Computer Info – May 29, 2002

No Meeting This Week

Meetings To Resume Next Week

The carpeting has been installed in the library and things are getting back to normal. Therefore, we will resume our computer meetings starting next week – June 5^th.

A Little Info about Digital Cameras

What is a megapixel?

A megapixel means a million pixels. The greater the number of pixels you have, the greater the resolution of the camera. A 3 mexapixel camera provides more resolution that a camera with 1 mexapixel. The increase in pixels means that the camera will not only be able to better capture fine details, but it will also allow you to create bigger enlargements while maintaining image quality.

A 2 MP camera allows you to create a good 5x7 print; a 3 MP, an 8x10 print; and a 4 MP, a 9x12 print.

How much storage capacity do I need?

The greater the resolution of your camera, the greater your need for a large-capacity media card.

A 24 MB card installed in a 3-megapixel camera will store approximately 15 images when saved at the highest-quality JPG mode. That same card used in a 2-megapixel camera will store about 23 image using the same JPG mode.

It’s a good idea to purchase as large a capacity card as you can afford. If your photographs are destined solely for e-mail or a Website, you don’t really require a huge-capacity card.

How do I choose output resolution?

An image file as produced by the camera isn't automatically ready for print or the web. When bringing this picture into a photo editing program will find that it could be at a size of 20x24 inches and 72 dpi. This isn’t appropriate for printing or for e-mail – changes will need to be made.

For e-mail or placing in a web page, the file size can be relatively small. Try for something around 6.4 inches wide by 4.8 inches high at 100 dpi. This will create a good quality image – making it larger than this, will result in more time needed to download the picture.

For printing, you need a much larger file – try setting the resolution to 300 – even though your printer’s resolution is 1440 or higher. The printer’s dpi reflects the application of ink dots to paper and has nothing to do with the resolution of the original image file.

When you save your image, you can save it in a JPG format – this will compress the file into a much smaller one. JPG allows for various degrees of compression. The more compression is applied, the more data is discarded to achieve the smaller size. For maximum quality, choose the highest setting for minimal data loss. We recommend not repeatedly editing and saving the image as a JPG as the data loss will be cumulative.