Compression Settings? New SD850IS user with questions/

[BruceSeattle]

Hello,

I am a new poster. I just bought an SD850IS to replace an aging Powershot. Any suggestions as to how to best manage the compression and/or pixel count options. I'm thinking of family vacation pics, mostly seen on screen, or 4x6 prints, with the occasional enlargement of a special shot.

If the file size is at max (L) and compression highest quality (Superfine), the files are big (not just for my 2 Gb card, but also storage at home). Is there an obvious difference between Superfine and Fine compression, and under what circumstances? Would the a step down in pixels and compression be obvious?

Thanks,

Bruce

[Jon]

The difference in compression will be most obvious when you've got a large expanse of smoothly-gradated colour, where you'll see "banding". Personally, I keep my settings as large and as uncompressed as I can. You can't put back detail that wasn't there, and storage (DVDs or CDs, not to mention external hard drives or the basic SD cards) is cheap. And your 2 GB card will hold about 500 Large/Superfine pictures.

[whuband]

Bruce,I would use the setting for the largest files, unless you had an internet specific event to shoot that required small files. You might want to look at your photo files on your computer and discard the images that you don't like. Poor exposure, blurred images, people with their eyes closed, ex wives etc, ( don't get mad ladies, you can do it too) just hit the delete key. Then when you look at your photos you'll see only the good.