Which setting is for megapixels?

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:10:57 -0400, "marlinspike"
<marlinspike RemoveThis @erols.com.nospam> wrote:

 >Hello,
 > My Canon G5 has two setting which affect picture quality. One says
 >Superfine, Fine, and Normal, and another says L (2592 x 1944), M1
 >(1600x1200), M2 (1024 x 768), and S (640x480). Let's say I wanted to keep
 >the pictures at the best noticeable quality in 5 x 7 prints (i.e. be able to
 >store the most 5x7 prints on one 512mb cars without sacrificing quality),
 >what setting should I use? 4x6? Full page?
 >Thanks,
 >Richard
 >
My 3.2Mp camera pics are 1632 x 1224 pixels. This translates with
Photoshop to 22 x 17 inches. Reducing the size of the picture to 5 x 7
inches will give me an image of 504 x 378 pixels.

So for me I'm looking at 640 x 480 with no loss of quality.

....I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.

Harry<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

RTFM !!!!


"marlinspike" <marlinspike RemoveThis @erols.com.nospam> wrote in message
news:40d2f7da$0$2988$61fed72c@news.rcn.com...
 > Hello,
 > My Canon G5 has two setting which affect picture quality. One says
 > Superfine, Fine, and Normal, and another says L (2592 x 1944), M1
 > (1600x1200), M2 (1024 x 768), and S (640x480). Let's say I wanted to keep
 > the pictures at the best noticeable quality in 5 x 7 prints (i.e. be able
to
 > store the most 5x7 prints on one 512mb cars without sacrificing quality),
 > what setting should I use? 4x6? Full page?
 > Thanks,
 > Richard
 >
 ><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

"Harry" <A DeleteThis @A.A> wrote in message
news:2s26d0539k1b20d0f1t2m9ia6559n869jh@4ax.com...
 > On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:10:57 -0400, "marlinspike"
 > <marlinspike DeleteThis @erols.com.nospam> wrote:
 >
  > >Hello,
  > > My Canon G5 has two setting which affect picture quality. One says
  > >Superfine, Fine, and Normal, and another says L (2592 x 1944), M1
  > >(1600x1200), M2 (1024 x 768), and S (640x480). Let's say I wanted to keep
  > >the pictures at the best noticeable quality in 5 x 7 prints (i.e. be able
to
  > >store the most 5x7 prints on one 512mb cars without sacrificing quality),
  > >what setting should I use? 4x6? Full page?
  > >Thanks,
  > >Richard
  > >
 > My 3.2Mp camera pics are 1632 x 1224 pixels. This translates with
 > Photoshop to 22 x 17 inches. Reducing the size of the picture to 5 x 7
 > inches will give me an image of 504 x 378 pixels.
 >
 > So for me I'm looking at 640 x 480 with no loss of quality.
 >
 > ...I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.
 >
 > Harry
You are wrong!

Set the camera to the highest pixel size offered. For a G5, 2592 x 1944.
Choose the file type for a file size that you can live with. A uncompressed
TIFF of 2592 X 1944 would have a file size of about 15.1 Megabytes. A Jpeg
at high quality would be about 3.13 Megabytes. A Lower quality Jpeg would
produce a smaller file size, but the tradeoff is losing some quality of
detail.

Photoshop is displaying 22 X 17 inches at 72 DPI for 1632 x 1224 pixels.
which is a very poor image when printed that size. A 1632 x 1224 pixel image
printed at 8" X 10.6" would be a 153 DPI print, which is fairly good.

The correct way to change print size in Photoshop is Uncheck resample and
Check maintain proportions. Then type the size of one dimension of the
desired print size. The other dimensions and DPI will change to the correct
value automatically. The Pixel size will not change.


--
CSM1
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.carlmcmillan.com" target="_blank">http://www.carlmcmillan.com</a>
--<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:10:57 -0400, "marlinspike" wrote:

 >My Canon G5 has two setting which affect picture quality. One says
 >Superfine, Fine, and Normal, and another says L (2592 x 1944), M1
 >(1600x1200), M2 (1024 x 768), and S (640x480). Let's say I wanted to keep
 >the pictures at the best noticeable quality in 5 x 7 prints (i.e. be able to
 >store the most 5x7 prints on one 512mb cars without sacrificing quality),
 >what setting should I use? 4x6? Full page?

Go with Superfine L (2592x1944) for A4/8x10/5x7 prints. If that
gives you too large filesizes, drop the quality (increase the
compression ratio) to Fine before going to "Superfine M1" - maybe
even "Normal L" is better than loosing the high number of pixels

For a 4x6 you could get away with "Fine M1" but you will not have
much room for croping, i.e printing only a part of the picture.

A rule of thumb is to get atleast 225 dpi (dots per inch) or
preferrably 300+ dpi - for 4x6 I'd use no less than "Fine M1" because
if you increase the compression you loose some detail, but keeping
the number of pixels high will help against that loss - the high
resolution can take a higher compression ratio before you have the
same loss of quality as a lower resoultion gives.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

Thanks, that's just the info I was looking for.
Richard
"Rolf Egil Sølvik" <rolfegil RemoveThis @c2i.net> wrote in message
news:1la6d0td1aicpqlh6d4bimgm5irl9bhvuv@4ax.com...
 > On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:10:57 -0400, "marlinspike" wrote:
 >
  > >My Canon G5 has two setting which affect picture quality. One says
  > >Superfine, Fine, and Normal, and another says L (2592 x 1944), M1
  > >(1600x1200), M2 (1024 x 768), and S (640x480). Let's say I wanted to keep
  > >the pictures at the best noticeable quality in 5 x 7 prints (i.e. be able
to
  > >store the most 5x7 prints on one 512mb cars without sacrificing quality),
  > >what setting should I use? 4x6? Full page?
 >
 > Go with Superfine L (2592x1944) for A4/8x10/5x7 prints. If that
 > gives you too large filesizes, drop the quality (increase the
 > compression ratio) to Fine before going to "Superfine M1" - maybe
 > even "Normal L" is better than loosing the high number of pixels
 >
 > For a 4x6 you could get away with "Fine M1" but you will not have
 > much room for croping, i.e printing only a part of the picture.
 >
 > A rule of thumb is to get atleast 225 dpi (dots per inch) or
 > preferrably 300+ dpi - for 4x6 I'd use no less than "Fine M1" because
 > if you increase the compression you loose some detail, but keeping
 > the number of pixels high will help against that loss - the high
 > resolution can take a higher compression ratio before you have the
 > same loss of quality as a lower resoultion gives.<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

marlinspike wrote:
 > Hello,
 > My Canon G5 has two setting which affect picture quality. One says
 > Superfine, Fine, and Normal, and another says L (2592 x 1944), M1
 > (1600x1200), M2 (1024 x 768), and S (640x480). Let's say I wanted to
 > keep the pictures at the best noticeable quality in 5 x 7 prints
 > (i.e. be able to store the most 5x7 prints on one 512mb cars without
 > sacrificing quality), what setting should I use? 4x6? Full page?
 > Thanks,
 > Richard

I can see you want someone to provide ball park estimates, so here goes -
normal m2 will do very good 4x6's. normal M3 will do killer 5x7 prints.
Superfine 1600x1200 will do fantastic 8x10's. Back off a notch on the
quality setting before you decrease the pixel size.

Here's a web page where I discuss these issues re the coolpix 990.
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://geigy.2y.net/Tutorials/ResampleOrCompress/Default.htm" target="_blank">http://geigy.2y.net/Tutorials/ResampleOrCompress/Default.htm</a>

The same concepts discussed there apply to your camera - just with more
pixels.

But do try the various settings for yourself and see what works best for
your shooting style and printer, and what the expected image size is.
Sometimes there are surprises, and a larger file will actually deliver lower
quality than a smaller file of larger resolution and lower quality setting..
--

Mike Russell
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.curvemeister.com" target="_blank">www.curvemeister.com</a>
<a style='text-decoration: underline;' href="http://www.geigy.2y.net" target="_blank">www.geigy.2y.net</a><!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 17:46:11 GMT, "CSM1" <nomoremail DeleteThis @nomail.com>
wrote:

 >"Harry" <A DeleteThis @A.A> wrote in message
 >news:2s26d0539k1b20d0f1t2m9ia6559n869jh@4ax.com...
  >> On Fri, 18 Jun 2004 10:10:57 -0400, "marlinspike"
  >> <marlinspike DeleteThis @erols.com.nospam> wrote:
  >>
   >> >Hello,
   >> > My Canon G5 has two setting which affect picture quality. One says
   >> >Superfine, Fine, and Normal, and another says L (2592 x 1944), M1
   >> >(1600x1200), M2 (1024 x 768), and S (640x480). Let's say I wanted to keep
   >> >the pictures at the best noticeable quality in 5 x 7 prints (i.e. be able
 >to
   >> >store the most 5x7 prints on one 512mb cars without sacrificing quality),
   >> >what setting should I use? 4x6? Full page?
   >> >Thanks,
   >> >Richard
   >> >
  >> My 3.2Mp camera pics are 1632 x 1224 pixels. This translates with
  >> Photoshop to 22 x 17 inches. Reducing the size of the picture to 5 x 7
  >> inches will give me an image of 504 x 378 pixels.
  >>
  >> So for me I'm looking at 640 x 480 with no loss of quality.
  >>
  >> ...I am sure someone will correct me if I am wrong.
  >>
  >> Harry
 >You are wrong!
 >
 >Set the camera to the highest pixel size offered. For a G5, 2592 x 1944.
 >Choose the file type for a file size that you can live with. A uncompressed
 >TIFF of 2592 X 1944 would have a file size of about 15.1 Megabytes. A Jpeg
 >at high quality would be about 3.13 Megabytes. A Lower quality Jpeg would
 >produce a smaller file size, but the tradeoff is losing some quality of
 >detail.
 >
 >Photoshop is displaying 22 X 17 inches at 72 DPI for 1632 x 1224 pixels.
 >which is a very poor image when printed that size. A 1632 x 1224 pixel image
 >printed at 8" X 10.6" would be a 153 DPI print, which is fairly good.
 >
 >The correct way to change print size in Photoshop is Uncheck resample and
 >Check maintain proportions. Then type the size of one dimension of the
 >desired print size. The other dimensions and DPI will change to the correct
 >value automatically. The Pixel size will not change.
 >
 >
 >--
 >CSM1
 >http://www.carlmcmillan.com


Thanks for the info. I stand corrected.

)

Harry<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

In message <DTFAc.1626$xA2.697@newssvr23.news.prodigy.com>,
"CSM1" <nomoremail.RemoveThis@nomail.com> wrote:

 >The correct way to change print size in Photoshop is Uncheck resample and
 >Check maintain proportions. Then type the size of one dimension of the
 >desired print size. The other dimensions and DPI will change to the correct
 >value automatically. The Pixel size will not change.

An even safer way is just to specify print size at print time; no chance
of affecting the number of pixels in the printed image, or in the file.
--

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
John P Sheehy <JPS.RemoveThis@no.komm>
  ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<> <>>< ><<> ><<> <>><<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels? 

In message <cd4dd0lqqpf6icbhvdv25kmk73n4cumnd1 RemoveThis @4ax.com>,
Harry <A RemoveThis @A.A> wrote:

 >Thanks for the info. I stand corrected.

I certainly hope you didn't save these edited files over the originals!
--

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<>
John P Sheehy <JPS RemoveThis @no.komm>
  ><<> <>>< <>>< ><<> <>>< ><<> ><<> <>><<!-- ~MESSAGE_AFTER~ -->
 >> Stay informed about: Which setting is for megapixels?