Digital Camera Settings
 

Hello. I'm going on a 3 week trip soon and will be using my Canon SD 450 for only the second time. The first time was at Yellowstone last year, and while the pictures came out great I thought, I realized that the default setting of the camera was on 'fine' rsther than 'super fine.' My question is, will I really see a difference using the super fine setting? I need to know because I'll have to purchase another memory card if that is the case, as I won't be able to take as many photos on that setting. Thanks in advance.

Purchase the card. And use the superfine setting. You may not appreciate it immediately, but it will give you options for cropping the pictures later and keeping the max clarity available.

Years ago, I purchased a Nikon digital. And on our first trip, I took pictures at a setting which maximized the number on the card. Dumb. I gently cuss myself each time I look at them.

Thanks for your input. I think I will buy the card. It's probably worth spending an extra $30-40 to make sure I have the best photos possible.

Have to agree with bookhall. Always shoot on the highest quality you can - you may shoot a photo you want to blow up to poster size - and can't because you saved on card space. Or you want to crop the photo - the higher the quality the better the crop.
You should always have at least two memory cards on the go, swithch between them regularly and always reformat once you've downloaded the photos to your comp.
Better btw to have four 1Gb cards than one 4Gb one. Apart from anything else if one card packs up it's not so many photos to miss.
Have a great trip.

for photos you might want to enlarge or frame..

In addition to the superfine setting...make sure your setting is for Large...as opposed to small or medium size.

I agree with the others. Set your camera on the highest settings possible (Superfine and 2592 x 1944 resolution) and get enough cards to handle it.

My usual comment to folks is "if you don't want to use the full 5mp, then why didn't you buy a 3mp camera and save some money." :)

I agree with the foregoing advice, especially to have spare memory cards. On a trip a year or so ago, I had a card that had dozens of photos on it. When I tried to take another it would not accept it even though there should have been plenty of room. I immediately switched to a spare.

Once I got home, I took the balky card to my computer geek. He was able to recover the photos but told me if I had continued to try and use it, I might have ruined it to the point where nothing would have been recoverable.

Memory cards are cheap - have and carry several.

I own 2 hard cases that hold and PROTECT my extra cards. Each case is foam lined to snugly hold 4 media cards.