Choosing image size

[357mag]

So I'm reading a book I bought concerning my new Nikon and I can choose between image quality at small (2304 x 1536 - 3.5 MP) or medium (3456 x 2304 - 8 MP) or Large (4608 x 3072 - 14.2 MP). I was not aware that you would want to choose large to be getting the entire 14.2 MP. I new to digital so...

I previously had my camera set to small so I did a test. I photographed an orange. The first photo was small and then the second photo was medium. I transferred the shots to my computer and compared and indeed it did appear that the photo that was shot on medium was sharper and had more detail and focus.

So one way to get sharper images is to shoot at a larger size?

 

[Josh66]

If the viewing size stays the same (your monitor, or a print), the larger image (which is probably larger than your monitor) should look better. Same reason medium format looks sharper than 35mm...


Really, I can't imagine very many situations where I would want to use anything but the largest size.

 

[480sparky]

Shoot Large unless you know the ultimate fate of the image for it's entire life. If you're going to take the shot for one purpose (posting on the web or emailing), then Small is just fine. But otherwise, leave it on Large.

 

[analog.universe]

The only time I use anything besides large is when I do timelapse... just so I can fit enough images on the memory card (enough meaning 5,000 instead of 1,000).

If you intend to do ANY editing or printing, you'll get better results if you've got more data to work with.

 

[KmH]

+1 on the recommendations to always select the Large size, except for very special circumstances like doing a long series of time-lapse shots.