Like the other tips, this may be one that earns a “Duh” from those that know the concept, but it’s actually rather confusing for people who are new to the scene.
File size. Image quality. Resolution.
Different cameras focus (haha) different aspects of this idea, but it comes down to the same thing. How many pictures can you fit on the memory space allotted? You may be using the grandest memory card in the world, or the internal memory that came with the camera. Either way, it’s a finite amount of space, and the quality of each image you capture will determine how many more like it you can fit into that space.
The higher the resolution, the larger the file size will be. 800x600 right on up to some crazy numbers. I can’t keep up with what point-and-shoots are capable of, and some seem to be overreaching their grasp. Ever hear that phrase? It’s the idea that your fingers can reach the object, but you can’t reach far enough to actually grab it. That’s what happens when a point-and-shoot camera starts throwing out big number megapixels and high resolutions at you. You will then start to see a divergence of file size, image size, and actual image quality. Your best bet is to always take a few shots, and then see how they look in whatever medium you’re going to be using them. Email, webpages, printing – all three will require different levels of file size, image quality, and resolution.
To get the most pictures onto your camera at one time, you want to set the resolution, file size, or image quality way down. On a typical memory card, purchased for dirt cheap at walmart, this will probably net you 300 images or more. That is a lot of point-and-shooting. 24 exposures for a roll of film, or a disposable camera, versus 300+ images on your digital? Suddenly you should be more concerned about your battery life than whether you have room for more pictures. But the end result is that these images are going to find a limited range of uses. Printing them will be limited to wallet sized, or perhaps larger if you’re going to be alright with pixilation, fuzziness, and maybe some digital ‘artifacts’ on the image (those are the big blocky squares that look like varying degrees of focus). On the other hand, webpages and email work much better with small file sizes – whatever the size the image appears on the screen, if it is only 24kilobytes, then a 24.4bp modem will download it in one second. Most people these days seem to be on a broadband internet of one sort or another, so it’s easy for people to go nuts with file size. But why kill the load-time on a webpage or clog up someone’s email when 24-50kb is plenty for them to see the image on their little monitor? They’re not going to be framing it. They’re not going to be viewing it from across the room. Despite what our parents told us about sitting too close to the television, most of us now spend over 8 hours a day sitting within 2 feet of these screens. 2-3 inches tall is more than enough for those images.
Bumping up the resolution or image quality will also cause the file size to soar. Only do this if you intend on editing the image or printing it for display. And by ‘display’, please recognize that an 8x10 portrait may be your best of best option from a point-and-shoot camera. There’s a reason that 30x40 over-the-sofa family portraits are taken by a professional photographer’s camera. He paid the money to make sure that camera has a clear shot of that sparkle in gramma’s eye, even when gramma’s eye is printed larger than life. Of course, he’s going to make sure you pay for that, too.
That’s why you’re putting the sparkle in gramma’s eye with a wallet-sized picture of her grandkids from your point-and-shoot, isn’t it?
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