Zak,
>>briefly give us an idea of how many images one can capture on an 8mb flash card<<
On my Olympus D-400Z, which comes with an 8MB SmartMedia flash card, there are four levels of detail:
SQ - standard quality (640x480) using standard jpg compression
HQ - high quality (1280x960) using standard compression
SHQ - super high quality (1280x960) using minimal compression
Non-compressed SHQ - (1280x960) no compression
Here are the number of pictures you can take at each level setting:
SQ - 122 pictures
HQ - 36 pictures
SHQ - 18 pictures
non-compressed SHQ - 2 pictures
While it may sound great to take 122 pictures on the SQ setting, the level of quality at 640x480 isn't the greatest, especially if you are going to view them on a large monitor (I have 21").
For basic web pics, however, the SQ 640x480 is fine, especially since the file size is much smaller (usually around 50k)- great for emailing.
I use the SHQ setting because:
1) The level of detail is superior
and
2) Now I own a Clik! drive, so I don't have to worry about storage and only being able to take 18 high quality pictures at any one time without dragging around my laptop.
I generally don't use the non-compression SHQ setting because each picture takes a long time to write to the flash card immediately after taking it - but for pictures where image quality is critical, it's certainly nice to have the capability. Also - you can only take two pictures before offloading to Clik!
>>is the technology developed enough to provide pictures as sharp as an inexpensive 35mm<<
Not quite yet, but it's getting there.
Anyone that would like for me to email them an SHQ quality picture, please email me at: Lipo@prodigy.net
The image size is about 370k so I'll only send one - ask for more if you don't mind waiting for your email to download.
regards,
Philip |
