What's a good way to get best quality pics?

Question

I have a 5 megapixel camera, Canon - PowerShot SD400 model.. Perhaps if someone has this particular model, you can tell me the best manual settings.

Here are the possible settings, if someone can tell me which ones are the best to use.

1.) Exposure:

-2 . . 1 . . 0 . . 1 . . 2+

2.) ISO:

Auto - 50 - 100 - 200 - 400

3.) Superfine - Fine - Normal

4.) Size of picture (2492 x 1944, 2048x1536, 1600x1200)

-- I don't particular use ginormous pictures.

Answer 1

Since you never know which shot you take you will want to make ginormous, your only strategy is to shoot all of them in a way that will allow you to have the flexibility to choose later.  If you need to reduce the image file size later, then just resize and save the images as a new file name so you don't overwrite the original.

So based upon that,

1) 0, neither over or under exposing the shot.

2) 50, that ISO has the least image noise.

3) Superfine, allows you to enlarge the most, while the other settings reduce your options

4) Pick the largest size, in the case the 1600 x 1200 pixels