Pixels and shooting at various resolutions?

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Hi,

I'm using a Fuji S7000 digital camera. When shooting at various resolutions (1
to 6 megapixels) what happens to the pixels. At 2 megapixels I have 1600x1200;
at 3 megapixels I have 2000x1500 roughly. Is it just fewer pixels used at the
lower resolution or something else?

Do all cameras work pretty much the same way in using pixels at various
resolutions?

TIA,

Conrad

Conrad Weiler
Camp Sherman, Oregon

Archived from groups: rec.photo.digital (More info?)

Conrad Weiler wrote:

> Hi,
>
> I'm using a Fuji S7000 digital camera. When shooting at various resolutions (1
> to 6 megapixels) what happens to the pixels. At 2 megapixels I have 1600x1200;
> at 3 megapixels I have 2000x1500 roughly. Is it just fewer pixels used at the
> lower resolution or something else?
>
> Do all cameras work pretty much the same way in using pixels at various
> resolutions?

The camera always produces a full sized, full resolution image. When you
choose a lower resolution, the image is downsampled by the camera's internal
computer before it's saved to the memory card.

For example, if you cut the resolution of an image in half, then every second
pixel would be removed. Most image editing software allows you to do the exact
same thing on your home computer.

Because of this, it's always best to shoot full resolution and downsize the image
later if required. It's easy to throw away picture information, but it's impossible
to create it after the fact.