New to digital - resolution help please!

[MrsJackSparrow]

I have an Olympus C-740 ultra zoom, 3.2 megapixel, 10x optical zoom. The resolution is currently set at SQ1 1280 x 960. Do I need this much resolution if I'm mainly printing 4 x 6 photos? I just don't know ANYTHING about this, except that greater resolution means sharper enlargements. Have yet to print anything yet, so I don't really know if this is adequate or too much. Thank you!

 

[YEKCIM]

I'm no expert here, but why would you want to shoot at anything less than your maximum resolution? You can go up to 2048 x 1536, which is two notches higher than you have set at present. Only possible downside that I can see is that the file size will be larger at higher resolution, meaning you won't get quite as many on a given memory card size.

~YEKCIM

 

[Anewman]

I have an Olympus C-740 ultra zoom, 3.2 megapixel, 10x optical zoom. The resolution is currently set at SQ1 1280 x 960. Do I need this much resolution if I'm mainly printing 4 x 6 photos? I just don't know ANYTHING about this, except that greater resolution means sharper enlargements. Have yet to print anything yet, so I don't really know if this is adequate or too much. Thank you!

Well 1280x960(1.2megapixel) will give you about 213 DPI if you print at 4x6, which IMO is adequate but not optimal. And after any real cropping you wont even have that.

I can really see no reason to shoot at 1.2 mp on a 3.2mp camera, XD cards have really come down in price and the file size on a 3.2mp camera is not that big to begin with.

 

[Kelly Grannell]

a 1 Gb XD card is about US$50 in Canada (I know for a fact that's even cheaper in the US). That will allow you to store at least 400 pictures at the highest resolution or equivalent to 11 rolls of 36-shot films... for less than the price of 11 orlls of 36-shot films.

So, just get more cards and shoot at the highest resolution.

 

[WillCAD]

I have an Olympus C-740 ultra zoom, 3.2 megapixel, 10x optical zoom. The resolution is currently set at SQ1 1280 x 960. Do I need this much resolution if I'm mainly printing 4 x 6 photos? I just don't know ANYTHING about this, except that greater resolution means sharper enlargements. Have yet to print anything yet, so I don't really know if this is adequate or too much. Thank you!

"Sharper enlargements" can actually mean two things. You are thinking it means "blowing up the picture to 8x10", but what it can also mean is "blowing up a tiny portion of the picture to 4x6".


More is better.

 

[Tinkerbellmom33]

I had, still have, the Olympus camedia C 3000. More is definitely better and at the time, the cards didn't hold as much memory as they do now. I used to use SQ2 and it worked just as well, especially for 4x6 and held more pic's. I would think with the zoom, it should be fine.