New camera

[Scales]

Just bought a new 5 mega pixel cam so I thought I'd post a test pic to see how she worked. Nothin special, just a quick shot off my balcony. I took this pic at 5.0m but I had to resize it to almost 640x480 to get it to post here without looking like a super-sized poster!!!

Now when I resize these digital pics, do they keep the same quality, or am I better off just takin crappy 640x480 pics on the camera???

(ps, I used a photo edit program to resize it, not the camera)

http://www.brewcitymuscle.com/~scales/test4.JPG

[SMS 1]

Well first off it depends on what mode you are taking the pics in, second it depends on what program you are using to re-size them. Can you shoot in a RAW mode? If so then you should be able to re-size to a certain extent in your RAW converter program. Otherwise if you are shooting in just a simple .jpg format re-sizing is the same as a digital zoom. It simply amplifies the pic as it is and adds to pixelation problems. If you are only going to use the pics for the web I would suggest just shooting in a 800x600 or smaller to maximize use of the memory card plus you don't hve to shrink them much in the end. If you are using the pics for print I would shoot in the highest available res. size and re-size later. And BTW the above info on RAW re-size was meant mainly to if you are trying to make the file size larger. Downsizing files will always lose resolution, but when you are making it smaller it is harder to tell anyways if you lose quality. Most of my digi-pics are from a 1MP cam and it's hard to tell that they are from such a low res camera when I put them on the web in such a small size.

http://www.tempserver.homestead.com/smileys/picture.gif

[SMS 1]

I would also page Jason (Yellow Wagon) on this one if you are still looking for more info:thumbsup

[Scales]

Well I took a couple test shots at the 5 mega pixel setting in .jpeg format. Then I used Microsoft Photo Editer to resize the pic to a 640x480. It doesn't really look like it lost much. The camera also has an "email" mode on it that takes pics at 320x240 but that just seemed way too small.. Oh well, I guess I still have some learning to do....

[Cryptic]

bah... ,

resize pics later on your computer.
1.) you can crop your subject and still have tons of pixel left.
2.) hard drive/memory card space is cheap, shoot away, always shoot in full 5.0mp, you never know when you'll get a killer shot and you'll wish you had it set to 5.0mp
3.) photoshoping a 5.0mp pic is sure as hell easier (180dpi vs 72dpi)

for your application, normal .jpg compression is fine (assuming you have a decent camera)


I've been shooting with these camera lately
Canon PowerShot G5
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/g5/g5_front_blk.jpg
Canon Digital Rebel 6.3 megapixel (effective)
http://www.steves-digicams.com/2003_reviews/300d/300d_front_blk.jpg

[Cryptic]

here's a pic from the G5, from when I took my son to the zoo

5mp resized to 1024X768
90% .jpg quality compression (my gallery software on my server auto resizes them for me)

http://www.crypticvault.com/albums/album01/IMG_0508.sized.jpg

[Prince Valiant]

Nice Gaboon Viper...longest fangs found in snakes kingdom at over 2 inches long. Even snake proof boots are iffy around those things. About the only thing you have going for you with those things around is they don't have a long strike distance.

[SMS 1]

I guess I should also clarify that the re-sizing I was talking about in reference to RAW mode would be if you wanted to make the pics larger, not smaller. Otherwise everything Andy said is correct. Shoot as large as possible and shrink/crop them later.

[Scales]

Well the one I got is the Sony Cyber Shot P-92. I know iit's not the best one out there, but it's more then enough for my needs. I was actually looking at 3.2 cameras, but this one was a good price, so I got it. :thumbsup

[jbiscuit]

Yes the info posted is correct.....you ALWAYS should shoot large and crop/re-size. You can NEVER scale a picture up, only down. If you shoot it ig and choose to rescale, you are good to go. If you shoot it small and later on say, "man I wish this was larger" its too late. Make sure you always keep your original as well. I would recommend burning CDs to "archive" your originals and throw a piece of paper in the front of the jewel case letting you know the date the images were shot, and their file names. This way if you ever want to go back to a shot you took you can in its unedited, original format. I always like to tweek shots that are shot digitally a little bit to correct for inaccurate color or contrast. The custom white balance can also become your best friend so learn to use that well. This also can allow you to add a hue to your shot....IE, white balance to a blue piece of paper and it will adversely add that color to all the white areas in your shot. It can make for some nice, fun shots.....

if you have any more questions, just post them up. Have fun!

J

[SMS 1]

Originally posted by yellow wagon
You can NEVER scale a picture up, only down. Apparently many pro digital photographers have been "scaling" images up for some time now shooting in RAW and re-sizing up in the RAW converters to get larger file sizes. It doesn't make a whole lot of sense to me because I thought you would only get more pixelation in the picture (ie- like digital zoom) but many claim to be able to upsize the pics as much as 1MP before they get noticable distortion (assuming the file was fairly large to begin with). However I can't see there ever being that kind of flexibility outside of RAW mode. If it even works in the first place. I'll be getting more info on this in future . . .

[Scales]

Well here's the original 5 mp shot resized the same as Andys...

http://www.brewcitymuscle.com/~scales/test1.JPG

I think it was just all the clutter in the pic that made it not so sharp. Playing around tonight, I managed to get some really sharp ones. :thumbsup

[jbiscuit]

yeah I don't know...I haven't read anything about guys sizing up from RAW but I know they get some dynamite 12X18's from RAW from the 5MP and higher cameras. We have a Canon 10D here at work and I have printed from it as large as 20X32 and it looks pretty nice yet. It starts to show noise (gets a little fuzzy) but for like a poster its decent yet. Thats pretty impressive if you ask me.

[95 TA - The Beast]

Actually there are advanced interpolation techniques that allow for images to be resized and a 'synthesis' extrapolated into the image matrix that actual increases the resolution and redefines images due to the 'filling-in' of missing pixels... Works to only a certain degree, but is highly effective in increasing some image resolutions by up to 2x, which on something like a 5MP image is HUGE!

Of course the software and image systems to process such are very expensive and pretty specialized... Just think about the type of systems the FBI and other intelligence agencies have at thier disposal...

[jbiscuit]

yeah but we are talking desktop photo manipulation here on your E Machine....not a $1.3 million dollar supercomputer.

The fact remains, no matter what you do, if you scale up pixels must be created. Photoshop takes an average from the pixel above, below and the left and right to "fill the new pixel it had to add when you scale some up. Do this at a grand scale and you get a "fuzzy" or muddy image. Something that looks slightly out of focus or just doesn't have the clarity it should. Shoot large and archive your photos. Then scale them down as you need them. I will stick to my guns and say you shouldn't scale up, it will not look like it should. I should know, I deal with this stuff everyday.:thumbsup

[SMS 1]

Originally posted by yellow wagon
yeah I don't know...I haven't read anything about guys sizing up from RAW but I know they get some dynamite 12X18's from RAW from the 5MP and higher cameras. We have a Canon 10D here at work and I have printed from it as large as 20X32 and it looks pretty nice yet. It starts to show noise (gets a little fuzzy) but for like a poster its decent yet. Thats pretty impressive if you ask me. :D actually I am waiting for mine right now! Should be here soon. So J you work at a photo place or ad agency or something?

(sorry to steal your topic momentarily Scales:goof )

[Scales]

No prob. I got the answers I was lookin for... Thanks guys!! :thumbsup