How many photos will I take in Alaska

[Miss Dot]

After asking before how many media cards I would need and getting different answers. So I took a LOT of cards just to be safe. I know everyone is different! We just returned from our land & cruise tour and I must add the most awesome weather possible blessed us. Anyway wanted to post in case someone else wonderd about how many photos they would take like I did.... Our total was 5,711 photos

[wmjivey]

I took 1,808 pictures on my cruise, brought three cards two 16s and a 32. I downloaded each night to my laptop. I used a Sony A57 and Kodiak P&S. no problem with those cards I think they cost me total $50 and I believe cards are cheaper now. I upgraded my camera so I am looking at a 64gb SDXC card for $40 things are cheap!!!!!

 

John

[GUT2407]

If you are like me 1000s.

[xlxo]

It really depends on your camera and image resolution.

 

In general, I say bring two 32gb cards. That should be plenty.

 

I think your battery will go faster than your media cards.

[peety3]

Our last seven-day Alaska cruise was 15k photos for 349GB. One day came in at 157GB. Two 32GB cards plenty? I don't think so. :)

[boulder-girl]

I'll add mine! I just recently came back from Alaska...in 10 days (land + cruise) I shot about 4000 images.

[Keith1010]

Wow a lot of photos.

 

Keith

[The Viking]

Our last seven-day Alaska cruise was 15k photos for 349GB. One day came in at 157GB. Two 32GB cards plenty? I don't think so. :)

 

Any time just to enjoy the cruise?

[peety3]

Any time just to enjoy the cruise?

Plenty, thanks for asking!

[pierces]

Any time just to enjoy the cruise?

 

Peety shoots with multiple pro-level DSLRs that fire off at 8+ frames/sec. 15,000 photos only adds up to about 30 minutes of actual shutter pressing.

 

Plenty of time left over for cruising!

 

:)

 

Dave

[peety3]

Peety shoots with multiple pro-level DSLRs that fire off at 8+ frames/sec. 15,000 photos only adds up to about 30 minutes of actual shutter pressing.

 

Plenty of time left over for cruising!

Correct! When shooting RAW with sufficient shutter speeds, the Canon 1Dx can do (supposedly) 12 frames per second, which translates to 250MB (a quarter GB!) per second. The buffer fills up in about 4 seconds, but with 160MB/sec CF cards, the buffer drains fairly fast. Swap in one of my ancient 2GB cards rated at 15MB/sec, and it's basically two bursts, four seconds long per burst, with ~20 seconds of card writing in between. :) I was too trigger-happy last time, and I'm getting better at avoiding high-speed drive lately.

[GUT2407]

15000 shots

 

10 secs a photo

 

150000 sec

 

2500 minutes

 

 

41 Hours

 

or a day and a hslf not a lot really

[pierces]

15000 shots

 

10 secs a photo

 

150000 sec

 

2500 minutes

 

 

41 Hours

 

or a day and a half not a lot really

 

Or you could just hold the button down, fill the buffer, empty the buffer, repeat with card changes for 20 minutes or so and head for the bar with your photo work done for the cruise!

 

The keeper rate would be low, but martinis would kill the pain.

 

;)

 

Dave

[GUT2407]

Or you could just hold the button down, fill the buffer, empty the buffer, repeat with card changes for 20 minutes or so and head for the bar with your photo work done for the cruise!

 

The keeper rate would be low, but martinis would kill the pain.

 

;)

 

Dave

I was presuming he wanted some keepers I see 15000 as reasonable

[sunshine100]

Our trip to Alaska was a week on land (renting an RV), a week on Island Princess, a couple days in Vancouver and then to Seattle. I think it ended up being about 2 1/2 weeks.

 

We had 3 cameras, a T3I, T1I and a P&S. We took 56.5 GB and it totaled 8825 files and videos. This is after going through them several times and getting rid of a bunch! It was a fantastic trip so I have had a hard time deleting from that bunch! I have a smugmug website and it is unlimited storage, so for now, they will stay on that!

[peety3]

I was presuming he wanted some keepers I see 15000 as reasonable

It was truly hard to whittle it down to 409 "keepers" (we keep them all, but 409 is what made it into our Flickr gallery).

[chipmaster]

WOW is all I got to say, I think the HDD and memory companies love you all :D

 

There are what 10080 minutes a week, say you are planning to shoot 1/2 the time. Do the math... :eek:

 

I can see how sports shooter go machine gun mode, how many are keepers? I recently shot a ballet shoot and came back with a few thousand that I culled down to roughly a hundred, that includes getting key shots of the main participants. Can't image how many images i need of ice, mountain and flowers... :o

 

I read once it isn't how many images you take, its how many good images one has. I once shot with a aspiring pro, his goal was "ONE" good image per person/routine, sometimes I thought he was shooting film. Coming back with GB is no badge of honor IMHO.

[peety3]

WOW is all I got to say, I think the HDD and memory companies love you all :D

 

There are what 10080 minutes a week, say you are planning to shoot 1/2 the time. Do the math... :eek:

 

I can see how sports shooter go machine gun mode, how many are keepers? I recently shot a ballet shoot and came back with a few thousand that I culled down to roughly a hundred, that includes getting key shots of the main participants. Can't image how many images i need of ice, mountain and flowers... :o

 

I read once it isn't how many images you take, its how many good images one has. I once shot with a aspiring pro, his goal was "ONE" good image per person/routine, sometimes I thought he was shooting film. Coming back with GB is no badge of honor IMHO.

On whale watches, you either shoot a lot or you miss a lot. You never know whether the whale is going to show you more in a few milliseconds or less, so we shoot machine-gun-style typically, then figure out what's best later. You never know if a second whale will surface alongside this one (or a third, fourth, fifth, etc.) so you might as well shoot this and that, and deal with it at home.

[GUT2407]

WOW is all I got to say, I think the HDD and memory companies love you all :D

 

There are what 10080 minutes a week, say you are planning to shoot 1/2 the time. Do the math... :eek:

 

I can see how sports shooter go machine gun mode, how many are keepers? I recently shot a ballet shoot and came back with a few thousand that I culled down to roughly a hundred, that includes getting key shots of the main participants. Can't image how many images i need of ice, mountain and flowers... :o

 

I read once it isn't how many images you take, its how many good images one has. I once shot with a aspiring pro, his goal was "ONE" good image per person/routine, sometimes I thought he was shooting film. Coming back with GB is no badge of honor IMHO.

 

His goal was one good image. How many shots to get it.

 

Most pros are happy with 1 in 100 or thereabouts.

 

But their standards are HIGH.

 

I know a pro who shoots for most of the Big companies, think McDonalds and Canon as just 2 he is happy with 1 in 1000 but he is also a perfectionist.

[GUT2407]

It's funny the question was how many will I take.

 

People said how many they take and then got flamed.

 

Go figure.

[chipmaster]

His goal was one good image. How many shots to get it.

 

Most pros are happy with 1 in 100 or thereabouts.

 

But their standards are HIGH.

 

I know a pro who shoots for most of the Big companies, think McDonalds and Canon as just 2 he is happy with 1 in 1000 but he is also a perfectionist.

 

Pray and spray or is to spray and pray.. for Sports, BIF sure makes sense to have hundred if not thousands that is the nature of that action. For whale breaches... huh... We talking just holding down the shutter button for the whole time?

 

I can see taken 5-10 shots while I sail into glacier bay, a 10-20 shot burst for calving, maybe a 10 shot sequence of eagle in flight. But unless you are going for that iconic salmon jumping into the mouth of a bear or diving eagle scoring a salmon. I also am skeptical of those that wear some badge of coming home with tens of thousands of shots. It does take thousand if not tens of thousand but not likely in one sitting to get that picture but over many years. It is misguided for photographers or aspiring ones to think thousands on a single Alaskan, get the storage and the image will happen. Not going to happen IMHO. Everytime I go out to shoot I and come back I realize what is required is not more spray and pray!

 

Shooting for McDonalds and needs thousands to yield a few .. hmm, I think McDonalds might be able to find a "smarter" photographer. McDonalds how hard is food or advertising... I have a lot to learn...:rolleyes:

 

It's funny the question was how many will I take.

 

People said how many they take and then got flamed.

 

Go figure.

 

I debated adding my comments, not a flame, just an observations. If someone asks, I usually underestimate or defer sharing how much I shoot, and why does that matter to anyone? Who wants to brag about how many lame shots to get that one random good one. Means there was no skill just random luck :p

 

Wasn't the first poster talking number of shots, not the more general comment about how much "memory" one needs?

[pierces]

My answer is I shoot as many as I want.

 

Honestly, it varies from 500-600 on a repeat itinerary unless it is Alaska. Alaska will usually be a couple of thousand or more.

 

I have always calculated what to bring memory-wise with a simple calculation:

 

Give some thought to how many photos you are likely to shoot per day with considerations for whale and other wildlife excursions on certain days.

 

Multiply that by the number of days (adjusted for the heavy days)

 

Multiply that by two and calculate the average number of shots that will fit on a card to get the number of cards needed. (Card capacity / average MB per file.)

 

Double that number.

 

Memory is really inexpensive compared to a cruise and each time you cruise, adding a $40 32GB card or two to the arsenal assures you of a stress-free trip...at least as far as recording media is concerned.

 

I already have enough stress about the indignity of $12 martinis!

 

 

This is a personal choice but I usually buy SanDisk Extreme Pro cards with a 95 MB/s read/write speed because:

 

1) they are very reliable

 

2) I don't need to worry about them keeping up with my camera

 

3) even though The are faster than my camera really needs, the download speed when transferring images off the cards is very fast.

 

 

Dave

Edited July 8, 2015 by pierces

[GUT2407]

 

Shooting for McDonalds and needs thousands to yield a few .. hmm, I think McDonalds might be able to find a "smarter" photographer. McDonalds how hard is food or advertising... I have a lot to learn...:rolleyes:

 

 

 

I THINK YOU DO IF YOU THINK THE ONLY THING IN McDONALDS ADDS IS FOOD.

[Keith1010]

Dave, appreciate your recommendation about SanDisk Extreme Pro Cards.

 

Keith

[GUT2407]

I once worked for a mass portrait company that took photos of children in supermarkets these were of kids sitting still before a backdrop. They expected about one saleable photo out of every 25 shots, can you even imagine what happens when you add movement, out door conditions, multiple children variable lighting conditions and then food that you need to try and look attractive.