Digital picture question

[Jeff396]

I have a Sony video camera capable of taking still pictures. When I do, they look great when viewed on the computers monitor. However, when I go to print them on my HP855C Deskjet they come out EXTREMELY low resolution. Should the picture coming from the computer look as good as it does on the screen? If so, where am I experiencing the drop in quality of the picture? Attached is an example of a picture taken from the camera. I will then usually download the pictures from the camers and use Picture it Express to convert them to Jpegs.

Jeff

 

[RoyJackson]

I also have a Sony digital cam (pics only, no videos)

What resolution are you using? Sony (or another source) reccomends 640x480 for posting on the Web (same as you did with the "Vette) as a balance between quality of image and minimum bandwidth usage.
However, when you print a 640x480 sized image (especially if you print 8"x10"), it looks pretty grainy.

So, take your pics at the highest resolution you can (mine does 1200x960 or thereabouts). You can always reduce the resolution using Irfanview or another image editor for posting purposes (save the reduced resolution as another filename!!! Otherwise, you overwrite your original, higher quality image.)

The other thing is the paper and printer you're using. You really need to use a quality photo paper (HP makes some nice stuff...a bit expensive...around $30 for 25 sheets). Also, your printer must be capable of printing high resolution pictures. We have an HP 952C which does a fine job (using HP glossy or matte photo paper).

Another alternative is sending the pics to an online photo printer (we've used <A target="_blank" HREF=http://www.shutterfly.com/index.jsp>this one</A> with great success.

Now, you're using a video camera. I don't know if you can adjust the resolution of the stills, especially if they are "captured" from a video. As the "frames" in a video move so fast, quality of a frame (image) isn't as important. Your eyes can't "read" an image in a video, so your brain fills in the image based upon the rest of the scene. You're going to have to read your manual to determine the best "quality" for the vidcaps.

But, the quality (resolution) of the original picture file is what determines the quality of the printed picture.

 

[bmac]

Roy is exactly right. Photographs made at fairly low resolution can look great on your monitor but pretty bad on paper. My recollection is that stills from video cameras are low resolution and, as such, are not good for prints. In general, multi-function devices rarely excel in every application (a ShopSmith, while versatile, does not perform as well as a dedicated table saw, drill press, band saw, etc). For good quality prints, I think you need to have a dedicated digital camera (in addition to an appropriate printer and paper). The resolution of the camera will dictate what size prints you can generate at "photo quality". For example, a 2 megapixel camera (very affordable now) should do fine for prints up to 4"X6". For 8"X10" prints, however, you would probably want a 3 megapixel or greater camera.

 

[Jeff396]

Thanks to both of you. I was afraid that would be the answer. We aren't actually capturing an image from a video. We can use the camers to take still pictures and save them to a memory stick. Oh well, I guess a still camera is next on the list./w3tcompact/icons/smile.gif

Jeff

 

[frank_f15]

jeff: just to reiterate. i usually shoot with my digital at high resolution, then i save them to zip disk(not to use up hard drive) then if and when i want to print, i have a high res. to start form. if i want to e mail them i resize them to lower res, cuts the file size way down and still gives agreat pic. for viewing on computer.

 

[Jeff396]

I'm gonna dig out the directions on the video camera and see if you can select the resolution you'd like. When I bought it I knew the still shot capability was a weakness but the next one up was over $500.00 more. I figured I could get a real nice still camera for that kind of money. It will work out quite nicely for documenting my vehicles when I disassemble them. I rarely have a need to print out a photo but when I did a while back I was pretty disappointed.

Jeff

 

[bmac]

As an alternative, if you have a CD burner, you can archive photos on CDs very nicely. And CDs (I believe) will have a longer life span than magnetic media (which I think zip disks are).

Depending on your hardware, you may have a hard drive big enough to store you photos on. Even if you do, I would recommend backing them up to some sort of removable media. After all, many of these photos are irreplaceable and with no negatives on which to fall back, you need a seperate copy. Ideally, the archival copies should be stored at an off site location (e.g. safe deposit box at the bank).

 

[bmac]

Jeff, if you check the documentation that came with your video camera, it should indicate the maximum resolution of the still camera function.

 

[frank_f15]

you are correct, burning to cd is the way to . my new puter will have one. but zip is a handy also

 

[BB_TX]

No one mentioned it could be the printer. I assume you are using photo paper. I use a HP 5550 and get great pictures from a Sony digital still camera. But the printer does have different settings I have to be aware of. You can choose low, medium, or high resolution printing. Also, you must choose the type paper to match what paper you are actually using. I usually print medium resolution unless I want a photo to frame. I have forgotten to choose the correct paper before and the picture did not come out as well as when I choose the correct paper. Actually the 5550 has an auto paper select, but a HP 930 I had before did not. That is where I had the problem forgetting to choose the correct paper.

 

[k8ny]

Jeff,

BMAC is 100% correct on all his observations. I'm in the IT business and yes, your video recorder camera is capturing a very low res image. It looks good on your monitor because your monitor is low res (approx. 72-90 dpi). Your printer is capable of all of that plus more (my guess at least 600dpi).
Your best bet is to wait until they get better resolution on video cameras (with pure digital video that is getting closer) or buy a digital still camera.
A digital still camera will cover you at a minimum of 2 megapixels = 4X6 at 1200 dpi a 3 megapixel probably as BMAC says around 5X8 and >4 megapixel about 8X10.
I have a Canon ELPH tiny 2 megapixel digital and am pleased with the results printed up to about 5X8. Anything greater than that (with my ELPH at 2 Meg) becomes too loose and you are able to detect the digitizing, so the greater the overall pixel count the better.
As far as backup media, I store everything on my hard drive and do backups onto my CD at timed intervals. I use 2 CD's and keep one offsite.
Hope that solidifies BMAC's comments.

Bob

 

[Anonymous Poster]

when i was seaching for a camera the folks in our photo department said to me do you want to take movies or photos? none of the current products do both well only one or the other. so i have a sony vidio and a cannon g2
our photo guys use the g2 as their back up and our studios just bought 12 for us to use at work. and for a printer ive had great results with an epson 785 and will be getting a c80 next both geat photo copies slow if you want black and white text printing (speed). shoot high res. for printing and export it lower for the web.(our photo guys are here at g.m. design building) they get whatever they want to do the job and they get great results.

 

[JATO_RaT]

Hey Jeff, if you want to get some really great information, contact bhphotovideo.com. These guys have some fantastic information when it comes to anything photo or video, film or digital. For example, if you never intend to print anything larger then 8x10, then don't get a camera with highest pixel count which is now around 7 megapixel. Canon also shows you some examples at their site of various resolutions. Taken at the highest resolution, the D60 digital camera will eat up about 200 megabytes per picture. This is not only a high memory user, the picture requires a fast computer like the Macintosh dual G4 processors and Photoshop to process it in a practical way. When you print, you want to save the picture as a TIFF. JPEG is OK, great for the web where the typical monitor resolution is under 100dpi.

 

[Buck]

Jeff,

I guess I have to disagree with many of the inputs here. If the photo that you are viewing is satisfactory on the monitor, there is no reason that it should look bad when printed.

--- This is true so long as:
1) The width and height of the photo is the same on print as it appears on the monitor.
2) Your printer is capable of printing at the same quality as the monitor.

Your HP printer should be able to achieve a fairly good image quality, so my guess is that your photo is getting enlarged on the paper or as suggested earlier, the draft mode of the printer was chosen rather than the fine mode.

So try this. Get an approximate measure of the height and width in inches of the monitor photo. Then, using whatever photo editing software you are using, make sure that the printer prints the photo at about the same width and height, in inches. Also make sure that the high resolution or “fine” mode of the printer is selected. As suggested earlier, better paper will definitely help, but my guess is that you are seeing a grossly degraded photo and may be satisfied with the print on ink-jet paper.

Bottom line: If it looks good on a low resolution device (CRT) it can look good on a higher resolution device (PRINTER), so long as the physical sizes of the photo is the same.

Buck

 

[Jeff396]

Okay, I pulled up a picture and printed it at 5x7. When I hold the picture over the monitor it looks to be about 1 inch larger both in length and width. I am using Picture It Express to print the picture. On the print screen there is a pull down to select the print quality. The only option listed is Good(prints fastest). I do have a copy of Photoshop but it must be at least 6 years old. I started going through the tutorial and decided that my lack of knowledge in photography made it very difficult to understand and gave up. I suppose I could load it up and see how that package will print out a picture.

Jeff

 

[Buck]

Jeff,

I printed your photo out on a Kodak printer and an HP printer following the philosophy outlined previously.

They look very good. I think that the Picture IT software may short changing your printer. ("fastest" often means "comprimise on quality").

I will scan the printed pictures if you wish to show you the quality that I am getting. However, I will have to wait until I get home.

If Photoshop gives you problems, try the free version of paint shop pro.

Buck

 

[Buck]

Jeff,

Here is your vett photo, printed, rescanned, shrunk for (TBN requirements) and recompressed.

What do you think?

Buck

 

[Wingnut]

Jeff,

a cheap and easy trick for printing them out when the graphics packages just won't cooperate.
Open Word (or better yet, WordPerfect, heh) and add a graphic and pull in your picture. you should be able to resize it to your hearts content, until you get the aspect and resolution you want ... and then hit "print". Most of the word processors like Word and WP are WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get) and don't screw around with the pics like the paint programs do.

 

[Anonymous Poster]

Buck and Rat-As a new poster I'm not sure that this is kosher but I wanted to get some practical advice as a potential digicam buyer. Assuming it's OK here's my quandary: I'm considering a camera in the 2 mgpixel range which would give me the ability to shoot pictures in the size that I would actually use. I have a Sony PCG-FXA49 w/30meg. HD laptop to download to and a Epson Inkjet that prints 1440X720. Can you suggest a reasonably priced camera for a casual user and do you think that with the proper paper, the Epson will print adequately. It's brand new and my wife will kill me if I suggest a new one. Any advice you can give will be greatly appreciated.

 

[Buck]

Rat,

I have an Epson Stylus 900. My wife will tell you that it works wonderfully well for photographs on Epson Photo paper. I think what ever camera in the 2MegaPixel range you choose will work well too.

As far as the digital camera, let me first tell you that I work for Kodak. Therefore, take my recommendation with this in mind. In the 2 MegaPixel range, Kodak makes some very easy to use cameras. For example, the Kodak DX3600 has a docking station that you can put the camera in and have the batteries recharge and automatically upload the photos into the computer. This is extremely valuable because in many cases, it is very time consuming to get pictures into the computer.

I've enclosed a photo that my wife took several weeks ago with our DX3600.

Buck