Fine, Super Fine, Normal

[Pretty3Horses]

What are these settings for, and what is the difference between them?

Thanks

[glenindy]

What are these settings for, and what is the difference between them?

Thanks

Those settings are for resolution. If you plan to do any cropping, Super Fine would be your choice. The best way to find out the difference is try a similar shot in each setting.

[b00ty]

pretty sure that is the compression for the camera storing the images on the card...obviously for best results one would want to use the 'Super Fine' for best results but the trade of is that you cannot fit as many images on the card.

[nwyman]

I was taught that as long as you were looking for maximum quality you should use Large and Superfine for the Compression/Resolution settings. If you are shooting for regular purposes, that is what you want.

[sonnyJ]

When imges saved in JPEG they are compressed which causes some loss in
quality.

The more compression the smaller the file saved and more loss of quality.

This can be a problem is making large size print or cropping small part of image then enlarging it.

I read somewhere that using Large and Fine is good trade off of quality and number of images you can save. As you change the settings the number on the right shows approximate number of images you can save

Large and Superfine is better but may not be needed for most applications

[MarcHanson]

To me it really seems like Canon took a big step backwards when their cameras went from being able to save pictures in JPEG (as fine, super fine, or normal) and also in RAW, which is uncompressed, to the current style which is they only save as JPEGs. My 5 year old PowerShot S-30 does that, but my wife's new(ish) A520 doesn't?

[RossW]

Most people want to take pictures, not spend hours mucking about with post-processing their RAW files. Newer cameras, especially Dig!c II ones do just fine with JPG, thank you.

[Roddie]

Fine Superfine and Normal is the compression settings for the movie mode. See page 38 of the manual. I recommend shooting all still images in "L"

[RossW]

Fine Superfine and Normal is the compression settings for the movie mode. See page 38 of the manual.

Perhaps not... I think that's a typo in the manual. (And the chart is under the "Still Images" section, vs. the "Movies" section.) Since the movies are AVI format, I'm not sure compression settings apply. However, they most definitely apply to the JPG stills.

[glenindy]

Perhaps not... I think that's a typo in the manual. (And the chart is under the "Still Images" section, vs. the "Movies" section.) Since the movies are AVI format, I'm not sure compression settings apply. However, they most definitely apply to the JPG stills.

Ross, I agree. To see the result one only needs to change the setting from SuperFine, Fine, or Normal and the figure in lower right for number of still pictures you can take changes dramatically. However, those settings have no effect on the number of minutes available for movies. Only the screen size and number of frames affects that.

I had read that some info in the Canon manual was a little off and I find that to be true. That's where Forums come in. :)

[b00ty]

I believe you are correct as well, the videos are actually shot uncompressed/DV-AVI form I believe.

[darrellj]

If you intend to print with high res multi ink tanked photo printers then it is best to shoot at the highest possible resolution and if you need further control Photoshop the image to the right format and specs for your application.

Good Luck and have fun....

[overcated]

Canon has decided that we want compression in the "S" series cameras and has chosen these three levels for us. Compression removes picture data before storage. Superfine compression removes about 50% of the data but still results in a great picture. Fine removes a little more data and results in a pretty good picture. The Normal setting removes tons of data and leaves very little on the memory card to use - although it is probably OK for a 3.5 x 5 print. These compression lables should probably be renamed "Very Good", "Not too Bad" and "Junk."

[Jon]

Canon has decided that we want compression in the "S" series cameras and has chosen these three levels for us. Compression removes picture data before storage. Superfine compression removes about 50% of the data but still results in a great picture. Fine removes a little more data and results in a pretty good picture. The Normal setting removes tons of data and leaves very little on the memory card to use - although it is probably OK for a 3.5 x 5 print. These compression lables should probably be renamed "Very Good", "Not too Bad" and "Junk."Not exactly "removes" data through compression. JPEG is what's known as a "lossy" compression, but the amount of data lost can vary from 0% on up. "Superfine" is effectively 0% data loss, although compression is still posible through "abbreviating" repeating values (for instance, instead of encoding 5 separate pixels of [0,0,128],[0,0,128],[0,0,128],[0,0,128],[0,0,128], you'd save "5x[0,0,128]. The "loss" comes in when a higher degree of compression is called for ("Fine" or "Normal"); adjoining pixels of similar colours are treated as if they were not merely similar, but identical, allowing a longer "run", so [0,0,128],[1,0,127],[0,1,128],[1,0,129],[0,0,126] would still be encoded as 5x[0,0,128]. With higher compression, the tolerances get looser. Interestingly, JPEG on the EOS cameras other than the 1D models, even at highest quality, is less than 100%. If you want 100% data retention on them, you have to shoot RAW.

[spur]

Jon, that is the best explanation of JPEG compression I've heard. Thanks

[lakiluno]

videos on all canon compacts are recorded in Motion JPEG format, but the compression level cannot be set.

[RossW]

videos on all canon compacts are recorded in Motion JPEG format, but the compression level cannot be set.

Except for all those that record in AVI format! ;)

[lakiluno]

no...including those that record in AVI format. AVI is just a container (Audio Video Interleave) that can store other formats, in this case MJpeg. It can also store Mpeg4 (DivX etc) video, and uncompressed video.

So...as I was saying. All Canon compacts record video in Motion Jpeg format.

[RossW]

OK, point conceded... but that's getting into some relatively esoteric territory. I don't think most users distinguish between the "container" and the audio/video (or codec, etc.) that resides within. Hence common usage refers to AVI, MP4, W4V, MOV, etc. etc. etc. as "formats," so I was taking that perspective without regard to the internals. As they say, if it looks like a duck... Bottom line, as noted, is the user can't set a compression for the video, and thanks for the clarification.