Low Compression Vs. High Compression

[jimmywilson69]

I am trying to determine what size of memory card I will need when I purchase my digital camera.

The camera I am considering is the Olympus C-765

according to the specs i have found it save the following to a 16 MB card.

SHQ - 5

HQ - 16

Is there a noticable difference in the picture quality due to compression? I will be potentially enlarging candid pictures to 8x10 at a minimum using either of the above settings. If I were to take a picture that I planned on enlarging ( like a city scape)I would just take it in TIFF mode and no worry about it.

[gary_hendricks]

If you are going to be enlarging, then go with low compression, high compresson lowers the quality which you may or may not notice when it's in the original size, but will be obvious after a resize.

Hope this helps.

[Geoff Chandler]

Gary's advice is good (always). & I don't especially like high compression - however - it seems to me that the Olympus higher compression isn't too drastic. My version of the Ultra Zooms is only a 3mp one - but I mostly use it at 3mp high Compression,(HQ) I almost never use it in Tiff. I did tests when I first got it to compare the effects ~ whilst I say I don't like compression - it seems that a high comprssion 3mp pic is slightly better than a low compression 2mp one. I get more photos/card at 3mp low (HQ) than at 2mp high (SQ) - I suggest you do a few tests for yourself to see just how much the different settings affect the picture. I've saved 3mp SHQ in My Mode for quick access.
May I also suggest you purchase at least a 128mb card as well.

[D70FAN]

I am trying to determine what size of memory card I will need when I purchase my digital camera.

The camera I am considering is the Olympus C-765

according to the specs i have found it save the following to a 16 MB card.

SHQ - 5

HQ - 16

Is there a noticable difference in the picture quality due to compression? I will be potentially enlarging candid pictures to 8x10 at a minimum using either of the above settings. If I were to take a picture that I planned on enlarging ( like a city scape)I would just take it in TIFF mode and no worry about it.

First rule of digital. Always shoot at highest quality in JPEG. Second rule: Buy a bigger memory (to help with the first rule). Unfortunately xD memory cards run about twice the cost of CF or SD. But a 512MB xD card will hold about 160 SHQ shots. Third rule: Don't use TIFF, as you won't gain a noticable improvement over SHQ.

If you had RAW that would be a different story. My 2 pennies worth.