Nikon D300 User Manual page 141

▪ Optimal quality – This setting really doesn't do
anything extra to your images; the camera simply uses
less compression on complex subjects.
In effect, you are telling the camera to go ahead and vary
the file size so that image quality will be good for any
subject, complex or plain.
Instead of increasing compression to make an image of a
complex nature scene fit a certain file size—like
priority does—the camera only compresses the image to
the standard compression level based on the
quality you selected
In other words, the camera tries to preserve image
quality by limiting compression of complex images. Less
image data is thrown away, so the image quality is
higher. However, file size will vary depending on the
complexity of the subject.
Here are the screens and steps to choose a
type (see Figure
1. Select JPEG compression
scroll to the right.
Figure 3-13. JPEG compression
(JPEG
3-13):
141
fine, normal, or basic).
JPEG compression
from the Shooting Menu
Size
Image
and