Nikon D300 User Manual page 140

compression menu allows you to control. Let's discuss the
two settings:
▪ Size priority – This compression setting is designed to
keep all your JPEG files at a certain uniform size. This
size will vary according to whether you selected
fine, normal, or
quality controls the regular, everyday compression level
of the JPEG file, while
How does it work? With
camera's software has a certain file size in mind for all
the JPEGs you shoot.
Let's say the camera wants to use a4.5-megabyte file
size. The D300(S) will do its best to keep all JPEGs set
to that particular file size by altering the level of
compression according to content. If a JPEG file has lots
of fine detail, it will require more compression than a file
with less detail in order to maintain the same file size.
By enabling this function, you are telling the camera that
it has permission to throw away however much image
data it needs to in order to get each file to the target size
of 4.5 megabytes. This could lower the quality of a
complex landscape shot much more than a shot of a
person standing by a blank wall.
the camera to sacrifice image quality—if necessary—to
keep the file size consistent.
Use this function only for images that will not be used
for fine art purposes. Otherwise, your image may not
look as good as it could.
basic in the Image quality
Size priority
Size priority
140
menu.
tweaks it even more.
enabled, the
Size priority instructs
JPEG
Image