How To: Email Full Size iPhone 3GS Photos via Copy/Paste
Dave wrote in asking TiPb how he could email full size, full quality photos from his iPhone 3GS. Sounds simple, right, but by default if you go into Camera Roll choose one or more photos, and then choose Share, the iPhone will crunch the image(s) down to 800×600.
If, however, you use the copy command, then exit, go to email, and use paste to insert the images, the iPhone will keep them at their full 2048×1526 size.
Of course, increased resolution means increased file size, in our test case 816KB vs. 104KB for a single photo, so keep that in mind before trying to attach 10 full res photos and then wondering why it takes forever for the email to send and your buddy’s tiny free-mail account bounces it back for exceeding maximum capacity…
But for people like Dave who just need to get a few, high quality shots off via email, this looks like a great work around.
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Good tip…
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:30 pm
Great tip!! Surprised apple didn’t patch this one up. Anyone confirmed that this works in 3.1? Hmm
July 3rd, 2009 at 2:39 pm
This works on all iPhones, not just the 3GS.
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:29 pm
So wait a minute. How does one get full resolution pics on the phone in the first place? Doesn’t the iphone “optimize” for your mobile anyway when synching with itunes? Or are we speaking only about pictures you take yourself?
July 3rd, 2009 at 3:36 pm
Photos taken on the iPhone, by the iPhone camera.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:13 pm
Of course the full res numbers mentioned above are for 3Gs.
Same trick works on the 3g, but the resolution is 1600×1200.
July 3rd, 2009 at 4:44 pm
@icebike yes, because the 3G is 2mp while the 3GS is 3mp…..
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Cool one. Thanks for sharing!
July 3rd, 2009 at 5:48 pm
Hmm, “Dave” wrote in the day after the the copy-paste tip was posted here:
http://geek.thinkunique.org/2009/07/02/email-full-resolution-photos-from-iphone-3g-s/
And after http://daringfireball.net/ made note of it.
What a coincidence.
July 3rd, 2009 at 6:19 pm
Rene!! Report on this : http://www.engadget.com/2009/07/03/poll-hows-your-palm-pre-holding-up/
Gotta love that poo build quality.
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:37 pm
@iShirk: It’s not poo man! It’s grade A fecal matter to be specific. No one gives palm the credit they deserve! Quality!!
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:40 pm
@iShirk
With some of the problems reported after launch of the iPhone 3G and 3G S, I wouldn’t brag just yet!
July 3rd, 2009 at 10:53 pm
@Dexter at least apple care will replace your iPhone if it changes colour from heat deformation.. Palm isn’t going to give you a super pre because you realized the build quality of the current model is ****.
July 4th, 2009 at 6:28 am
I apologize for asking, but can someone explain the few steps required to do this. If I hold down on one pic I get copy, but haven’t been able to multi-select to get the menu choices as shown above. Thanks!
July 4th, 2009 at 6:51 am
Wow I feel dumb. In case I’m not the only one, it’s the only button on the screen that will bring up the share, copy, etc menu. I did notice that on my 3G I can only share 5 photos but can copy over 10 (didn’t try more). You’d think if share reduces the file size it would not limit it to 5 photos. No biggie, just an observation
July 11th, 2009 at 12:07 am
Am I the only one this is not working for?
I select and copy the photos in the gallery. I close it and open mail app. I paste the photos and send.
But it’s still resizing the photos to the same size as when I just send them from the gallery. It resizes them as soon as I paste them into the body of the email.
Is it just me?
July 11th, 2009 at 12:25 am
First of all, it seems that the original post you reference specifically says using the function to select and copy multiple photos doesn’t send full-res.
It says holding down the thumbnail and then copying one by one is how they got it to work. But even that is not working for me.
July 18th, 2009 at 4:37 pm
@redfood:
Dave wrote in a week or so before the post and we had not good answer for him. Then we saw the posts credited above, remembered his question, and passed along the info, still credited.
July 28th, 2009 at 3:33 pm
Thanks for the tricks…