Digital camera help...

[Archae]

I just bought a digital camera with 4 resolution settings.

3, 5, 10 and 14 megapixels.

Which resolution should I use?

[intaglio]

1. Depends on the size of the memory

and how you will display the photos

If you want high quality, printable up to A2 size (4 sheets A4*) then 14mp. For A4 size and most high quality/high bandwith display over the internet 5mp is good, but for posting on message boards 3mp is good enough.

But check the size of memory card with the camera; the higher the mp the fewer photos can be stored.

_____________________________

* for those who do not know the sizing of paper take a sheet of A4 printer paper and fold in half - that is A5 size; fold in half again - A6.

The reverse is true; take 2 sheets of A4 lay them long edge together and that is A3, 2xA3 are A2 and so on.

[catnhatnh]

2. Depends on how large you intend to output picture....

or how fine a detail you need. If you come from a film background think of it as negative size...For an 8x10 35 mm is usually fine but for a poster you would want to use a larger format camera. Pixels are your format...try starting at 5mp and get a good image then zoom it to find where you begin to lose definition. Really 14mp should only be used for "pro" shots that you hope to have for a lifetime for most people...

[Archae]

3. First picture at the "macro" setting.

10 megapixels, 8 gig card.

[discntnt_irny_srcsm]

10. Nice kitty :)

Maybe needs a flash.

[noamnety]

12. Try getting in closer

The macro setting is for super close up photos - think "eyelashes of cat" not "cat's head and shoulders."

If you aren't in close enough, the picture will come out blurry like this one.

[Lady Freedom Returns]

4. My opinion/ preference is...

Close up, less. Distance, more.

[canonfodder]

5. go 14

I never shoot below rated capability of the camera.
You have a bit more latitude to work with.
If card space is an issue, get a 16gig. They're cheap.

[Tuesday Afternoon]

6. agree with this advice.

[canonfodder]

8. I wish..

that Archae would have mentioned the make and model of camera.
As you know, there's a lot to learn when first starting off.
Archae, if you're there, wander over to the photography group.
Many of the folks there would be more that happy to assist you.

[pokerfan]

7. It's a tradeoff

More megapixels mean a larger image more suitable for making large prints. You can also crop (with Photoshop) on the desktop, essentially enlarging part of the image. The downside is that double the megapixels means you can only store half the number of images on any given memory card.

[Gidney N Cloyd]

9. If your main plan is to email/txt pics to your friends, go with lowest rez.

You'll have smaller file sizes, the quality will seem about the same to almost everyone, and it won't eat up your friends' inbox quotas.

[Major Nikon]

11. It depends on a lot of factors

Memory cards have gotten a lot cheaper over the last several years while the file sizes really haven't. A 8 gig card is pretty cheap and will store hundreds of pictures, even at the max file size.

If you are processing all the pictures you are using on your computer, there's really no reason to not use the max file size. It may take the camera just a bit longer to process larger file sizes, but the recovery time for newer cameras is quite fast even when using max resolution. Larger file sizes translate to better quality prints and the ability to crop photos more aggressively while still retaining good quality.

Really the biggest reason why you might want to use the smaller sizes is if you are going straight from the camera to web or email.

[Orrex]

13. Get a Mac.

Hardy har har.

Honestly, I have several friends who are professional photographers, and all of them have said basically the same thing: an amateur photographer will seldom need 14mp resolution unless they plan to print billboards or movie screens. Still, there's no harm in having the data in the image as long as you have the storage capacity for it. And it's nice to be able to zoom in on a particular section of a photo.

We used a 5mp camera for years without a problem, and I was able to print wholly satisfactory 16x20 images on several occasions. When that camera crapped out we moved up to a 12mp. In ordinary usage, we haven't noticed a difference in any of our 4x6 prints.