On May 25, 8:40 am, wrote:
I print only 1% - 2% of the pictures I shoot. And, I only print in 4x6
most of the time. Even when I enlarge and print, it would only be
8x10. In only one instance I have enlarged the picture to 20x30.

I do crop my images often, but not by much.

In my situation, I should keep the camera set at a lower resolution by
default and use higher resolution setting when I know I will (1) crop
the image eventually or (2) print a blown up picture. That way I can
take more pictures (and video) before filling up the memory card and
don't lose anything in picture quality. (Technically speaking, picture
quality and picture resolution are not related.)

Am I right in my analysis or am I missing something?

If you keep your camera set at the highest resolution supported,
please tell me why do you do that.

Thank you for sharing your opinions.

But many has been the time that I have ended up doing a lot with that
I did not intend when I originally made the shot. Memory cards are
coming down so much in price that this shouldn't be too much of a
problem.

I set cameras for highest res and lowest step of compression (HQ on
most cameras). I use RAW only for stuff I know I will do a lot with.
High res and moderate JPEG still results in a reasonable size file,
but with not-that-bad a loss of information.

Note that jpeg compression does NOT reduce the resolution of images,
only color purity. Loss of resolution in my mind is a glaring factor
in image quality. As long as you use JPEG only for the initial
storage, and not for the file type while processing, you do not lose
all that much. While you are working on a file, store it in the native
format for your image processor (PSD, PSP, etc.).