[HM] Re: MY Digital camera

[Duane Murphy]

--- At Thu, 26 Dec 2002 17:38:16 -0800, Jane Sprando wrote:

>Duane, ACDSee is the software that came with the camera. I tried finding a
>way to scale the photo, like in the program I use for my scanner
>(PhotoShop), but I didn't see it.

Well, my recommendation would be to throw ACDSee away. :-) PictureViewer/
QuickTime works great for viewing and there are several editors that are
probably better and cheap at shareware prices.

>What pixels (is that resolution?) do you have your camera set at? I was
>using the highest setting (Good, better, best).

Hmm, I see some confusion. 

Good better best, should apply to JPEG compression. JPEG is a
mathematical -lossy- compression. That means that it removes information
from the picture that cannot be recovered, ever. The theory is that its
information that you cant see any how, for some measure of "cant see".
The lower the setting the more information that gets thrown away.

There is another setting, Resolution that should do 2048 X 1526, 1024 X
768, 640 X 480. I use the 1024 X 768 setting, but I think I am going to
go back to 2048 X 1526. I wish there was something in between.

Quality Level is the "Good, Better, Best" setting for JPEG shown in
stars. I use two stars (better). 

Does the GS have a different interface?


>> From: "Duane Murphy" <duanemurphy at mac.com>
>> Reply-To: "Home Macintosh Users List"<HomeMac at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
>> Date: Thu, 26 Dec 2002 11:42:33 -0800
>> To: "Home Macintosh Users List" <HomeMac at lists.themacintoshguy.com>
>> Subject: [HM] Re: MY Digital camera
>> 
>> --- 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

 ...Duane