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As a professional photographer, you need to have durable photo storage. You'll need a large storage space to accommodate many of your photos without any hassle. Many consider a 2TB drive the sweet spot for storing images. So, I've answered the question, how many photos can 2TB hold?
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2TB can hold as many as 555,555 JPEG images if stored with a 12MP resolution. Yet, if you store them in the RAW format, that's around 55,555 images at 12MP resolution. So a 2TB drive can still store up to 1,100,000 images with lower resolution.
Although these figures are not fixed, I know for sure that 2TB contains 2 trillion bytes. That space is ideal for storing a decade's worth of photos. Of course, all the images you take are likely different in size. However, the average size per format helps find an accurate estimate.
There’s no guarantee that every shot you take on your camera will have the same size. Even pictures shot at the same resolution come in different sizes. There are many factors contributing to the difference in an image’s file size. Here’s a deeper dive into each of these:
Your camera’s quality settings play a huge role in determining the image size with every shot. When you’re shooting with a higher quality, this results in a larger picture and bigger file size.
One setting that affects the image size the most is the ISO. Generally, the higher the ISO setting of your camera, the higher the image size.
There are several image file formats to choose from. You can choose a file format based on your camera settings and preferences. This format affects its size regardless of the image resolution. Here are the two major types of picture formats:
A JPEG comes is smaller in size because it contains compressed data. In this format, the original details captured by your camera are trimmed down. This results in a lower-quality image with a smaller size. Most JPEGS have a size within the range of 1MB to 6.6MB.
A raw image contains all the details that your camera captures. It undergoes a lossless compression. During this process, you're compressing an image without reducing its quality. As a result, you have a quality image with a much larger size. Most RAWs have a size of 12 to 60MB.
The resolution of your camera affects the quality of every image. The higher the resolution the better the image quality. Thus, with more image quality comes larger storage requirements.
Your camera’s resolution is measured in MegaPixels. Many recent digital SLRs are between 6MP to 22MP. For this pixel range, the file size can be anywhere between 1.2 to 6.6MB for a JPEG. A raw Image can have a size of 12MB to 66MB.
Depending on the type of photos you take, you have several memory card options to choose from. Below, I’ve discussed the right memory card options for you based on your photo use, and need for speed.
The size of each image varies from one quality and resolution to the other. Some images need higher resolutions and quality settings while others don’t. Thus, some images have larger sizes while others don’t. Here’s an example:
Most landscape images have an aspect ratio of 3:2, 1:1, 4:3, 5:4, 16:9, or 2:1. The dimension of your image also affects the number of pixels it contains. A 2:1 landscape photo can have pixel dimensions of 1920×960, which equals 1.8MP.
This resolution can amount to 6.3MB for a RAW or less than 1MB for a JPEG. So, the sweet spot for storing your landscape photos is at least 1TB. However, many landscape photographers choose 2TB as the ideal storage.
Most real estate photographer shoots between 25-30 images. The average size for house images ranges from 10-50 MB due to their quality settings. Thus, you should choose at least 2TB worth of storage, if you want to store your images for a couple of years.
The size of a wedding picture ranges from 4MB to 12MB based on the camera resolution and image quality. Sometimes, you can shoot up to 100 images per client. This volume of photos requires adequate storage space. So, you should go for at least 1TB of storage space.
No doubt, a memory card is the primary storage method for your camera. Almost every digital camera has a memory card slot. There are several types of memory cards to choose from, depending on your storage needs. Let’s discuss some of the most common ones:
Due to its quick processing speed, compact flash card is popular among photographers. The normal size for this card is between 8GB and 512GB. In general, it can hold up to 14,222 RAWs and 142,222 JPEGs.
The SD card is the most widely used storage medium among photographers. Although not as fast as the compact flash, the SD card offers a quick read processing time. It provides storage space ranging from 2GB to 128TB.
This is the smallest memory card available. It integrates seamlessly into most medium and small-sized cameras. Besides, depending on the format, it provides storage space of up to 128TB.
The processing speed is another factor to consider in choosing a memory card size. Generally, you can measure this speed in MB/S.
The SDUC has a fast processing speed of up to 985MB/S.
While the compact flash, SDXC, and SDHC also have processing speeds.
You can determine the number of images your 2TB memory card can hold using the average image file size. Here’s how to go about that:
For starters, JPEG files are compressed digital images. So when converting an image to this format, you're compressing the data which reduces its size. Thus, 2TB storage is enough for professional photographers with images in JPEG format.
By compressing photos into JPEG, you decrease the file size. However, there's an average file size. This size depends on your camera and the resolution you're shooting with. Here's a list of the average file size of JPEG images:
RAW files store more data because they contain the raw details taken by your camera's sensor. As a result, they are larger than your average-size JPEGs. This size difference results from the fact that RAW files are generally uncompressed.
The major determinant of the total number of RAW files a 2TB storage can hold is the average image size. At each camera resolution, there is an average size for most RAW photos.
Below's a list showing the average RAW file size per camera and at the standard resolution:
3TB can hold about 83,000 RAW images at a resolution of 12MP and 36MB. In addition, it can store around 830 000 JPEGs at the same resolution and size of 3.6MB. This storage space can also store above 1 million JPEGs with a lower quality.
2TB of storage is a lot for most photographers. Many photographers consider it the ideal storage space for most of their work. It stores at least 80,000 RAW files and millions of JPEGs. This number of photos is enough to work with, even for a professional photographer.
Having a reliable means of storing images is essential in
