faster - I've never had my Ultra II cards lag at all before though in my XTi. I'd have to look it up but I believe the Ultra II cards are 10Mb/s read/write.

[fatrip]

yes they are about that...thank you that is what i wanted to here... that i didnt need to go out and buy one of the ones that are 20mb/s and are mucho dinaro...lol..

[Dino]

:D About the only thing you'd risk by having a slower card is having to wait a few seconds for the camera to finish writing to the card after doing a big burst. So no biggie unless you're shooting a lot of action and absolutely can't be missing shots!

[fatrip]

yea it is more for still pictures and tank pics...so i should be good...thank you for all of your help..