Q. I take pictures for my insurance business. I e-mail the photos and need a small file size. Perhaps 50K or 75K would be optimum. It seems most digital cameras have a minimum file size of 1.1 megapixel. I don't want to use software to resize my pictures. Can you recommend a digital camera to take pictures for e-mailing?

A. Any camera you buy will produce photos that you can shrink for e-mail. You'll need to tinker with the settings a little bit. But it isn't too difficult to get a manageable file size.

First, set the photo quality on the camera. These settings actually change the compression rates. Digital cameras compress the photos to fit more images on media cards. Compression is usually lossy, meaning some data is lost in the process.

My camera has normal, fine and superfine settings. Other cameras will have similar settings, although the names may differ. Check your manual if you don't understand the setting choices.

These settings dictate how much compression is used, and, by extension, how much data is lost. Stick to "normal" for the smallest file size.

Additionally, some cameras have a RAW setting (Nikon calls it NEF). This is a non-lossy compression, meaning no data is lost. This setting produces really large photos not really suitable for e-mail.