Why are my photos less than 12mb with the x3?

BillW62 · Nov 8, 2016

They seem to be around 4 MLB what I'm I missing? Sorry if this has been covered but all my searches turned up nothing.

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Boycie702 · Nov 8, 2016

I would imagine that it is like any other digital camera that does a jpeg compression within the camera. Unless you are shooting in RAW your pictures will never be the same as the resolution quoted by the sensor manufacturer.

BillW62 · Nov 8, 2016

Thanks Boycie, So I should shoot in jpeg and raw and use raw if printing?

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Boycie702 · Nov 8, 2016

I shoot everything on all digital cameras in RAW; It gives me loads more options to manipulate with decent software like photoshop. When cameras do a basic Jpeg compression they just blob areas of the screen that are of similar colour and tone together as one 'pixel', hence the final image size is smaller. The lower the quality of a jpeg, the smaller file, and the more blobby the image. You can control the quality when you save from photoshop but if you are doing it within the camera you are at the mercy of whoever wrote the compression software. If you are printing them out then take images in RAW (if it is an option). The only downsides to RAW is that you need decent software to do anything with it and your hard drive fills up quicker.

BillW62 · Nov 8, 2016

Great information Boycie thanks for helping me understand. Can you just print your raw image? Or must it be photoshopped first?

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Kilrah · Nov 8, 2016

12MP does not mean 12MB file size.

RAW needs to be treated first. Once treated you will put out a JPG and that will be printed.

Size for a JPG depends on image contents.

Boycie702 · Nov 9, 2016

BillW62 said:
Great information Boycie thanks for helping me understand. Can you just print your raw image? Or must it be photoshopped first?

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You can't really just print a RAW image but you can open it in decent computer based software. Once you have manipulated it you can save it as a Jpeg (which will be compressed) or a .TIF which is usually uncompressed and contains far more digital information. The question is do you need that extra file size? If you are printing a billboard ad or going into a high gloss magazine at 300dpi then a .TIF is the way ahead. If you are just printing normal sized photos then a .jpg will be fine. Try it and see if you can pick up the difference in quality yourself. Most non-photographers won't see the difference.

BillW62 · Nov 9, 2016

Well, I don't have any photoshop software YET, my Nikon camera jpegs are 12 mb right from the card, or at least that what he file size says, so I was a little confused. Just looking for crisp printed images. Bigger file size means more pixels, cleaner image, right?

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BillW62 · Nov 9, 2016

So what software do you guy use? I prefer to get just one that can do pictures and edit videos also. Or does that not exist? Thanks for all your feedback.

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Boycie702 · Nov 9, 2016

Best option I have found by far is the Adobe Creative Cloud. A 'photographer' subscription gets you Photoshop, Bridge and Lightroom at the latest version for about $8 a month. For video I bought Final Cut Pro but you probably don't need that high quality if you are just messing about. iMovie on mac is good enough, no idea what software comes with windows based kit.