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

[dawnkirkpatrick]

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.

[ctitanic]

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.

[kvbarkley]

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)

[dawnkirkpatrick]

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

[Tronhard]

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.

[dawnkirkpatrick]

Thank you.

[dawnkirkpatrick]

Thank you.

[johnrmoyer · Accepted solution]

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:

[dawnkirkpatrick]

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