Digital cameras 101

[tweetylol]

I am a new digital camera user and have no idea why when I download images from my camera..some of the images are large and some come out very small...I notice this while viewing pictures as a slide show.  Please help!

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi tweetylol and welcome to the Q&A Board!

There can be a number of reasons why the images are different sizes.

If you change the Resolution setting so the camera takes smaller images. A digital camera may do this automatically if you switch to a certain mode (for example, some very high speed continous shooting modes automatically take pictures at smaller sizes to reduce the amount of time it takes for them to be saved to a memory card).

If when you download images there are also videos; videos usually have small thumbnail images associated with them. The thumbnails will display because they are jpeg files like your still images.

If something is set in the software you're using to download the images automatically resizes them.

Do you think any of these can be effecting the size? If you have further questions, please let us know.

[tweetylol]

Thank you so much for your response.  The photos look o.k. when I open the folder (after downloading them to my computer) however, when I do "view as slideshow"  "some" come out so small. ???Any ideas?

[bdery]

Hi tweetylol!

I have a hypothesis, which might or might nor be correct. Could it be that your vertical images show correctly, but not your horizontal ones? If that is the case, it's probably because your viewer has both "fit to screen size" and "lock zoom" (or another equivalent label) activated. that way, the software locks the zoom size to the vertical pics, and the horizontal ones are thus smaller.

I cuold be wrong, but it happened to me with an older version of ACDSee so maybe it's worth looking into.

[tweetylol]

I feel really good about this theory...where can I go to check on this ?  Where are the settings? I am using a windows viewer.  Maybe I can try to move the picture files to another photo program and open them there?
Thanks for the input!

[ShutterbugGail]

That theory is good. If you don't have another program, you may want to try Google's Picasa. It is free and a great program.


www.picasa.com

[pentachris]

Here's an easy way to check to see if your pictures are really being taken at different resolutions or if your image viewing program is just making it look that way:

Find the photos in Windows Explorer (My Computer).  Hover your pointer over the name of the photo or the thumbnail of the photo if you're in thumbnail view.  The image dimensions should appear in a little box that pops up next to your pointer.

This works in Windows XP and (I'm pretty sure) 2000.  This will not work in Windows 95 or 98.  I'm not sure about Windows ME.

[tweetylol]

I checked out Picasa and it looks like a great preogram.  Hopefully it will be easy for a novice to use.  Thank you so much for your help.  I'm still not sure about the photo viewing size but I'll keep trying to figure that out. Perhaps digital cameras should come with a free class or an instructor in the box.

[tweetylol]

P.S. I tried Picasa for viewing and all the pictures are the same size during the slide show! Hooray!  It was the viewer I was using!   Again, thank you so much!  Do you have any ideas as to the best way for me to learn more?  Take a class at the JC?  Hire an instructor? It's a real struggle trying to learn new computer "stuff" on your own.

[bdery]

tweetylol, about learning, it really depends. If you feel you have good basics, the best way is probably to experiment, uses boards like ours when you have specific questions, and experiment again. That's how I leanred most of my stuff personnally. However, if you feel you need supervision, there might be good books or classes at your local college or high school or whatever. some libraries also offer beginners' classes, but you're probably past that. It depends on your actual level of knowledge.

Regarding digital cameras, there are many good books and eBooks available around. And forums and boards are a great place to ask when you're stuck. Many websites (like ours, or dpreview, for instance) have gloaasries, tips, and learning sections. You might want to look at those.

[tweetylol]

Hello Pentachris, thanks for the wonderful tip! That was so simple and yet I had never come up with that answer to my question.  That definitely helps in solving the mystery.  Shouldn't the res. be on the highest setting for the best quality photos?  The photos in question were taken by a friend and they are on many different resolutions. I don't know why she would be changing the res. between shots. Does the res. change automatically when you change the mode i.e. portrait...landscape...etc?  I'll share this with her.  I'm such a novice I leave mine on auto.  Thanks again.

[tweetylol]

bdery...thanks for the suggestions and for all the support....I guess being committed to spending time and experimenting will be the key.  Thanks again!

[bdery]

The photos in question were taken by a friend and they are on many different resolutions. I don't know why she would be changing the res. between shots. Does the res. change automatically when you change the mode i.e. portrait...landscape...etc?

If the pics have different resolutions, there's your answer. Look no further. I don'T know why someone would change the resolution all the time, like you guess using the higest resolution will give you more details, larger prints when it comes to that, and generally higher-quality pics. If your friend wants to preserve her memory space, she could increase the compression (by switching from SUPERFINE to FINE) and the pics will look about the same but she will be able to put more pictures on one card. If the files are processed heavily, though, it's better to use the SUPERFINE setting.

I'm not aware that the camera changes the resolution when you change modes, my S2 does not do that for sure. Maybe auto mode is different, it could be that you have to set the resolution in auto and in the other modes independantly. Look that up (as I will).

[pentachris]

Does the res. change automatically when you change the mode i.e. portrait...landscape...etc?

Like bdery, I've never heard of cameras doing that.  But ShutterbugGail indicated earlier that continuous mode shooting may cause it, so...

Perhaps your friend was just experimenting with different settings?  Maybe she can explain what happened.

If you can't find the answer to this riddle, give us the camera's brand and model number and maybe we can help you research the issue.

[tweetylol]

Thank you all so very much...you are like finding a goldmine!

[ShutterbugGail]

Thank you all so very much...you are like finding a goldmine!

Thanks for the kind words. Let us know if you have any other questions.