Smaller MPIX vs Lower quality JPEG

Ok, so I am still considering getting an A2, despite not wanting to deal with large file sizes. So I want to shoot 3:2, which even at the highest (and only) size would give me 7mpix shots. That is still going to result in a large file size. But what if instead of Extra Fine (or whatever) I dropped the JPEG quality to Fine...should result in a smaller file, right? Now here is the question:

Would an Extra Fine 5 mpix photo, say from an A1, be substantially different from a Fine 7 or 8 mpix photo from the A2? In other words, does one benefit (either size or quality) cancel out the other?

Well - it depends... After some tests I chose for the A2 "Fine" as my standard setting. Crops from one of those tests you can see at: http://www.pbase.com/image/27635010 and http://www.pbase.com/image/27635098

I cannot compare with the A1, but if the differences noted are indeed as small as they appear to me, then an A2 picture should still hold more detail in landscapes than pictures taken of the same scene with an A1, even if compressed to "Fine".

I use all the pixels I can get. The resulting file with "Fine" is then around 3 Mb. I printed such pictures to Super A3 (32.9 x 48.3 cm, 13" x 19") on an Epson 2100 and also on a Fuji Frontier (photo paper) and could simply not see any differences without taking a loupe.

To print to say twice that size and using scaling software to do that, I would use RAW to avoid enlarging eventual artifacts.
--
Alfred

jefflins said:

Ok, so I am still considering getting an A2, despite not wanting to
deal with large file sizes. So I want to shoot 3:2, which even at
the highest (and only) size would give me 7mpix shots. That is
still going to result in a large file size. But what if instead of
Extra Fine (or whatever) I dropped the JPEG quality to
Fine...should result in a smaller file, right? Now here is the
question:

Would an Extra Fine 5 mpix photo, say from an A1, be substantially
different from a Fine 7 or 8 mpix photo from the A2? In other
words, does one benefit (either size or quality) cancel out the
other?

Click to expand...