Olympus Camedia Question

[Iluvmickeymouse!]

I am so glad to find this new board!! I have had a question regarding my camera for the longest time, just never got around to putting it up anywhere!! My question is regarding the resolution for my pics. I have a lot of choices:

TIFF
SHQ
HQ
SQ1
SQ2

All have different choices of pixel size and/or high/normal quality.

First question....what do the abbreviations stand for?

I want to be able to take the most pictures I can on our vacation but yet still have decent pictures that if I want to enlarge I can. Right now I have it set on SQ1 1280x960 Normal. It gives me decent pictures for what I want and I can take around 400 pics on my smart media card (128 MB). If I were to switch to SQ2 1024x768 Normal I could get upwards of 600 pics, switch to SQ2 640x480 Normal I could get almost 1300 pics. My guess is that I do not want to do the last one because my pictures won't be as clear as I like. What do you suggest I do? Any help would be greatly appreciated!!!!!!

 

[ndelaware]

The TIFF file format is uncompressed. Choosing the TIFF setting means that you're getting all the image quality captured by the camera. But TIFF files can be pretty big, which means that only a few will fit onto a memory card. They can also take a while to be written to the card, which, with some cameras, means it might be a few seconds before you can take another picture.

The others I would guess are:
SHQ - Super High Quality
HQ - High Quality
SQ1 - Standard Quality 1 (better)
SQ2 - Standard Quality 2 (worse)

1300 Pictures is alot of small pictures. The higher your resolution setting the larger and clearer your pictures will be. Unfortunatly higher resolutions use up more space per picture on your memory card. I would try taking pictures of the same thing (scenery, vase, etc) in each of the different resolution settings. Then have them printed out and see how low a resolution you can accept for your pictures. If you only keep them on your computer, look at them there and compare. Usually you need to use a larger setting on a computer because most people display them as faily large or full screen pictures. Honestly though, 128mb is a pretty small memory card for todays cameras. If I were you I would check into buying another 128mb card or something larger (256 or 512mb) to compliment the one you alread have.

 

[safetymom]

I would choose super high quality if you plan on printing 5x7, 8x10 or larger. If you know when you are taking the picture that this is a once in a lifetime image then I would use tiff.

 

[Charade]

When I used my Oly 2100 I used SHQ exclusively. IMO, there was little difference between the TIFF and the SHQ settings except that it took longer to write the images to the card with TIFF and they were much larger (about twice the size).


I would suggest a test. Take a picture of the same subject/object in each setting. Try to keep the lighting and framing the same for each shot. Compare them on your PC at 100 percent view. Print them all at 4x6 or 5x7 (Walmart is CHEAP!) then compare. I'd bet that you'd have a hard time telling one from the other in a print but more able to looking at them on your PC.

But I would probably still recommend staying at SHQ because this gives you the most advantage when if you need to zoom (enlarge) and crop an image or print it bigger than 4x6.

 

[safetymom]

The differences between tiff and jpg will appear after you open and edit an image several times. With the jpg format you will lose some information but with tiff you won't.

When working with a jpg file you should save a copy and never work on that image. That would be considered your negative. Make a copy and do your editing on that image.

 

[Charade]

The differences between tiff and jpg will appear after you open and edit an image several times. With the jpg format you will lose some information but with tiff you won't.

When working with a jpg file you should save a copy and never work on that image. That would be considered your negative. Make a copy and do your editing on that image.

True. That's why I always work with a copy (regardless of file format) and keep the manipulations of JPGs to a minimum. There are a few programs that will allow lossless rotations of JPGs but all other "SAVE" operations will degrade the image somewhat. A few saves (at the best quality) will probably not be noticeable to the average person especially if the original image was properly shot (exposure and color).

 

[safetymom]

I mentioned this because the OP was probably not aware that you can lose information from a jpg file. Yes some programs will allow you to adjust for this but not everyone is aware of this.

 

[Iluvmickeymouse!]

Thanks for the help. I was not aware of the jpg thing. I consider my self somewhat computer savvy, but I feel at a loss with my digital sometimes. I think I will have to do the "test" run of some pictures. I have thought about getting a bigger card, but I never fill the one I have now, plus I have another 128, a 64 and a 16 that came with the camera. I know that the last time we went to WDW I think I took 13 rolls of film. That is why I want to make sure I have enough space, cause I know with my digital I will be taking LOTS more pictures!! If I print just 4x6 pictures what setting do you suggest? When I get my picture taken with Mickey I will definitely have to use a higher setting!! Thanks again for the help!

 

[ndelaware]

I know that the last time we went to WDW I think I took 13 rolls of film. That is why I want to make sure I have enough space, cause I know with my digital I will be taking LOTS more pictures!! If I print just 4x6 pictures what setting do you suggest? When I get my picture taken with Mickey I will definitely have to use a higher setting!! Thanks again for the help!

Last time we went to WDW I averaged 300 pics a day !!! I am officially in full time digital mode! Just keep taking pictures and throw away the junk when you load them on the computer. BTW, I take a laptop with me so I can load them every night. I also burn them to cd every night just to be sure we don't lose any. Then I format the cards so I can start with clean memory cards every day. I have three 1gb cards for my camera (slr), one 512mb card for my wifes camera (5 meg p&s), and one 256mb card for each for my girls inexpensive cameras (3 megs each). Yeah, it's overkill but what the heck. I am the only one who has to carry their camera, everybody elses fits in their pocket. And at the end of the night we all sit around going over each others pictures from that day.

As for the setting, again I recommend you do the test I suggested before. And do it before you go away, so you don't have to mess with it on vacation. I keep all of our cameras on the highest possible setting so the image quality is as good as the camera can provide, in case I want to have anything printed larger than on 4x6 prints.

ps: I bought the two cards for my daughters on Main Street in the Magic Kingdom. Phew, talk about pricey!! I would not recommend that!