Size of pictures

[PJs Pics]

I have a coolpix 8700 that boasts 8 Mega pixels. Why can i not get pictures

from the camera that are no bigger than 2.7 MB. I would like to put a print

onto a canvas for display, but am told that the size of the picture is not

sufficient.

[mendonphoto]

Who is telling you that the size of the picture is insufficient?

 

There are two possible reasons - lack of resolution and small file size. If it's a lack of resolution, just upscale in a photo editing program (don't forget to sharpen). If it's a because of the small file size, just open the file in Photoshop and resave it with less compression.

 

Either way, though, there is a possibility that your print will be soft. You don't say how big you want to print it.

[Matthew Brennan]

Phil,

 

Do you have the file size set to the largest resolution possible in the menu settings? - Just a thought. If you are taking exposures of files with very little 'digital information' in them ie. large areas of blank colour or heavy underexposed areas, your file sizes will be smaller.

[elliot1]

Mega pixels and mega bytes share only the word 'Mega' - they are measurements of two different things.

[thierry nguyen cuu - nomad]

Shoot RAW and you'll have a 8 Mb (or so) file.

 

JPEG, even high resolution, will give you smaller file size.

 

Also, as mentioned above, the size of the file depends on the level of details recorded.

[pge]

Phil

 

8 megapixels means 8 million pixels. For example a photo that is 4000 pixels wide by 2000 pixels high has 8 million pixels, simply 4000 x 2000 = 8 million.

 

Each one of your 8 million pixel photos is taking up approximately 2.7 megabytes of room on your computer to store. These two measures simply have nothing to do with each other.

 

I hope this helps.

[jay_poel]

Capture the pictures in RAW (.nef) or TIFF HI - that camera supports them according to dpreview.com's review and the file will be 3264 x 2448.

 

The files sized will be approximatey:

 

12.4 MB as a RAW and 23.5 MB as a TIFF

[ellis_vener_photography]

you probably need to reset the cameras JPEG compression to minimal compression.

[ellis_vener_photography]

I think the setting combination you want is "large/Fine".

[michael_darnton1]

I suspect the problem is that the printer is saying the camera doesn't have the resolution (which he's used to expressing in file size) necessary for the image size. Then, the right response is to say "print it anyway."

[pge]

With all due respect isn't almost everyone missing the point here.

 

Hey has an 8 megapixel camera so his photos are 3264 x 2448 because that multiplies out to 7,990,272 pixels which is just about 8 million.

 

He is saying that they only take up 2.7 megabytes of room on his computer.

 

These things do not have anything to do with each other, setting, raw, tiff, jpeg, it doesn't matter, they are just different issues.

 

The answer to the question is that he is being told that 8 megapixels is not enough for the size he wants to print. He is getting a full 8 megapixels out of his camera and they take less than 3 megabytes to store on his computer. So if he wants to print very large he should go buy more megapixels and not worry about how many megabytes of storage each photo takes.

[JAPster]

"I have a coolpix 8700 that boasts 8 Mega pixels. Why can i not get pictures from the camera that are no bigger than 2.7 MB. I would like to put a print onto a canvas for display, but am told that the size of the picture is not sufficient."

 

 

Phil, sounds like you are confusing 2 different attributes.

 

The "megapixel rating" of a digital camera is the approximate # that you get when you multiply the Vertical Pixel Dimension X the Horizontal Pixel Dimension, these being "pulled" from the largest size image that the camera's sensor can produce.

 

On the other hand, the "image filesize" attribute tells you how many "computer data units", ie Bytes, Kilobytes, or Megabytes, are being consumed by the image file. In order words, it tells you how "big" the file contents are, and how much "space" the file takes up in computer RAM or computer harddrive.

 

A digital camera will usually give you a range of selections of what "image size" to capture when you take the picture. For example, if you just wanted to email an image to somebody, you could go into the Image Size table, and select a size from the smaller end of the scale. Conversely, if you planed to enlarge the picture (which is what you are asking about), you want to select the largest possible image size from all the available sizes in the table. (Check your owners manual to find out what image sizes are available for you to select from).

 

If you did not use special software post-processing techniques or software, and just printed the picture file direct to you printer at 100% (ie, no zoom up or zoom down done by the driver), then the Print Size would be the Vertical Pixel Dimensions and the Horizontal Pixel Dimensions (both) divided by the DPI (dots per inch) used in your Printer setup (or on the plotter). Example, if the image file is 2000 Pixels on the Vertical and 3000 Pixels on the Horizontal, and you are using a 200 DPI on the printer, then the resulting print would be 10" on the vertical side and 15" on the horizontal side.

 

The basic formula is

 

Dim of Print = ( Vert Pixel Dim ) / DPI printer & (Hor Pix Dim) / DPI printer

 

Again, this is true, IF you are printing the image file direct to the printer w/o using any Zoom Up or Zoom Down, at what we call a straight 100% scale print, AND if you dont use any special software to alter the image file pixel dimensions, which is what the previous contributors are referring to.

 

So whoever is printing the image file, they can make the print BIGGER if they use a smaller DPI setting on the printer, but then you get less picture resolution and it starts looking grainy.

 

Or you can get a smaller print by using a higher DPI printing. This retains good image resolution, but at the expense of the final print size.

 

200 DPI is a good starting pt for a regular color print.

 

So you see that if you want to start ENLARGING your digital pictures, it really helps if you start out with the LARGEST POSSIBBLE pixel dimensions in the image. IE, a camera with one the higher megapixel ratings. Because then, the image file is going to be using a very large number of pixels in both axis, both the Horizontal and the Vertical. This allows the image to be printed at a std DPI, like 200 dpi, with showing signs of pixel-graininess.

[peter_nelson1]

You must have the compression craked too far up. That camera has multiple JPEG quality levels. You should set it at the highest quality it offers. Or, as someone else said, shoot raw.