Whats the difference between 8mb and 1mb images?

Why by ragnarok is it called mb We are talking about MegaPixels [MP] not MegaBytes[MB] ... *shakes head at the camera makers* Right lets dive into this. It pretty much means how big size megapixels the pictures will be stored add. The picture is made, the sensor gets the light information it gets into the processing area, a chip processes it into a JPG depending on the different settings the camera uses and voila the JPG is stored on your memory card. The 8Mp etc settings are just how big resolution you want to store it at. I would say go with the highest NATURAL resolution of the sensor. Why? Because that gives you space to crop and retains more details.. more pixels more possible details retained ;) The files are a bit bigger but storage is cheap these days. Really what does a 2Gbyte memory card costs these days..probably nothing. Setting it on less then 8Mb will mean you throw away image detail. And maybe it sounds smarter to retain image space but in fact you are throwing away data. Data you could use, for cropping, printing.. It is very nice to have the best details you can get. So stick with 8Mb and enjoy the best image quality your camera can offer you. Yes for small prints only 5Mpixels are needed but it is nice if you have a really good picture to print bigger right? I have to agree with Niko that there is one exception, bullshit claims. Cameras sold as 5Mpixel cameras with only a 2Mpixel sensor inside. That is just weaksauce! If we talk about the best quality possible we talk about the best ACTUAL quality. As in the max the sensor can offer you. Same with digital versus optical zoom. Optical zoom is actual zoom! Moving glass! [Though vivitar is even lying about that..] Digital zoom is cropping in the best case and in the worst well.. resampling pictures :( Very blurry and nasty. So when we talk about the best quality the best ACTUAL quality the hardware can offer you.

It's a question of quality or quantity. 8mb is HUGE for an image and usually an image that big is very good resolution but from what you said about your camera, it's a simple camera so I wouldn't expect it to be really utilizing all the 8mb properly. What I suggest is taking the same photo in every size and then compare it on your computer. See what size is what you'll need and you'll also see how there is most likely no substantial difference between 8mb and 5mb. What I recommend is 5mb as it will give you a crisp image that looks good on photo paper and It will also allow you to take more pictures than the 8mb. So basically the bigger in size, the theoretically better quality. Keep in mind though, some cameras don't actually take better resolution pictures with a larger image size, it is simply made into a larger image digitally with software on the camera, it's the same quality picture basically, but bigger.

8mb is a higher pixelation. Meaning... It will take up more space on storage because it is a bigger picture w more pixels. You can blow up a 8mb picture to 11x13 if u would like and it will stil be a clear photo. You cannot blow up a 1mb photo to that same size because it will be fuzzy and "pixelated". Just think of a picture being made up of tiny little dots. The higher the mb the more tiny little dots are in ur photo allowing a bigger print without any problems. I would suggest your setting to be at 2 or 3 mb for a regular print. You can also save more photos that way. Just remember if you want to "blow a photo up" larger than normal, you will first want to change ur setting to a higher mb.

1mb takes the smallest sized picture 8mb takes the largest sized picture always use the highest and largest quality when shooting