new Camera

[sandik17]

My mum just has a new olympus mju700. It's 7.1mp.

I am just wondering what she should have it 'set' to.

....I don't understand the difference in image quality and image size.

Is image quality the amount of megapixels? If so, what should she have the image size set to?

Please help...and is there any way to work out what the HQ, SQ1, SQ2 (lower image qualities) equate to in terms of megapixels. It is unlikely that she will be printing large images. She generally just stores them on her computer, emails them, and prints a few 6x8cm prints off.

thanks in advance.

[Codebreaker]

There's no point, in my opinion, of buying a 7.1Mpixel camera and then having the Image Quality or Image Size setting set to anything other than the Top Quality setting.

If you're constantly setting it to anything lower then you might just as well have bought one with less pixels.

Apart from effecting Picture Quality these settings do change how many images you can get on a memory card. However, you can change the setting at any time. If you are running low on memory space and simply must get those last few shots in, then change it to a lower setting.

In terms of print size your 7.1Mpixel Camera will produce good quality prints upto 10" x 12" or even slightly bigger. Smaller prints will be no problem.

In summary - always go for the absolute best/top/largest quality setting.

Colin

[remcmillan]

Codebreaker is right.. Use the highest quality setting and use a lower ISO. I am not familiar with this model, but if you can set the ISO at 50, 64, 80 etc it is a good place to start. Those settings will give you less "noise" than higher settings and will give you a better print. Noise is somewhat like film grain in the old days (oversimplification... but a point of reference). Some models adjust automatically now so you may not have this option. Best idea is to experiment with the camera and see what you like. Have fun. R.

[epaul6]

....I don't understand the difference in image quality and image size.

Image quality defines how many pixels per measurement of choice. Lets talk for example in terms of inches. You have then choices of how many pixels per inch. The highest quality would have approximately 300 pixels per inch and on down from there to probably 72 pixels per inch.

Image size defines how big the image will be at that particular pixel quality. So in a 7.1 pixel camera the largest size may be 12 by 8 inches the medium size may be 7 by 5 and the smallest 5 by 3.

If it is not in the literature take a photo at each setting or combination of settings and then open them up in the PSE standard editor. Go to image/ resize/image size. The pop up box will tell you the image size, and how many pixels per inch are in the image as well as the dimension in height and width in pixels.

However I agree with the other posters. Set it to the maximum size and quality. You can always print smaller pictures.

[Wags374]

Definately set the camera to record the highest image and most mp possible.

Oh and you might want to have her check out this thread (or print it out for her.) Digital Cameras for Newbies (http://www.photoshopelementsuser.com/forum/showthread.php?t=16593) - even if she isn't a newbie there is a lot of good infofor "point and shoot" users. So far there are 5 parts to this series, and they are all posted in the same thread, so don't let the title confuse you.

[Codebreaker]

Just on note on the Image Quality & Image Size.

Cameras have different ways of, lets say, getting more images into the memory card. Different cameras call this different things. Some have two possibilities - Image Quality and Image Size.

For Image Quality this usually refers to how much compression is applied to the image before storing it on the memory card. The end result is the JPEG file. JPEG compression essentially works by throwing away some information in the image data. The more you throw away the poorer the quality. Which then means your prints will need to be smaller for good results.

For Image Size this usually means that the camera takes the original Pixel Dimensions e.g. 3000 x 2000 for a 6Mpixel camera and re-sizes the image down to less pixels.. e.g. 640 x 480 in the extreme case. The same thing happens - as more and more pixels are thrown away the quality becomes less and less, which in turn means you'll have to print smaller.

Not all cameras have both methods.

Colin

[JNBarros]

I would definitely have her (and maybe even you should read it so you can help explain it to her) read the thread under Pixel Hangout Digital Cameras For Newbies as "wags" mentioned earlier. It has a lot of great information in very easy to understand language. It was a great read, and I am not a newbie when it comes to my camera!