50D - number of shots left?

I just inserted a Sandisk Extreme III 8GB into my 50D and on the JPEG best quality setting it showed 999 shots left. I took a few shots and it's still showing 999. So obviously, the capacity is over 999 but is there a way to find out exactly how many I have over the 999? I didn't see anything in the manual about this.

Nope. But even if you saw a number below 999, that's only an approximation based on a "typical" photo file size, not what your actual photos may use. And with 1000 or more shots before you need to change cards, why worry? As you use up the card, the number will go down. The frame counter has only got 3 digits available, so "999".

Using Canon's "typical" 5 MB for Large Fine JPEG on the 50D, an 8 GB card will hold around 1600 shots.

As Jon said, no way to tell....but if I have over 999 shots left, I'm not particularly worried about it!

Be grateful that the Japanese engineers do not have a counting system like some native aboriginal tribes do..."one, two, three, many"

Thanks for the info guys...normally I wouldn't worry at all but I'll be leaving for a 3 week Alaska trip in a few weeks and just want to make sure I'm covered. I'll be out all day long hiking, fishing, etc with a 40D and a 50D and it's hard to estimate how many shots I'll be taking in any given day. I have a 250GB Wolverine on the way to download the cards at the end of each day. Right now I have 3 of the 8GB cards but with the great rebates going on now I'm trying to decide how many more to get.

Shooting JPEG, I doubt you'll ever fill those up.

Canons are stupid. My friends D200 say like 1.7k etc...

jobe1492 wrote in post #8436192
Canons are stupid. My friends D200 say like 1.7k etc...

but I bet your friends D200 doesn't have a direct print button

Wilt wrote in post #8433429
Be grateful that the Japanese engineers do not have a counting system like some native aboriginal tribes do..."one, two, three, many"

They must be the guys that designed the battery meter.