18MP compact camera,What Megapixel setting should i use for everyday shooting ??

chaparral

chaparral

chaparral

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Guys i just bought an 18MP compact digital camera and am wondering if there any reason i should use the 18MP setting over the 10MP setting ???

My camera has the following MP/Ratio settings
18M 4:3
10M 4:3
5M 4:3
VGA 4:3

13M 16:9
2M 16:9


As i see don't see the need for saving 100's of really large 18MP pictures,or am i missing something :confused:
 
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Put simply, the more MP you have, the larger you'll be able to blow up the image when printing. For general use, like sending photos to be printed at normal size, 8mp is fine. My old 300D took some very nice photos and that was around 6.3 (I think).

The sensor factors into it too, so a high mp doesn't mean it's a good camera. Take photos with various settings, then look at them on your PC. For example, take a photo at 18mp and at 10mp of the same thing, then see which you prefer.
 
Wouldn't a 10MP jpeg be about 2Mb, whereas a 18MP would be under 3Mb - not sure the difference in file size is a massive issue these days.

What makes you think the 10MP is better quality? If you are viewing on you PC dont forget that if you resize the image to view it on screen that affect the apparent quality, and different resolutions resize differently ie, an image that it reduced 50% will look better on screen than an image reduced 66%.
Compare the images when set at 1:1 or 100% zoom and see which is better them. If you prefer the 10MP, shoot at 10MP.
 
Thanks guys...

Am hoping to have some free time today to have a play around with my camera (Sony DSC-HX20V) to try all different settings...

My last camera was an old 5MP sony P120 bought in 2004
 
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Ah ha! :D

I have seen some cameras that produce poorer photos at higher settings. My dad used to have one. The image looks blurry when at max settings, but on the next stop down it was nice and sharp. No idea if cameras still have that problem these days, as this was a point n shoot camera from about 8 years ago.
 
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I would shoot at 10mp 4:3, if the camera down samples by averaging pixels of an 18mp image to get that resolution rather than by just chucking away pixels.
Tbh, I doubt you would want to produce anything larger than 5mp with such a camera, so 5mp might be a better choice.
 
ElDude said:
Put simply, the more MP you have, the larger you'll be able to blow up the image when printing. For general use, like sending photos to be printed at normal size, 8mp is fine. My old 300D took some very nice photos and that was around 6.3 (I think).

The sensor factors into it too, so a high mp doesn't mean it's a good camera. Take photos with various settings, then look at them on your PC. For example, take a photo at 18mp and at 10mp of the same thing, then see which you prefer.
Click to expand...

Just make sure you view them at the same magnification to determine which is better.
 
An Exception said:
I would shoot at 10mp 4:3, if the camera down samples by averaging pixels of an 18mp image to get that resolution rather than by just chucking away pixels.
Click to expand...
How could i found out if my camera down samples a 18mp image or chucks away the pixels ??


YES am kind of a real newbie at this...
As i normally just buy a camera and mainly set it to auto mode and then just point & shoot :o
 
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Take a picture at 18mp with no flash indoors, take another at 10mp, downsize the 18mp to 10mp and view both at 100% magnification. Do they both look about the same, or does one look better with less noise?
 
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