On p.32 in the F717 manual under "Image size and quality", there is mention of the 2048 X 1536 image size yielding "A4" size images. What exactly is that? Would these still make 4X6 prints? We are planning a trip this summer and I would like to be able to get more pics on my memory stick(than the 51 on a 128mb stick) while maintaining "Fine" image quality. This looks to me as though the pics taken with this image size would yield the quality of 4(or slightly less) megapixels. Is that a correct assumption? Can you clear up my confusion here? As always, thanks for your help. This is a fantastic forum. Being very NEW to digital photography and very SLOW to catch on, you all are most patient in helping guys like me to catch on. It's appreciated.
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What is an "A4" size image?
- Thread starter BobT
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Terry L
Leading Member
A4 is the almost universal way of stating paper size. Only the US resists this international standard.
An A4 sheet of paper is 21 cm by 29.9 cm
A3 is exactly double the size and A5 is half the size of the standard A4.
Outside the US all printing paper is sold in A sizes. So, for convenience, you might say that A4 is more or less 12 inches by 8 inches. A3 is 12 by 16.
Canon and Epson make what they call A3+ printers which take paper slightly larger than A3.
Hope this helps.
An A4 sheet of paper is 21 cm by 29.9 cm
A3 is exactly double the size and A5 is half the size of the standard A4.
Outside the US all printing paper is sold in A sizes. So, for convenience, you might say that A4 is more or less 12 inches by 8 inches. A3 is 12 by 16.
Canon and Epson make what they call A3+ printers which take paper slightly larger than A3.
Hope this helps.
Peter Gobber
New member
BobT wrote:
Can you clear up my confusion here? As always, thanks for your help.
A4 is a papersize-format. 20,9 X 29,6 cm. Used in Europe and means, you can print out this papersize in this resolution.
Can you clear up my confusion here? As always, thanks for your help.
A4 is a papersize-format. 20,9 X 29,6 cm. Used in Europe and means, you can print out this papersize in this resolution.
OK. That said, would I want to use this format when taking lots of vacation photos knowing that I would want 4X6 prints as the end result? Or would there be a wiser way to go? Bottom line---I want to get more than (for example) 51 "Fine"images on a 128mb mem. stick.
Terry L
Leading Member
If you only intend to print out your pictures at the standard 6 in by 4 in (15 cm by 10 cm) size then you certainly don't need to record enough pixels for A4. If your instruction manual gives you an A5 option go for that. A5 is approx 21 cm by 15 cm -- twice as big as 6in by 4in, but a reasonable setting for your purposes.
--
Terry Lane
[email protected]
--
Terry Lane
[email protected]
James White
Leading Member
--Hi Bob,
As you now know that the A is related to print size and not associated
with pixels [actually inversely proprtional] may I suggest that you can
get fine quality shooting in standard mode, while getting twice
the amount of space on your memory stick. Let me say that this has
been discussed quite a bit here on STF in the past, and the general
consensus has been that the quality differance is only minutely noticed
in larger prints...8X10's to be specific. IMHO shooting in 5 MP standard
would be the way to go. ymmv
Regards
JamesDW
1" = 25.4 mm, not 24.5 mm. Also, metrics is a worldwide standard, not just European. Only Burma, Libya and United States are not in the club.
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busch
Forum Pro
My thoughts on this is that I would always want to shoot in the highest resolution/quality that the camera allows, even if I have to buy or borrow more storage cards. What's the point of buying a Ferrari if you are only going to drive on city streets at 25mph all the time?
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Viviners
Well-known member
Yes, just get yourself a 512Mb memory stick and you'll be able to take around 200 shots. Well worth it.
I use the video mode on my F717 quite a bit and could not manange with a small card.
I use the video mode on my F717 quite a bit and could not manange with a small card.
I put up a link for you with a few comparisons.
http://totaldesignz.com/a4_size_comparison.htm
The Black rectangle is the picture format you quoted. The next rectangle is the same picture if you resize it to fit into the A4 frame, the third is the same thing done with the 4x6 inch proportion/size and the last one is the actual A4 frame.
Don't worry about the ORIGINAL size of the black rectangle as it depends on the DPI (resolution).
Just use this as a comparison so that you can see how it'll work out.
Now, I took the 4x6 and resized it to fit with the actual PICTURE frame and as you can see, they are identical in proportions.
George
http://totaldesignz.com/a4_size_comparison.htm
The Black rectangle is the picture format you quoted. The next rectangle is the same picture if you resize it to fit into the A4 frame, the third is the same thing done with the 4x6 inch proportion/size and the last one is the actual A4 frame.
Don't worry about the ORIGINAL size of the black rectangle as it depends on the DPI (resolution).
Just use this as a comparison so that you can see how it'll work out.
Now, I took the 4x6 and resized it to fit with the actual PICTURE frame and as you can see, they are identical in proportions.
George
Pupator
Senior Member
Your analogy doesn't quite fit. He's not "driving" his camera a 25 mph all the time - he wants to drive it at 25 at a time when he thinks it's appropraite. If he's not going to print any bigger than 4x6, he has no need to shoot in 5MP Fine mode if he can't afford/doesn't want to buy extra storage.
The Ferrari goes 25 in a school zone because it's appropriate there for it's purpose - it goes even slower in a drive-thru because that's all it needs to do. It doesn't meant that people who take their ferrari through drive-thrus and school zones shouldn't have ferraris.
There's my 2 cents.
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Mike Fitzgerald
Veteran Member
Bob, a couple of points:
Firstly, I'll echo the sentiment of another poster in saying there's often a case for staying with larger pixel dimensions. The reasons are that --
1. you have greater potential for cropping/enlarging details later on (it's rare to be able to fill the frame accurately or neatly with each subject, especially if you have to shoot in a hurry), and
2. sooner or later you'll want to print that occasional, special, subject at a much larger size, frame it and hang it on your wall.
FWIW if you have to compromise in order to conserve storage space, general opinion is that the F717's Standard compression loses so little in quality, relative to Fine mode, that you should preferably drop to Standard ahead of sacrificing pixel count. This would give you about 95 full 5 Mp images on a 128 MB card, as against 81 images (nominal) for 2048 x 1536 Fine.
Secondly, ignoring the above for the moment, then what you need in order to calculate minimum image pixel dimensions is to look at your worst-case print dimension and multiply it by the desired resolution:
1. As I guess you're aware, the F717's normal pixel dimensions (e.g. 2560 x 1920) have an "aspect ratio" (width:height) of 4:3. A 6" x 4" print has an aspect ratio of 3:2, so you'll have to set the print width to 6" and allow the surplus to bleed off the top and bottom edges of the print, or else crop them. (You can shoot in 3:2 mode to avoid having to think about cropping later but, strangely, with Sony you don't reclaim any storage space by doing this.)
2. You should aim for about 240 pixels per inch (ppi) in your print, at whatever physical size you might want that to be. You can let it fall to 200 or even 180 ppi without losing much, but it makes sense to keep the resolution up a bit if the pixels are available.
3. That means that for preferred print quality your image should be (6 x 240 pixels) wide, i.e. 1440 ppi. The nearest standard output from the F717 that meets or exceeds this is 2048 x 1536 pixels. You can see that this would give you a print resolution of 2048/6 = 341.3 ppi which is more than adequate.
4. If you wanted to drop to the next available setting (1280 x 960 pixels), the resolution becomes 1280/6 = 213.3 ppi. In practice this would still give you excellent prints; in fact for most subjects you'd be very hard pressed indeed to pick the difference. The higher figure would only have an advantage via a high resolution printer if your image had lots of ultra fine detail, such as a ship's rigging, animal hair, etc.
Mike
Melbourne
Firstly, I'll echo the sentiment of another poster in saying there's often a case for staying with larger pixel dimensions. The reasons are that --
1. you have greater potential for cropping/enlarging details later on (it's rare to be able to fill the frame accurately or neatly with each subject, especially if you have to shoot in a hurry), and
2. sooner or later you'll want to print that occasional, special, subject at a much larger size, frame it and hang it on your wall.
FWIW if you have to compromise in order to conserve storage space, general opinion is that the F717's Standard compression loses so little in quality, relative to Fine mode, that you should preferably drop to Standard ahead of sacrificing pixel count. This would give you about 95 full 5 Mp images on a 128 MB card, as against 81 images (nominal) for 2048 x 1536 Fine.
Secondly, ignoring the above for the moment, then what you need in order to calculate minimum image pixel dimensions is to look at your worst-case print dimension and multiply it by the desired resolution:
1. As I guess you're aware, the F717's normal pixel dimensions (e.g. 2560 x 1920) have an "aspect ratio" (width:height) of 4:3. A 6" x 4" print has an aspect ratio of 3:2, so you'll have to set the print width to 6" and allow the surplus to bleed off the top and bottom edges of the print, or else crop them. (You can shoot in 3:2 mode to avoid having to think about cropping later but, strangely, with Sony you don't reclaim any storage space by doing this.)
2. You should aim for about 240 pixels per inch (ppi) in your print, at whatever physical size you might want that to be. You can let it fall to 200 or even 180 ppi without losing much, but it makes sense to keep the resolution up a bit if the pixels are available.
3. That means that for preferred print quality your image should be (6 x 240 pixels) wide, i.e. 1440 ppi. The nearest standard output from the F717 that meets or exceeds this is 2048 x 1536 pixels. You can see that this would give you a print resolution of 2048/6 = 341.3 ppi which is more than adequate.
4. If you wanted to drop to the next available setting (1280 x 960 pixels), the resolution becomes 1280/6 = 213.3 ppi. In practice this would still give you excellent prints; in fact for most subjects you'd be very hard pressed indeed to pick the difference. The higher figure would only have an advantage via a high resolution printer if your image had lots of ultra fine detail, such as a ship's rigging, animal hair, etc.
Mike
Melbourne
Doug Kerr
Forum Pro
Hi, Bob,
Best regards,
Doug Kerr
A4 is an international (ISO) size for general purpose paper, 210 x 297 mm (about 8.25" x 11.7"). It is the common European size for "letter-size" documents.
Best regards,
Doug Kerr
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