Picture Quality / Size Options (6.90)
The A200 supports both the standard 3:2 aspect ratio and a 16:9 aspect ratio, matching the format of a high-def TV display (this is a Sony, after all, and those Bravia sets turn a tidy profit). Of course, this wide-screen format option would be more impressive if there were some way of connecting the camera directly to a high-def display – the only video output is the ever-popular yellow standard-def cable. And while some TVs are now shipping with card slots that allow you to insert an SD card directly and view your photographic achievements in all their high-def glory, the A200 uses CompactFlash, not SD cards, and we've yet to see a TV that accommodates CompactFlash.
Image Size, 3:2 Aspect Ratio
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Large
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3872 x 2592 pixels
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Medium
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2896 x 1936 pixels
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Small
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1920 x 1280 pixels
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Image Size, 16:9 Aspect Ratio
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Large
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3872 x 2176
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Medium
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2896 x 1632
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Small
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1920 x 10188
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There are four options when it comes to Image compression (quality) settings:
- RAW: The file contains precisely the unprocessed, uncompressed data captured by the image sensor, requiring computer software processing on the back end. This allows greater editing flexibility than working with a compressed JPEG image.
- RAW plus JPEG: The same image is stored as a RAW file for editing and a JPEG for immediate viewing and printing. Some cameras allow users to choose the size and compression settings for the attached JPEG, but Sony mandates a Large file with low (Fine) compression.
- FINE: A gently compressed JPEG file.
- STD (for Standard, not sexually transmitted disease): A more drastically compressed JPEG. You'd choose STD mode if you were trying to squeeze more images onto a memory card. Given the size and price of CompactFlash cards today, this setting is pretty pointless.
Picture Effects Mode (7.50)
Unlike Nikon, which provides a positively flamboyant array of in-camera editing tools to keep you busy on that long flight home from vacation, Sony delivers no in-camera editing features at all, assuming you'll do your cropping, lighting and color adjustment and other twiddling and tweaking on a computer (presumably a Sony VAIO). This is a problem if you're one of those consumer types who likes to use PictBridge (which the A200 does support) to print directly from your camera via a USB cable, or if you hand your memory card to the local purveyor of digital prints and ask for a snazzy 4 x 6 of each.
You do have what Sony calls Creative Style settings available while shooting, but these are permanent changes to your original photo, don't include popular in-camera options such as cropping, saving a smaller file-size copy for emailing, or turning your picture sepia. Other than the sepia thing, we like to have those options in a consumer-class camera.
