How do I get the first preview on my camera to look as good as when I'm zoomed in?

Question

When I take photos on my camera and view them, they sometimes don't look the best quality. When I zoom into them on the camera they look much better, like the quality and sharpness of the image is a lot better zoomed in than when first previewed.

Why is this and how can I get the image to look as good normally like when the image is zoomed in?

Possible duplicate of Why do my images look different on my camera than when imported to my laptop? — mattdm, Apr 11 '17 at 15:49
@mattdm I understand the rationale that duplicate questions should be avoided, but sometimes I think the hunt for a duplicate is a bit too zealous, and the duplication tenuous. This question is about apparent sharpness at different zoom levels on a camera monitor. The other question is about colour differences between camera and computer screen. — osullic, Apr 11 '17 at 16:04
If there is a way to change this, it will depend on your camera. Please put this information in your question. — Myridium, Apr 11 '17 at 20:57
@osullic Basic answer is the same. The LCD screen isn't a great representation of the actual image. That said, I'm sure we've had something closer than that one before, too. — mattdm, Apr 12 '17 at 11:20
Try: Why do images look sharp on my camera's LCD, but not tack sharp on my laptop? — mattdm, Apr 12 '17 at 11:27
Possible duplicate of Why do images look sharp on my camera's LCD, but not tack sharp on my laptop? — scottbb, Apr 18 '17 at 13:17

score 6 · Answer 1 · edited Apr 11 '17 at 20:08

It is because the camera is previewing a compressed JPEG on screen with lower resolution than the actual image is.

The algorithm of downsampling the image is sometimes too rough to show a nice image. When you zoom in, you are actually zooming out less, the downsampling is not that rough and the result is closer to the "reality".

This is not a concern at all because what one really cares about is not camera preview but the image after postprocessing displayed in your portfolio or printed on a wall.

I use the camera preview for really rough evaluation: Do I have everything in the frame? Is it too underexposed/overexposed? Was the shutter fast enough?

Let us continue this discussion in chat. – Crowley Apr 12 '17 at 13:58 — Crowley, Apr 12 '17 at 13:58

How do I get the first preview on my camera to look as good as when I'm zoomed in?

1 Answers1