Very basic question on resolution

Stratman

Stratman

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Edit My Images
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If for the sake of argument the sensor on my camera has a maximum resolution of 3000x2000, what compromises (in terms of image quality) if any are made when shooting at lower sizes, such as 1920x1080 for example?

Would it be better to shoot at maximum size and then resize in the photo application of choice, or should I shoot at the desired image size to start with?
 
3000 x 2000 is about 6MP, and 1920 x 1080 is around 2 MP. The resolution has very little to do with IQ, but does impact the final print size. OTOH, I've printed excellent images at A4 equivalent from a 2 MP file, and the old Nikon D2H (about 4 MP) was considered good for poster size prints, so there are other factors involved.

I agree with Adrian. From a practical point of view, shoot at maximum resolution - memory cards are cheap - and keep your options open.
 
I'd shoot at max resolution / quality setting. If you need to crop in at a later stage, this gives you the best option to maintain as much quality as possible with the cropped final image.

Hope this makes sense ....
 
if you dont print and only intend to use the pictures on the monitor then there is no need to shoot at max resolution. right?
 
ziggy© said:
if you dont print and only intend to use the pictures on the monitor then there is no need to shoot at max resolution. right?
Click to expand...

But why wouldn't you? There us no advantage lowering the mp count, and as stated, you limit yourself if you need to crop in pp.
 
Thanks for the replies so far.

I don't intend to print them, but you never know. They are mainly for display on a 42" HD TV, hence the 1920x1080 size, and for shrinking and putting on the interweb.

My Fuji F72EXR shoots that size natively, but what I am trying to determine is whether I achieve maximum sharpness by shooting at the desired final size, or at maximum camera resolution and resizing later in Photoshop or Lightroom.

Am I right in thinking if I shoot at the lower image size in the camera, the noise and low light performance will be improved due to the effective larger pixel size but sharpness will be reduced for the same reason?
 
Nope pixel size stays the same!
 
Correct. The pixel size doesn't increase, you will have to buy a camera with a larger sensor/lower pixel density if you want this.

There's no need to shoot at a higher resolution for TV display, but they only thing you're going to gain is saving some space on the memory card.
 
I appreciate each pixel stays the same size, I was assuming adjacent pixels were variously combined to produce the lower resolution images. From doing a quick experiment the angle of view stays the same going between a 6Mb picture and a 2Mb one, so it's not just a smaller area of the sensor being used.

I'm trying to visualise exactly what is going on when images are produced at a lower resolution than the maximum the chip can give.
 
I think the camera will create the final image from the information from all pixels on sensor. I can't imagine this in camera calc will be any better than photoshops calcs.
So better to shoot at best settings so you can choose size later on.
 
The camera believe still shoots a max res file and resizes it in-camera.

Using Ps should provide the same result - Better to shoot at full res and resize. You can batch resize very easily.
 
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