Olypus SP550UZ | Shutterbug

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Submitted By: CodeCutter

Location: Mississippi, U.S.A.

Joined: Aug 20 2006

Posts:

Olypus SP550UZ

Posted: May 13, 2007 - 1:00pm

Good afternoon.

Last weekend, I purchased an Olympus SP550UZ with the 18x optical zoom and 7.1 megapixels. So far, I love the pictures I get.

I have one question that I hope someone can answer though. I can't find anywhere in the manual that came with the camera how to actually change the resolution so I can take advantage of the 7.1 megapixels. So far every picture I take shows 72 pixels per inch, and I can't seem to find a setting that changes that, nor when I pull them pictures into Olympus Master can I change it. I'd like to get it up to 300 or 600, but I don't know if I can.

Thank you in advance for any help you can offer.

Regards,

Mark

Submitted By: Larry Berman

Location: Pittsburgh

Joined: Mar 7 2005

Posts:

Re: Olypus SP550UZ

Posted: May 13, 2007 - 2:48pm

It's the number of actual pixlels (height and width) that determine megapixels and file size. The resolution (PPI) means nothing. Digital cameras don't capture resolution, only actual pixels.

Seven megapixels is approximately 3072x2304. If you want to change the resolution to 300, open the file in Photoshop and uncheck resample when changing the resolution under image>image size.

I'd take a wild guess here and say that you're using an older version of Photoshop that always opened digital camera files at monitor resolution. Newer versions of Photoshop used what was embedded in the EXIF data to state resolution.

Submitted By: ronk II

Joined: Oct 2 2006

Posts:

Re: Olypus SP550UZ

Posted: May 14, 2007 - 1:26am

my C5050z does the same thing. Note that at 72 ppi the image size is something like 32x24 with my 5mp camera when I open pix up in PSE 2.0 or 4.0. Change the resolution to 314, and the size becomes 8x6.

Submitted By: CodeCutter

Location: Mississippi, U.S.A.

Joined: Aug 20 2006

Posts:

Re: Olypus SP550UZ

Posted: May 14, 2007 - 6:42am

Thanks for your help Mr. Berman and Ronk.

To be honest, I don't have a copy of PhotoShop. I wish I did, but I'm just a novice and am wondering if I can justify the price. I understand it's excellent software.

What made me wonder about resolution is that yesterday I took a picture of a ladybug. When I looked at the image at 100%, I could barely make out the ladybug it was so blurry. I thought if the pixels per inch was greater, I might get better detail.

Thank you again for your response.

Regards,

Mark

Submitted By: Larry Berman

Location: Pittsburgh

Joined: Mar 7 2005

Posts:

Re: Olypus SP550UZ

Posted: May 14, 2007 - 8:33am

Blurriness is caused by either camera and/or subject movement. A tripod and a macro lens will help. Like I said, digital cameras do not capture resolution, only real pixels. And monitors do not see resolution, only displaying at monitor resolution no matter what the magnification. The only time resolution makes a difference is when the image is printed.

Submitted By: ronk II

Joined: Oct 2 2006

Posts:

Re: Olypus SP550UZ

Posted: May 14, 2007 - 1:33pm

what settings are you using? At maximum telephoto the camera only focuses to 4', in macro, 4INCHES. This could be the problem as well as the camera or subject movement.
Bump the iso up to 400 or put it in auto, that will also help with getting a faster shutter speed.
the software doesnot matter; I used camedia until Olympus included PSE 2.0 with my E-1.