PS Question - I'm confused

[Ilivetogo]

I just bought a fairly nice PS (Pentax Optio A20). It has 10 mp with 3X zoom. I'm having a little trouble figuring out the quality/size of picture thing.

My Operating Manual indicates that if I take the pictures at 10M, (my 4GB memory card can hold 1,700+ which is fine - I probably can't take that many anyway) -- the photos are 3648x2736 which is gigantic on the computer screen. I have to go into each picture and size them all down considerably in order to send them in e-mails or post them.

If I select the 5M size, I can now fit a lot more on my card, and the pictures are a little smaller on the computer, but still way too big for stuff like e-mail and posting, etc. Again, I have to size them down considerably.

What I'm trying to figure out is that I HAVE to have it on the 10M setting to get the really great quality,right? Is this what most people do with 8M or 10M cameras? If you drop down in the size when you take the picture, the quality drops too?

Here's what the manual says:
10M (3648x2736)
7M (3072x2304)
5M (2592x1944)
3M (2048x1536)
2M (1600x1200)
1024 (1024x768
640 (640x480)


Is there an easier, quicker way to shrink the photos after they're taken atthe 10M quality setting, so I don't have to go shrink every one of them in the computer?

Any help/suggestions appreciated.

 

[wenrob]

You could upload them to a photo hosting site that will then give you different sizes or the choice to resize and then email those links. You can also batch resize for the web with pretty much any program but then you have two copies taking up space on your hard drive. I never resize my pics, just put them on smugmug or flikr for sharing.
I would not resize or downsize all your original pictures, you want to keep the best resolution you can for printing.

 

[zackiedawg]

With most digital cameras, the general consensus opinion is to use every bit of resolution your camera will provide, as you never know when you'll need it. However, if you were more confident in your needs, or never take the time to crop and heavily edit your photos anyway, you could shoot in a lower resolution and fit more photos on a card, and have less resizing to do later. It all depends on your needs.

I've always shot in max resolution...the thought being that I may decide that I've got a really cool shot that would make a lovely 8x10 print to hang on a wall, but it's just the tiger in the lower left corner of the shot, which means I have to crop down to just that section of the photo, then still print the resultant photo at a fairly large size. That's where lots of resolution comes in handy. Also, I figure there's the odd chance I just want to make a big, wall-sized print someday!

Honestly, for viewing on a computer, or making 4x6 type prints, 3-4MP is plenty. Many people will never make 8x10 prints or larger, will never crop out 70% of a shot and still want printable quality, and will never view photos at a size larger than their computer screen. And for those people, yes - they could be shooting at a lower resolution and not be missing out on anything.

Then again...with an easy batch software, you could shoot in full res, and then just run a batch program to make duplicate copies at a smaller resolution in a few easy steps. I use PSP (Paint Shop Pro) to edit my photos, and it comes with a handy batch tool that allows me to rename, resize, or even apply post processing, to all the photos in a single folder - hundreds at a time. I just put in the parameters of the edits I want (say, resizing to 800 pixels on the horizontal), pick the range of photos I want batch-processed, choose 'copy' instead of 'replace' (never get rid of those original full sized shots in case you ever do want that large print, or that heavy crop), and hit 'start'. That's it - a few minutes later, the program has taken every photo in that group, and made a resized copy at 800 pixels horizontal.

There are self-standing batch processing software programs out there, even some freeware versions, in case your editing program doesn't have one. Personally, that's what I'd recommend - shoot in full res (might as well use what you've got, and not regret 4-years later that you didn't), and get a batch resizer that lets you make quick smaller copies for e-mailing friends or posting online.

 

[Ilivetogo]

Wow! Excellent information you guys!

I understand completely and will keep these "instructions" for future use!!

Since I DO have the room (as I originally indicated - almost 1,800 pics on my memory card at 10M) I will keep it on the 10M. Makes sense to me.

Thank you ALL so much!!