Pixelated Pictures

[InskiP]

What causes pixelated pictures? I'm not talking noisy or grainy, but pixelated where you can actually see the tiny squares that make up the picture. I don't know why some pics are like this and some are not. I'm using a 20D in RAW. The thumbnails look good but when I view the pics in DPP some are pixelated. With digital, if a picture is not properly focused will it appear pixelated or just blurry? Also, a couple of the pics I viewed before and they were fine??? Is it a CF problem? If so, I wouldn't be surprised as I've been having some problems w/ this particular card.

[bauerman]

My pictures only really appear pixelated if I look at them beyond 100% magnification or "actual pixels" or they can also look "jagged" when looking at a full 6.3 MP shot in like a 800 X 600 mode on my screen......when they look jagged - I can look at them full size and they are as smooth as silk. I'm not sure if any of this will help.

[Jim_T]

As bauerman says.. If you view them at over 100%, you'll see squares.. Also, If you're messing with the PPI or DPI when you edit, you can destroy an images resolution..

A picture is worth a thousand words.. :) Try post a 700x500 crop taken from one one of the bad pictures. Leave the EXIF attached......

[InskiP]

Sorry, but what is EXIF?

[badrotation]

if the photo is bigger than your screen resolution, they can look pixelated as well, until you scale them to 100% (50% usually looks normal as well)

[pvonk]

Sorry, but what is EXIF?

I did a Google search and got this link, try it.

http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/Glossary/Camera_System/EXIF_01.htm

[pjd83]

Thats quite a good link. Anyway that can be added in to a new person FAQ?

[tzalman]

InskiP -
When you first open a RAW image in DPP a low resolution preview is displayed until several seconds later when it is replaced by a high res display and, yes, the first image is extremely pixelated because it opens at full screen dimensions (700 or 800%). On my very slow computer this process takes about 12 seconds. I think this what you are seeing. If so, just ignore the first display and wait a bit and all will be well.
FYI, the RAW file actually contains two embedded jpgs, a tiny one - on the order of 120x180 pixels in size - and a large one, 1024x1536. Apparently the designer of DPP decided to load the small one first in order to get something on screen quickly; IMO a bad decision, a progress bar would have been a better choice.