Resolutions and quality question

[slipe]

I feel that "standard" seems to be "safer" based on the sharpening aspect that "Eric S" mentioned (hope I understood that part)

You get more compression artifacts with standard than with fine. Compression artifacts are bad. You enhance those artifacts with sharpening.

Use standard for your vacation, but don't consider standard "safer" once you get back home and can download the pictures to your computer. Fine is safer.

Most of Steve's outdoor sample shots are 4Mp + in fine, which isn't bad compression. I would guess real-world standard shots will come out in the 2Mb range. Not great but probably acceptable.

[RaymondK]

Slipe,

Thank you, and all others for your time and patience with my "problem".

I have decided to put a pic here which I took originally using a Panasonic FZ30 at 3Mb, standard, f4 and 1/125sec. I had to reduce it for this website - the original size was 823Kb, the one here is 202Kb. I used Paintshop Pro to reduce it.

Please feel free to comment on the pic. Currently, seeing the original on a 21" monitor or printing it on A4 photo paper, I really can't see anything "that bad" with the pic.

Maybe I'm just one (of many?) who are easily satisfied - I don't know!

Regards (to all),

Raymond

[RaymondK]

Just changing the subject, there is another forum "devoted" to the Panasonic FZ30 that may be of interest to readers of this forum. It can be found at:

http://www.stevesforums.com/forums/v...mp;forum_id=23

Also, if you find it interesting, there is a "watch topic" button right at the bottom which, when selected,will then let you access this forum easily - by selecting "My Account" when you initially connect to the forum.

Just thought that this info could be of interest to you.

Regards,

Raymond

[Nagasaki]

My take on this is that I have spent a lot of money on my camera and often a lot on getting to the place I am taking the pictures, by comparison memory cards are cheap.

Therfore I always shoot at the highest resolution with the least compression available. Otherwise I might as well have bought a lower resolution camera and saved some money.

As for your sample shot it's hard to tell without comparing it to a shot taken on the higher quality setting. I would take two shots and then crop out just one wheel and blow that up. Not very realistic but there are times when you want to print very large or isolate a small portion of the frame to print and that's when the higher quality setting will tell.

[RaymondK]

Nagasaki,

Thanks for your opinion and advice on the "resolution problem".

I have to admit that you're right in that, if I don't use maximum resolution, then I could have bought a much cheaper camera. The reason I went for the FZ30 was for (mainly) it's zoom and stabilising feature - yes, possibly they're other cameras out there that may have sufficed but, to be honest, with such a varied selection (and, yes, I did read up on many different camera reviews, both in magazines and on the internet), I ended up more confused that when I started!!!!

Apart from all the "criticism" about the noise aspect when shooting at ISO 200 and 400, this seemed to be the camera's only weakness. In my case, as I've not had to (nor normally do) print at larger than A4 size, this, from what I've read, is "not really noticeable". Of course, I do accept your point that if I compared tne wheel of my car at 3Mb against 8Mb as you suggested I try (cropped from the full picture and then enlarged), I'm SURE I would see the difference that you mention.

For any picture that I feel that this "could" be the case, of course I could take it at 8Mb. Yes, call be stubborn (or foolish??) but with a memory card of 2Gb and a 3 week trip planned to Disney Orlando, I feel that I'm going to take 1,000's of pics!!! Yes, I know, I could always buy another few memory cards or just unload the pictures somewhere every night - but that would also mean taking a PC with me too (I think)!!

Still, I do take your point and thank you for it. I'll post some pictures when I return on this forum but that won't be until May time.

Thanks once again,

Raymond

[[email protected]]

Maybe go to a place that processes digital prints and ask them to burn the contents of your 2gb CF card to a couple of CD's.

Another option is to get access to an internet connected computer, bring your software and upload your photos to a website.

You can get pretty cheap websites with up to a GB of storage for about $5 per month.

I use CoffeeCup, a free FTP program, to upload my photos to a website address.

-- Terry

[slipe]

If I were going on a trip and planning to return with thousands of keepers I would be sure my partner was a great raconteur. Because if the memory card failed all I would remember of the trip was thinking about shooting perspectives and camera settings.

[thkn777]

As for the "one in a lifetime" trip... take a laptop with you if possible. I find it much easier to judge which pic to delete and which to keep for further use on a bigger sized screen. Furthermore you have a hardisk to move your images to and can start with an empty memory card the next day which is nice too - just take some more shots! If I was you I would take some planned pictures ("must have" things) and then just fire away - bring back 300+ pics in the evening and dump the 150 that are out of focus, have bad light or where you are sure they don't make a big loss for you.

200 pics a day * 15 days = 3000 images! :shock:

If possible get you another rechargeable so you have a spare one in case the first runs out. Zooming and reviewing and photo composition needs energy...

Have a nice journey!

As for the resolution question... I don't use fine at all at my 4 mpix Oly C770. With 10x zoom you can compose the picture very well in most cases so you wont need heavy cropping. IF you'd need that cropping THEN it would be good to have as much detail as possible (i.e. dSLR with primer (fixed focus lens) 50mm or so trying to capture an object far away) but in your case - stay cool and use your zoom.

[RaymondK]

Hi there Terry, Thkn777 and Slipe,

Thanks for the suggestions - I know that I'm being a little "difficult" on all of thisbut thanks again for your good advice - personally I like the idea of having them burnt onto a CD (DVD) by some local photo shop rather than carrying a laptop with me (only for the "weight" problem as, if I know my partner, I'll already be carrying extra baggage for her!!

Slipe, I also accept your comments but, hopefully, even if thathappens (memory card failure), I'll still be able to remember the good times with herduring the trip which "normally" I never take pictures of anyway!!! :-)Still, I'll leave that subject alone as I'm sure that Steve would prefer this forum to be (only) about photography!!

Joking apart, once again, many many thanks for your time and suggestions - I'll post pictures here on my reture.

Best regards to all,

Raymond

[RaymondK]

Maybe of use to some of the readers here of this forum but I'm just found a unit that's the equivalent of FORTY 2Gb SD cards onto which one could unload pictures at any time to free up the memory card. That way, I could shoot at "maximum everything" over a 2 week holiday and not run out of space - well, it's just a thought!!:G

For those interested, please see:

http://www.ukdigitalcameras.co.uk/__...F82C41002.html

For information, I bought my FZ30 from the above company and they were incredibly efficient and polite over the phone too - delivery time for my camera was just ONE day!!

Best regards,

Raymond