Canon Sd700 -- Image Stabilizer & Vignetting Problems

[lOLOS]

Hi,

1- I just bought the Canon SD700 IS, and I can't help but notice STRONG vignetting (dark corners) problem with my photos, especially with whitish backgrounds.

Q. Do you have the same problem? I know they are there in Jeff's review, but mine are way more visible. I bought the camera from DELL so returning it back is my last option, however, I want to make sure if this is a common problem, since it is a very annoying one.

2- The image stabilizer -- When I take pics in continous mode, all my pictures are very blurred. Yes, I have the IS turned on.

The camera has a super fast performance and can focus very quickly, but when I move the camera fast in a continous mode, the pics turn out horrible. I am not shooting moving subjects, just steady objects but moving my hand fast -- I guess pics should turn out steady or what is the point of continous mode?!!!

I noticed when I raise the ISO, I could take much better pics in the continous mode (e.g. no bluring pics). Is this a normal thing or an error I have?

I have limited experience with digital cameras so please pardon my ignorance. But the main reason I bought this camera over some other compact cameras like Fuji F30 is that Canon's SD700 super fast performance and unlimited continous shooting mode. Besides, its very fast focusing power.

Now, when I tried to shoot in continous mode, it seems like it is just shooting fast but pics are so blurred, and I mean SOOOO blurred you can't look at them. In this case, high ISO seems to be working much better than IS. But lacking speed in Fuji F30 and other compact cameras is a turnning off point to me.

Q. Can't you have both; fast continous mode with not blurred pics? Otherwise, what is the point of continous mode if you can't take viewable decent pictures?!

I love Canon's colors retention, they seem natural to my eyes - but again I don't have enough experience with digital cameras. But from the pics I have seen online, canon seem to be good at "expressing" colors.

Please let me know what do you think, or if my problems are common/normal or not.

Thanks and looking forward to your posts...

BTW, thanks Jeff for your great reviews :)

[speedbreaker]

ima newbie and i also seem to have some issues with blurring, but its more cause of low light situations (and slight hand movement which annoys me) Increasing the iso does help correct some of it but increasing that your gonna get some noise issues. The IS i feel isnt really doing its job effectively i really see no difference from it being on continueous to off. My daytime shots i don't have as much issues with the blurring like i do my night time shots. Is there anyway to increase the shutter speed while having iso on 80? cause with a shutter speed of 1 sec that also contributes to my night time blurred picture problems as well!

[lOLOS]

Since I REALLY felt a strong correlation between increasing ISO and less blurr more than using the IS, I try to take high ISO images and use a noise reduction software.

This software has been mentioned in other thread, I find it very simple and effective.
Here is the link (http://www.imagenomic.com/download.asp).

I want also to know the answer for your other questions.

I also want to add something that really annoys me -- is there any way to read the ISO level in the EXIF stored in the picture file?

Some Noise reduction softwares produce better results when they can read the EXIF of the image file. However, canon SD700 doesn't show the ISO level stored in the pic except when using the software that came with it on the CD.

Any solution?

Thanks.

[speedbreaker]

that i dont really know about that exif thing. ive noticed that when i put the camera on kids and pets mode the shutter speed is really fast and you can take pics with less blurred images! but on slower shutter speeds while holding the camera i get more blurred. since ima newbie at this i guess the slow shutter speeds are for when you have a tripod on the camera. shutter speeds of 1 second though on nightime shots can still be a prob for me with iso of 80

[lOLOS]

Any advices please?

[swgod98]

You can't be moving the camera with your hand (intentionally) and expect IS to compensate for the movement. IS only helps for camera "shake"...meaning if you have slight jitters. From your post above, it sounds like you are moving the camera through the air and expecting IS to make your shot sharp.

To do that, you need a VERY fast exposure time...which probably means upping the ISO...it will all depend on your shooting environment. If it's outdoors and bright, you might be good...I'd expect your images to come out fine. But, indoors or overcast days, there is no chance.

Continuous mode is to capture multiple instances of a single scene or subject. If you are following a subject, then you have to be very careful to move at the same speed as the subject...AND you can expect your background to be blurry (short of an extremely fast exposure).

Vingetting can probably be prevented by not zooming in as far as possible.