A question??? My 5 megapixel Dimage A1 can do 2560 x 1920 pixel images...and I resize then to 700 x 525....and I am quite happy with the image quality. Baring in mind that is approx 1/4 ratio resize. What I sometimes wonder is: 1) Is it better to shoot at 1600 x 1200 so there is LESS ratio on resizing...and would the image quality be any better 'cos of the less ratio 'compression'...am I right here but have my doubts..! 2) What res do you shoot at and with what resizing...if any? Just a thought....

I always shoot at max res 3072 x 2048 and resize maintaining the aspect ratio of the original to 900 x 600 excluding any frames that I use (using smart size compression in PSP8.1) less jaggies. If however you want print resizes then bicubic resize may be better suited. In my opinion you get a better quality resize from max to whatever size you want/suits you as this appears to compress the pixels evenly. Just my opinion.

I asked that question about my Nikon to the staff at the camera shop. They said that if you shoot lower the smoothness and quality is not qutie as good. Hardly noticable to most.but to good eyes it is .So I shoot always at 3264x2448

I do the Max....a 5 Mill Pixie Canon....but, if it is the correct procedure or not....I dunno...I was never taught that in Cooking School :]

Shooting a max also gives you more freedom when cropping.

Forgot to mention..I shoot in TIFF and RAW as theres no loss in compression. Not everyone is fortunate in having these formats with their only option a jpg...I know jpg is a lossy compression (more compression/loose detail) every time you save as jpg. I am now beginning to wonder if the resize quality ratio in a jpg would be worse than TIFF etc ?

I believe that it is but doubt that you would notice it for viewing on screen, it is much more apparent in print. I usually (but not always) shoot in raw convert to tiff and edit/crop in tiff and then save in jpeg for web use. A couple of points to consider are that 1 programs such as PSP and PS etc you can alter the level of jpeg compression to suit your needs 2 Some of the high spec cameras jpeg output is almost indistinguishable from tiff unless the image has defined lines but for landscapes I doubt you could tell the difference. Colour definition is better with tiff if there are a vast range of colours in the image

The rule that I always went by was to use the largest original that I could, and let the resize sharpen the details. However, I'm not really sure if the computer works out like that, now that you mention it. I suppose it depends on the program.