Taking larger pictures

[alsoverysideways]

I notice on different forums the size of images vary,
my basic digital camera produces a PC-friendly size image
1024 x 768,

but offers an option of

4000 x 3000,

my question then is, if I selected somewhere between those two points,
what software do I need to transfer the image from camera. and where's best to store larger images free

[RobDickinson]

I would gues that all of us on here take images at the highest resolution the camera works at.

Transfering them to windows can be done in any number of ways, windows itself will import them.

The any one of a number of apps can resize them.
Windows photo gallery, paint / paint.net , picasa , probably the bit of software that came with your camera, and all the other candidates (gimp, lightroom, photoshop etc).

If you dont have anything try download windows gallery live.

http://explore.live.com/

Or picasa:
http://picasa.google.com/

[14-7]

Your camera doesn't need to match your windows size. Windows will automatically resize the pictures you take for viewing.

If you are intending on printing at sizes such as A3+ then use the bigger sizes on your camera. Storage wise nearly all modern computers have decent size hard drives for people with point and shoot cameras so storage shouldn't be a problem.

You don't need any different software to transfer images than you already do. Even windows folders allowing you to drag & drop will do it.

[alsoverysideways]

Sorry for delay replying no notifications yet.

so of the half dozen settings from 1024 x 980 to 4000 x 3000
in order to capture greatest detail, a higher not lower number is best,
together with some spare SD cards and a low ISO (mostly daylight pictures)


have I understood that ?

[RobDickinson]

Yes.

Select the highest resolution your camera shoots at, and (especialy if its a P&S) try to keep the ISO low.

[Simpo Two]

The camera will divide the scene you see into little bits called pixels (just like a TV or computer screen). What you're doing deciding how many bits it chops it into. More bits = more resolution but bigger file sizes.

If you're only shooting for Facebook etc, then 4000x300px is pointless and just uses up memory. Conversely if you're shooting for an A1 poster, then 800x600 is stupid

[alsoverysideways]

And ISO,

what effect does this have image-wise

beaing in mind I anticipate taking pictures of landscapes & cars
both of which will be in sunshine and (cars) will be moving at the track

[RobDickinson]

alsoverysideways said:

And ISO,
what effect does this have image-wise

ISO on digital cameras is gain (amplification) applied by the sensor to the signal (light) it gets.

So when you receive less light it applies more amplification (higher ISO).

Like anything when you turn it up it gets noisy! The signal to noise ratio drops, noise becomes much mroe apparent, this makes the image look speckly and reduces real resolution.

(it also reduces dynamic range too).

Point and shoot cameras have very small sensors which means they dont capture much light to start with, so when the light level drops they get into trouble fast. Most struggle at ISO 400 and above. dSLR's thesedays are fine 3200 or higher.