Nikon D-850 - Can I determine the space left on the in-camera cards without a card reader? I am traveling and face a family event. I did not bring along a card reader and wonder if I...

DaveyDitzer Loc: Western PA

I am traveling and face a family event. I did not bring along a card reader and wonder if I can see the remaining space on the cards while they are installed in the camera?

Orphoto Loc: Oregon

Yes. The viewfinder lower right corner shows remaining room in most crowded card. Remaining room means number of images at current settings.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

Extremely easy. Just look at your image format setting and your card size, then consult the chart on page 362 of your D850 User's Manual. That chart uses a 64GB card as their example capacity. The 12-bit compressed NEF files in the full 8256x5504 pixel resolution stores about 800 image files per 64GB. Just determine your own simple (round number) math for your card size and camera settings.

rehess Loc: South Bend, Indiana, USA

CHG_CANON wrote:

Extremely easy. Just look at your image format setting and your card size, then consult the chart on page 362 of your D850 User's Manual. That chart uses a 64GB card as their example capacity. The 12-bit compressed NEF files in the full 8256x5504 pixel resolution stores about 800 image files per 64GB. Just determine your own simple (round number) math for your card size and camera settings.

Is that how Canon does it? The method used by Pentax is much much easier - the way described above by Orphoto:

Orphoto wrote:

Yes. The viewfinder lower right corner shows remaining room in most crowded card. Remaining room means number of images at current settings.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

DaveyDitzer wrote:

I am traveling and face a family event. I did not bring along a card reader and wonder if I can see the remaining space on the cards while they are installed in the camera?

By default, this information is shown in the lower right-hand corner of the top LCD anytime the camera is powered off. It's normally pretty close to accurate, but can be a little off sometimes.

billnikon Loc: Pennsylvania/Ohio/Florida/Maui/Oregon/Vermont

DaveyDitzer wrote:

I am traveling and face a family event. I did not bring along a card reader and wonder if I can see the remaining space on the cards while they are installed in the camera?

Your camera should show how many exposures you have left on the card. Your camera uses a count down system.

DirtFarmer Loc: Escaped from the NYC area, back to MA

The number reported by your camera is an estimate of the number of exposures remaining. It's only an estimate because not all the image files are the same size and the camera can't predict the size of future files.

The only way I can think of to get an accurate number of the number of bytes remaining on your card is to connect it to your computer and use the computer OS to read the card details.

But it sounds as if you don't have your computer with you so you will have to make do with an estimate of the number of shots you have left. If possible, go to a local store and buy an extra card just in case.

starlifter Loc: Towson, MD

I have read the reply's others have given but here's a thought. Since the D850 has 2 card slots you can designate the second slot as the overflows slot and possibly double your capacity. That is unless you have set things up to record one card slot as RAW.

larryepage Loc: North Texas area

DirtFarmer wrote:

The number reported by your camera is an b estima... (show quote)

Yes, the number displayed is an estimate. But that estimate is a very useful approximation, especially for uncompressed raw files and high-quality JPEGs, which vary much less in size than files subjected to severe compression.

DaveyDitzer Loc: Western PA

CHG_CANON wrote:

Extremely easy. Just look at your image format setting and your card size, then consult the chart on page 362 of your D850 User's Manual. That chart uses a 64GB card as their example capacity. The 12-bit compressed NEF files in the full 8256x5504 pixel resolution stores about 800 image files per 64GB. Just determine your own simple (round number) math for your card size and camera settings.

This must be the Canon menu system. The Nikon menu has no "image format setting" menu choice.
However the countdown counter in the viewfinder suggested in this thread offers a usable estimate.

CHG_CANON Loc: the Windy City

DaveyDitzer wrote:

This must be the Canon menu system. The Nikon menu has no "image format setting" menu choice.
However the countdown counter in the viewfinder suggested in this thread offers a usable estimate.

Note the page reference to the Nikon D850 user manual ....

lamiaceae Loc: San Luis Obispo County, CA

DaveyDitzer wrote:

I am traveling and face a family event. I did not bring along a card reader and wonder if I can see the remaining space on the cards while they are installed in the camera?

How is this so complicated? Just bring an extra pair of cards, (Yes, I read others replies).

Day.Old.Pizza Loc: Maple Grove, MN

DaveyDitzer wrote:

I am traveling and face a family event. I did not bring along a card reader and wonder if I can see the remaining space on the cards while they are installed in the camera?

If you look on the rear display, push “Info” you will see a number in the lower right corner which is the remaining number of photographs given the current picture settings - 1.2K means 1,200 pictures remaining at current settings.

JD750 Loc: SoCal

DaveyDitzer wrote:

I am traveling and face a family event. I did not bring along a card reader and wonder if I can see the remaining space on the cards while they are installed in the camera?

And the answer is yes you can.

SuperflyTNT Loc: Manassas VA

larryepage wrote:

By default, this information is shown in the lower right-hand corner of the top LCD anytime the camera is powered off. It's normally pretty close to accurate, but can be a little off sometimes.

Well it is a calculation based on camera settings and average size files for those settings, so hard to be exact. It’s a good guideline though.