marc_b__montreal_

<p>Hi All,<br>

Thanks for the responses.  Actually David's response addresses precisely the issue I was thinking about.  He writes:<br>

You may be thinking of the (still conceptual?) idea of pixel binning, in which the camera treats 4 pixles as one pixel to improve noise/DR. However, your camera doesn't do this, its just resizing a jpeg and gives you no benefit.</p>

<p>I do understand that there is an advantage to shooting at full resolution in terms of being able to get a higher quality enlargement later on.  But since my camera writes a 6 meg file a bit slow, and I always find handling a larger file makes for unnecessarily large files for emailing etc. I was wondering how much real quality gain I get on this camera.</p>

<p>I guess the only thing I'm gaining is saving a little hard drive space.  I now understand that the best thing to do is to shoot at full resolution and then resize later on. </p>

<p>However, I'm going to do some tests and see how much of a real benefit this gives and whether you can actually see any difference in low light conditions, where, for example the ISO is set at 800.   The Fujifilm F31fd is quite good, but I just want to see how far I can push the camera and still come out with a good image quality.</p>

<p>Thanks.</p>

<p>Eric Boutelier-Brown, a Canadian photographer does some pregnancy images.  If you'd like some inspiration (he has a very particular style), you can see his work here:  http://evolvingbeauty.com/ .  Be sure to visit his photo blog too!</p>

<p> </p>

<p>Hello,<br>

As a novice digital shooter, I've heard that it is best to set the image size (e.g., S, M, L) on the camera in order to best accomodate the final use for the image.  So, for example, if you know that you will not be enlarging the image more than 4X6, choose a size that is less than full resolution (e.g, 2MB file for a 6 megapixel camera).</p>

<p>But is this the best way to proceed assuming wants the best image quality?  In otherwords, if I'm sure I'm always going to be reducing the image in final prints, is there any advantage in shooting at full resolution in terms of tonal rendition, grain etc.?  Or am I just taking up extra space on the memory card, given that the final image will be reduced anyway.</p>

<p>My camera is a Fujifilm F31fd.  There are no sharpeness settings on this camera, only choice of image (file) size. My objective is to try and get the best possible image quality at high iso settings (like 800, which is why I selected this camera).</p>

<p>Thanks in advance for the advice.<br>

 </p>

Just to add my 2 cents worth to the discussion: Having used an FG for over 12 years (3 years heavily), I concur with what's been said. It is not a durable workhorse, but rather a plastic bodied (yes,underneath the chrome skin is plastic, despite the metal frame) camera intended for travel or light use. I had shutter speed dial problems (common) and lensmount alignment problems. I replaced it with an FM3, which, like the previous FM's, is terrific. For $250, I would get an FM2 on Ebay.

Nice MF lenses for these cameras are really cheap, compared to what they cost when they were new.

Now let's just hope they keep making film!!

MB