digital camera record modes - technical definition

Predetermined quality settings for recording JPEG images in some digital cameras. JPEG images may be compressed at various quality levels, and the record modes are preset compression ratios for one or more resolutions. From low to high, they are "standard quality" (SQ), "high quality" (HQ) and "super high quality" (SHQ).

Some cameras may use these modes for TIFF images as well, in which case the mode refers only to resolution, not compression. These modes are not standard and represent different settings from camera to camera, and they may not be used at all. Following is an example of the modes from one camera, which also uses them for setting movie resolution and frame rate. See JPEG and digital camera.

   Record Modes in the
   Olympus SP-560UZ Digital Camera

   Mode      Resolutions

   Still Pictures (JPEG Record Modes)
   SQ2   1600x1200, 1280x960, 1024x768, 640x480
   SQ1   2560x1920, 2304x1728, 2048x1536
   HQ    3264x2448, 3264x2176 (more compression)
   SHQ   3264x2448, 3264x2176 (least compression)

   Video/Movies (MPEG Record Modes)
   SQ    160x120  15 fps
   HQ    320x240  15 fps
   SHQ   640x480  30 fps