[HM] MY Digital camera

[Duane Murphy]

--- At Wed, 25 Dec 2002 20:49:47 -0800, Jane Sprando wrote:

>Happy Holidays!
>
>My husband gave me the Pentax Optio 330GS digital camera. It has been fun to
>use ------ once we've read the manual for the 17th time! Lots of stuff I
>still don't understand because I don't know the photography language!
>
>I did have a USB card installed on my beige G3. I got a Compact Flash
>Reader, too.
>
>Now the questions:
>
>1. The pictures are VERY large when I upload them to my Mac. How do I make
>them smaller, both size wise and megabytes?

What software are you using to view the pictures? If you are using
PictureViewer or most other programs the picture will be scaled. You can
usually choose scale to fit. If you're using a browser (IE or Netscape)
don't. They just show the pixels.

As far as reducing the file size, first you need to understand what
affect this will have. If you are using the 3M setting (the highest) on
the camera you have enough resolution to print a nice 8 X 10 photo. I
dont usually print 8 X 10 so I usually use the 2M setting (next one down). 

By reducing the number of pixels you are using you are affectively
reducing the quality of the picture and the ability to print a good
picture. For viewing on you monitor or over the web, this usually isnt a
problem. For printing or photo developing, it is an big problem.

You'll need a program like GraphicConverter for changing the resolution
of the picture. GraphicConverters menus are not well organized so I just
poke around until I find what I need. Until you're familiar you might
want to work on a copy of the photo just in case you accidentally save
something you didnt want to.

>2. I took several pictures  vertically (turned the camera sideways.).
>However, they are horizontal when I upload them. Then when I choose rotate
>90 degrees CW, the picture doesn't look good? How do I take a good picture
>vertically?

To get good rotations from JPEG (that's the format of the pictures) you
need to use a program that will do lossless JPEG rotation. I believe that
GraphicConverter does this as well as iViewMedia Pro. Both are shareware
and both are well worth the money. I highly recommend iViewMediaPro for
managing your pictures. Its really very nice. I like it much better than
iPhoto and lots of people agree.

Enjoy,
 ...Duane