PowerShot SD 870IS

[bigboy99]

This is a 8MP camera, but even though my settings are Super Fine and Max Pixels (3264x2248) my jpegs are only 3MB.

Am I confusing MP with MB?

 

[Phatpat]

Am I confusing MP with MB?

Yes. Your file sizes are perfectly normal.

 

[bigboy99]

They look great, but I see images that are 7+MB on digital proof sheets. Are these RAW files? It's hard to tell the difference on a computer monitor as they are all less resolution than the jpegs. When I use Elements to raise the resolution for printing the pixel dimensions reduce proportionately.

What does the 8MP actually mean, something to do with the CCD size?

 

[Phatpat]

What does the 8MP actually mean, something to do with the CCD size?

"MP" is a megapixel, or 1 million pixels. Your camera takes the raw data and compresses it into a jpg. The compression results in your small file size.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pixel#Megapixel

 

[bigboy99]

Got it. The 8MP has more info than, say, the 5MP. I jack the images around so much in Photoshop you can't really tell the difference at the end of the day.

Cheers...

bb