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FAQ 1:
Why do people email me such large pictures?
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Answer:
Many digital camera owners don't realize how big a digital photo's file size is. They simply transfer the pictures from the camera to their computer and then email them. But recipients of such files who are on a dial-up connection (approximately 60% of all home internet accounts) will experience very long download times ... and the benefit of the large file is unimportant since they will likely only want to temporarily view the photo, not print it. Generally speaking, a camera which saves photos in the JPEG/JPG format will result in approximate file sizes† & download times (for 56K dial-up modems) as follows:
- 2 mega-pixel camera = ~400K
(about 7 minutes on dial-up)
- 3 mega-pixel camera = ~900K
(about 15 minutes on dial-up)
- 4 mega-pixel camera = ~2.4M
(about 42 minutes on dial-up)
- 5 mega-pixel camera = ~3.4M
(about 60 minutes on dial-up)
† file sizes will vary depending upon the nature of the subject/picture.
As cameras with higher pixel values become more affordable, the problem will only increase. Furthermore, optional camera ouput formats, such as TIF or RAW, yield even larger file sizes for the same pixel count.
RECOMMENDATIONS :: Kindly suggest to your friends or family that they use their preferred image editing application to down-size any image prior to sending it via email and save/send it in the JPEG format. For simple viewing ... a setting of 400x300 pixels (width x height) at 72 DPI (dots per inch) is generally adequate. This should yield a file approximately 35K in size (and only 40 seconds dial-up download time)!!
Of course, you can also suggest they try the Digital Picture Resizer to accomplish this task more quickly with minimal fuss ... especially if they want to resize multiple photos at once!
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