Dear friend, I bought a Toshiba PDR-M1 (1.5 M pixils) last month in Taipei, Taiwan. I can use any mode of 1280 or 640, in combination with fine, normal, or basic quality. Obviously, the combination of 1280 with basic quality takes similar file size with the combination of 640 with fine quality. (The 1280 option has an apparently 4 times larger image than the 640 one. And the fine quality option uses 4 times less lossy compresion algorythm on saving images.) I just don't know which mode of combination, 1280 with basic quality or 640 with fine quality, is the mosr proper for monitor show or for printing. Thanks.

-- clshyu (clshyu@vghtpe.gov.tw), May 10, 1999

Answers

I also have a PDR-M1, purchased last November.

I've found that you can best determine the answers to these types of questions through simple experimentation. Try it both ways and load the images in and check them out on a monitor and then in an editing program so you can magnify them and see at what point they start breaking up or get blocky. Then print them at varying sizes and judge for yourself.

From what I've seen, anything from 640x480 up looks great on a monitor at Fine or Normal compression. I use 1280x1024 in FINE mode to print images as large as 8x10" with pretty impressive results. Onscreen I can see very little difference between the Fine and Normal modes, but do notice a difference in the Basic mode. Unless it's critical or you really need to print images as large as 8x10" I'd use the Normal compression and take pictures at 1280x1024 to get the best comprimise between image quality and storage space. In FINE mode(4:1 compression) there should be little or no noticeable loss in detail, in NORMAL mode (8:1) there might be some, but it's pretty tough to spot in images I've compared and printed. It's largely a subjective issue and highly dependant on the image subject and the viewing medium or printer.

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@francorp.francomm.com), May 11, 1999.