.JPG Files: Same Picture: one is 1.27MB; the other is 669KB?

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

When I upload pics from this Sony digital camera, they go right to My Pictures as a .jpg file. They all come in at the 1.+MB range.

But I noticed when I take a pic of something on the PC to send to the Forum, and convert the default.bmp file to .jpg, this .jpg is in the 000 KB range. I use Windows Paint to do the converting.

So I decided to run the Sony pics through Paint just for laughs to see what would happen, and they all were converted from MB.jpg to KB.jpg.

This is a great advantage when needing to send a number of pics thru email, too.

Both MB and KB pictures appear exactly the same in quality.

So how come the Sony pics come through so much larger? As I said, the quality of both pics seems the same. I don't get; again. Oh Well

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Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

JPG is a "lossy" compression format. The image degrades when you compress it, like making a copy of a cassette.

JPG writers control the degree of information loss. It's called "JPG quality". The lower the quality setting, the smaller the file size. Some programs like PhotoShop put this parameter under user control. Others like Paint have a default quality setting that they use for everything.

The differences in quality settings are often invisble to the eye. Small changes in the compression setting can shrink the file size considerably with few visual artifacts. Cameras typically use a very high quality setting, which is why the pics from your camera use so much disk space.
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Wiz Feinberg · From: Mid-Michigan, USA

Digital cameras are rated in megapixels. The higher the number of pixels, the larger the file size at full quality. I usually downsize my photos to 800x600, or 640x480, when shooting for use on the web. The quality is fine for the sizes that are typically displayed on a web page.

Those really high pixel settings are meant for producing sharp prints up to and exceeding 11x14 inches. It is a waste of space on the memory chip as well as on your computer, to save photos meant for display on monitors at file sizes exceeding 2 megabytes each. Set your camera's resolution to 800x600 and your photos will drop to a few hundred kilobytes and still be sharp enough for use on any web page.

The only time I shoot at higher resolution is when I expect to crop a portion out of a scene and enlarge it. Having higher pixel count helps keep the cropped enlarged portion sharp.

Furthermore, most decent image editors, like Photoshop and Paintshop Pro, have sharpening filters. I usually sharpen resized images by about 50 to 75 percent. Unless you make the photos zoomable to much larger sizes onscreen, you won't see the jpeg artifacts.

I usually save jpg's at 40 or 50 percent compression. This reduces the file size about 10:1. That means that a 400 kb photo will become a 40 kb web image. The smaller the size of images on a page, the faster it loads.

When I create thumbnails that can be expanded when clicked upon (lightbox effect), the thumbs usually rate at about 10 or 11 kb each. The 800x600 large images typically rate at 30 to 45 kb. The original camera images may have been about 400 to 600 kb before editing.

You probably won't get any fine control over your images using Windows built in image editors. They are the most basic tools available.
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Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Great info b0b and Wiz. Thank you.

And that Sony camera is set at the highest reso - 1078x780 - I think. I'll definitely reduce it.

Yeah, I'm far from a photographer; more like a picture taker. I'm not into editing or embellishing the pics as of now. The one's coming off the camera are good enough for me and my 'buds'; even the converted .jpg MB files.

As we used to say in the folk world when tuning-up acoustics, and maybe having acuity interference due to THC?
"AGGGH!...that's close enuff for folk music". Very Happy

_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

I took a series of pics last Sunday, and this time around, Paint was not able to lower the MBs to KBs , as before.

And, like a dummy, I forgot to drop the camera's resolution down to 800x600.

Even still, Paint didn't work on these last batch of pics. Oh Well

_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Cal Sharp · From: the farm in Kornfield Kounty, TN

You might try Irfanview. Free. http://www.irfanview.com/

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Thanks C#,

I had Irfanview on my PC a few years back. While it was a very good program, it seemed to take over all related things. Seemed hard to control.

But, I graduated now to the 6th grade of PC education, and Mrs. Ristertwisser, my 5th grade teacher, said I was on my way to a great career in PC programming. Winking

Maybe I'll go back and try IFV again. Maybe now I can figure out how to control things better.

Thanks again C#.
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Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

Mike Davidson · From: New Mexico, USA

I-view is one of the few programs you can actually easily go in and 'uncheck' the file associations. It defaults to videos, photos, music, icons as it is quite powerful but you might want another program controlling a certain format. Fear not it's easily one of the best photo viewing apps out there. And it's free. Options>Set File Associations and untick what you don't want it to control.

Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Thanks, too, Mike

I just may give I-view another shot.

I lowered the 'reso' setting on the camera, and the last batch of pics did come out in the KB range.

I used to have Paint Shop Pro 5, but the CD and all ID's got lost in the shuffle along the way.

I really should have another viewer outside of "Paint".

Thanks again.
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Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

b0b · From: Cloverdale, CA, USA

Another vote for IrfanView. It's a good, reliable program and it's free.
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Chip Fossa · From: Monson, MA, USA (deceased)

Absolutely b0b,

I already dwnl/instal I-View, checked off what I wanted it to do, and it's running just great; not taking over anything, except what I checked-off. I'm very pleased.

The JPG files seem to be crisper and clearer, than they are in MS Paint. Very Happy

_________________
Chip
Williams U-12 8X5; Keyless; Natural Blonde Laquer.

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