Digital camera image sizes

[CJFusco]

I don't know much about digital cameras, and I don't know where i put the instruction manual (camera is about 5 years old), so I figured I'd ask here...

I know that if you take smaller image-sizes or lower-resolution pictures on a camera, you can fit more onto a memory card. For image size, my camera lists:

4M
3:2
3M
1M
VGA

If I want to take a lot of pictures, but still want high-quality, which should I use? I have been using 3M all along, but the pictures come out HUGE on the computer viewer and I can only fit about 20-30 on a memory card.

Thanks.

[TerryH]

1M = 1 mb or 1 megapixel? My camera just lists format of 1600x800 etc. But, 1M might be more than enough resolution for most stuff. Just take a dozen photos at each setting and see what your needs are.

The good news is memory is cheap. You can probably add quite a bit to your camera and take hundreds of photos at any resolution you desire Manual is likely at their website and you can download or reference it.

[Joeaksa]

Problem with the older camera's is that they use the thin memory cards, not the newer SD memory. Max size for a memory card on many of them is 256k. My newer German camera will handle 10 megs, and Japanese one will take a 4 meg chip, so times have changed.

Move it back down to 1 meg setting and see how you like it.

[TerryH]

I think Smart Media cards are still stuck at 128mb. But you can carry multiple cards.

I could get 256 pictures on my old camera at fairly good resolution. So I was getting photos in the 500kb range on average. In TIFF mode, it was something like 20 photos.

Best to experiment and see what your photos look like posted here and printed out. It usually requires less resolution than you think.

[Drew001]

Originally Posted by CJFusco

4M
3:2
3M
1M
VGA

If I want to take a lot of pictures, but still want high-quality, which should I use? I have been using 3M all along, but the pictures come out HUGE on the computer viewer and I can only fit about 20-30 on a memory card.

Thanks.

4M = 2304 X 1728
3:2 = 2304 X 1536
3M = 2048 X 1536
1M = 1280 X 960
VGA = 640 X 480

Here's a chart showing how many shots you should be able to get at a given resolution in fine mode and standard mode in parentheses:


If your camera is set to 3M and your getting 20-30 shots, I'm guessing that you have a 32Mb card.
I always shoot the biggest image that I can to get the best quality and then resize in PhotoShop for whatever purpose I need (printing, posting on the web, emailing, etc.).

If you don't do a lot of printing of the images you take, maybe 1M might be best for you.
Or just get a larger card for your camera and keep shooting big.

[RoninLB]

I blew up 1.1M pics to 8"x12" and they looked great.

[nostatic]

it really depends what you're shooting and what your final delivery is. If you just want to email photos around, VGA is fine. If you want to print, I go high or go home. I shoot max resolution on all my cameras (5MP in "extra fine" on my DigitalElph, RAW in my D70) because I sometimes end up printing at 8x10 (which I'm doing right now actually). For that I think 5MP is about the minimum I'd go, but I end up shooting a lot of macro stuff so detail matters. For landscapes and small subject matter, you can get away with less.

5 years old is a long time in the digital camera world. For $200 you could get something that would blow your old camera out of the water wrt image quality, etc. I generally like to avoid "disposability" but to me 5MP is a cutoff. If you're running less, it is a worthwhile time to upgrade (and get a BIG storage card).

[JavaBrewer]

Agreed with Todd. Over a year ago I got a point and shoot Nikon 5MP camera for $250 and a 1 GB SD card for $40. At full resolution I can take nearly 300 shots. All day today you buy a better camera and twice the memory for the same money.

[Joeaksa]

Like Todd, I usually shoot on the higher levels unless its for printing. Printing I use "raw," which on my Leica results in an image that is 30-40 megs per photo, but you can enlarge it 10x without seeing any pixels, so the quality is very good.

[CJFusco]

Thanks for the info, guys. I really don't need a new camera - I am not a photographer at all, I just like to take pictures of pretty cars at races/meets. The one I have will do nicely.

I will give 1M a try for awhile. Thanks again for the responses.