None turned out, I want to cry

[ERMama]

And its all my own fault. I should have known better. Should have taken some pics with my old camera that usually takes okay pictures as long as I dont need flash. but tropical storm fay had me needing flash alot last week so I dont think it would have worked anyways.

Bought my second canon powershot the end of march. had it in for service in july. was told optical assembly was inoperative thus the focus wasnt working great. Wasnt thrilled with how it was working when they returned it to me after servicing it but took it on our vacation anyways.

Over 200 pictures taken and maybe 3 turned out. The rest are all grainy and blurry. I seriously want to cry. My daughters first trip to Disney and I have crap for pictures.
Im sending the camera back in for service this week. I should have just bought a disposible camera because Im sure the pics would have been better than what I have now.
Or maybe I am just the worst photographer in the world. But how come with my other 3 dig cams Ive owned Ive always been told what great pictures I take. Now this camera, I cant get ANYTHING to turn out good.
(just needed to vent somewhere).

 

[zackiedawg]

Over 200 pictures taken and maybe 3 turned out. The rest are all grainy and blurry. I seriously want to cry. My daughters first trip to Disney and I have crap for pictures.

Have you downloaded and kept those photos? Don't delete them. There are alot of photo processing techniques you can use that might be able to improve or recover some photos that you thought were worthless. Even if you are not familiar with these techniques or the software programs (Photoshop, Paint Shop Pro, Focal Blade, Noiseware, etc), many others are and might be willing to help you. There are for-hire services that restore or improve digital photos, or sometimes you can post them on some forums and message boards and find friendly folk willing to process them and e-mail them back to you.

Bad blur can't be fixed - but minor blur can usually be improved upon. And grainy photos can be significantly improved, sometimes marvelously, depending on the photo.

Or maybe I am just the worst photographer in the world. But how come with my other 3 dig cams Ive owned Ive always been told what great pictures I take. Now this camera, I cant get ANYTHING to turn out good.
(just needed to vent somewhere).

Unfortunately, sometimes cameras can handle so differently, that even if it is a more capable camera than what you used to use, the learning curve is steeper, and you have to get to understand the camera's best settings and its limitations to get the best from it. Sometimes, a simpler or older camera just had the right settings from the factory to make it simple to use and get the results you wanted from it...the new one might require a few adjustments to the settings to make it perform similarly.

Check out a Canon camera forum like dpreview.com and go to the Canon P&S message boards - you might be able to list your camera model and ask for help in choosing the optimal settings, and get better results from it.

Hope that helps!

 

[ERMama]

im going to go to that site and post a question about getting tips on that camera as i cant find access to it from the main board (not that i can find).
heres outside....

and if im inside, forget it, everythings super grainy with the flash....

 

[zackiedawg]

if it's a Powershot model, go to this board:

http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/forum.asp?forum=1010

And post your question about best settings - mention what your problems were, and that you are a beginner with that camera.

As for the grainy shot you posted - any shots you have like that can be significantly improved - virtually all of the graininess can be removed without severe loss of detail, using software programs like Noiseware, Noise Ninja, Helicon Filter, or Neat Image.

You can give any of those a try on your own (many of them have a free sample version or reduced function version available for download for free from their sites), or see if you can find someone with them who might be able to help.

 

[webshark3]

ERMama,

From the samples, I'll ask:

Do you press the shutter fully and quickly, or

Do you half-press to obtain a green focus lock, then full press it?

Powershots are usually pretty fast either way from the ones I used, but it makes a world of difference (a half-press squeeze versus just "pressing" the button).

I also see the camera used ISO200 for the indoor shot. It should still print ok, but it will look noisy blown up 100% on a computer screen. This is normal.

 

[thomas998]

I'm not sure what type of quality you were expecting from the camera... of the two photos you posted I didn't see so much grain that I would fault the camera... I would make sure you are pressing slowly and firmly... if you are pressing the shutter to quickly you'll cause blur on a lot of cameras. But the grain doesn't look horrible.

 

[mousetravel]

I have a Canon Powershot, but when I take nightime or fireworks shots, I usually bring along my old Kodak Easyshare for them. My Canon will not take good nightime shots and I didn't get any good shots of the fireworks earlier this year since I didn't take my old "standby camera" (forgot it).
I was upset that none of my nightime or fireworks pics came out, but luckily, my aunt that also went, had some good pics.

 

[ukcatfan]

The inside shot is ISO 200, 1/60 sec shutter, and f/2.8. It looks like the proper exposure, so I think it is just the limits of your camera in a dark location. You might have missed the focus and the large aperture could have limited the depth of field.

 

[ERMama]

i half push, get the green focus square then take the picture.
as for what i expect from the camera...this is my third dig pns camera and have never had this issue. i want my kids faces to be clear. when i take a pic of the 3 of them i want to see the 3 of them clearly and sharply, not grainy and as if they are covered in fuzz.
when they print they are still not quite clear either which is the real issue.

since i have had this same issue now from the day i bought it and sent it in once and there was a problem (operative assembly inoperative) i really am wondering if the camera itself just isnt working properly yet. but also thinking maybe its just me and if theres something i could be doing.

(thanks for the input everyone!!)

 

[zackiedawg]

Your sample indoor photo in that small size doesn't look too grainy...what I see are very abundant jpeg artifacts. This could just be on the downsized photo you posted online, but it's too small to really tell.

If your problem is grain, like salt and pepper or sand dots everywhere, any of the noise reduction software will clean it right up. If your problem is jpeg compression, it would sound more like improper camera settings.

Check a few things in the setup menu - first, make sure you're on the maximum resolution for your camera (eg: if an 8mp camera, make sure you're on 8mp). Then, make sure you're on 'jpeg fine' or 'superfine' mode. If you aren't in those settings, that can affect the compression artifacts in your shot.

 

[webshark3]

Yep, zackiedawg is right.

One more thing. Your new camera will likely have many many more pixels than your last three. Viewing them at 100% will always be a huge dissapointment. Higher MP cameras will show more noise at 100% than the old ones. That's just the nature of the beast for the MP race.

A better test is to print them.

 

[hopemax]

It should still print ok, but it will look noisy blown up 100% on a computer screen. This is normal.

I agree, I took a bunch of indoor photos at a wedding reception. They looked terrible on my computer screen. I did run them through the digital noise filter on Paint Shop Pro. Printed at 4x6 just fine.

 

[jfulcer]

Ok, I don't know if it's me, but those pictures look decent. Not great, but still serviceable.

Did you check to see what the quality setting on the camera was? DW has the camera right now or I could go check - but if it's not set on the right quality the camera loses a lot of image quality. I took a few photos in Washington DC before i realized I had accidentally changed the settings. Those photos it was painfully obvious the quality was off.

 

[sherry7]

Those pics look a bit grainy, but they're not terrible. You should be able to clean them up, and get decent 4x6 prints.

I'd send the camera in again to have it checked out. In my experience, Canon has great customer service. I recently took advantage of their Customer Loyalty program, and they were good to deal with.

 

[jann1033]

they don't look that bad to me but i do wonder if you expect a lot of your camera. ie #1 looks like the people are in fairly heavy shade then you have the bright light in the back...could be your camera had a tough time deciding what to expose for and kind of went in the middle since the sky is blown out. not sure how much exposure latitude you have on your camera but could be that is the best it can do. i know my daughters' old 4mp kodak would have been much worse under those conditions

 

[rtphokie]

they don't look that bad to me but i do wonder if you expect a lot of your camera. ie #1 looks like the people are in fairly heavy shade then you have the bright light in the back...could be your camera had a tough time deciding what to expose for and kind of went in the middle since the sky is blown out. not sure how much exposure latitude you have on your camera but could be that is the best it can do. i know my daughters' old 4mp kodak would have been much worse under those conditions

I agree, they look fine. While you wont be able to make a suitable wall sized poster out of them but they'll be fine for 4x6 prints or sharing with friends and family via the web or a slideshow.

remember, it's a camera, not a magic wand.