topic EOS 5D Mark II How to limit JPG file sizes to between 1 and 3 MB in EOS DSLR & Mirrorless Cameras

EOS 5D Mark II How to limit JPG file sizes to between 1 and 3 MB

dawnkirkpatrick — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 12:29:19 GMT

Hi. Can the Canon 5D Mark II shoot file sizes in jpeg between 1.0mb and 3.0mb? If so, what quality setting should it be set to on the camera? Thank you.

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

ctitanic — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 19:41:45 GMT

As far as I remember, the smaller jpg size on that camera is 5.20 megapixels (2784 x 1856). You can always edit the file in post editing in your PC and resize it to any size you want.

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

kvbarkley — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 19:44:13 GMT

There is no set file size. It depends on the settings and the image. Things like ISO can affect the size. (More noise is harder to compress)

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

dawnkirkpatrick — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 19:45:44 GMT

Thank you.

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

dawnkirkpatrick — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 20:01:49 GMT

Thank you. Does that go for the Mark IV, too?

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

johnrmoyer — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 20:57:06 GMT

Is someone requiring you to provide files less than 3.0mb? If so, you might need to both decrease the quality and decrease the resolution. Do the files need to be straight out of camera, or are you able to process them on a computer? Setting the image quality to "M" and coarse might do this.

The size of a JPG file will depend upon the amount of detail in the photo. Gradual changes in color across a wide area will compress more than a fine texture. Reducing the JPEG quality too much will result in "posterization". https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Posterization

Unless one cannot afford more storage, I suggest setting the highest quality in the camera. If one can afford a little more storage, then save both a CR2 file and a JPG file. One may use the free to download Canon DPP software to create smaller JPG files. DPP can both decrease the resolution (number of pixels) and decrease the JPEG quality.

The highest quality setting in camera corresponds to about quality level 9 in DPP software and about quality level 90 in JPEG standard software. In the standard, quality levels range from 1 to 100. When the JPEG format was standardized in the early 1990s, it was hard to handle large file sizes. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/JPEG

If you are comfortable with building from source code and running a command line program, https://github.com/libjxl/libjxl/tree/main/lib/jpegli will produce much smaller file sizes while maintaining quality.

From the camera manual:

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

dawnkirkpatrick — Thu, 05 Sep 2024 21:26:28 GMT

Thank you for the great information. I decided to just use another camera.

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

Tronhard — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 02:31:24 GMT

It applies to all cameras. It's not specific to a device, it's about the file format.

While it is best to use the highest resolution possible, you can select files afterwards and downsize them: either by cropping and/or reducing the file pixel dimensions. If you don't use a specific post-production application but do use Windows, open a file in the Photo app, select the ellipsis at the top menu and from the pull-down menu, select resize. You can select the dimensions and see the file size change. You then save the File As and choose a location, give it a name and you're sorted.

Re: 5D Mark II jpeg file sizes

dawnkirkpatrick — Fri, 06 Sep 2024 05:47:57 GMT

Thank you.