Why are my pictures grainy and pixelated?

[mch111782]

Hi,
I've had a Sony DSC -W50 for a few months now and couldn't be more disappointed. First the right side of all my images were blurred. So they had me send it to a repair shop and they replaced the lens and such.

Now I get it back, and all my pictures come out pixelated, not sharp at all and grainy, despite being on 6 megapixel setting with "fine" detail! It's like looking at a blown up image taken with a 2 megapixel camera.

I have checked all my settings and nothing appears to be glaringly wrong.

Sony tells me that if the battery isn't fully charged this can happen. That seems like bull$hit to me. Are they right? And if they are right, then what are you supposed to do when you take the camera somewhere and the battery inevitably gets lower and lower? Do your pictures get worse and worse??

Sorry for all the information, but if anyone can help me out I'd appreciate it.

Thanks,

-Matt

[Sintares]

Could you post/attach/link to an example of a pic you are not happy with , complete with intact exif information?

[tim11]

Hi,
.....
Sony tells me that if the battery isn't fully charged this can happen. That seems like bull$hit to me. Are they right? .........
-Matt
That is BS! Try getting the name of the person who said this. And please do post some pic with exif.

[mch111782]

I don't know what exif means :eek: but I'll post a picture example.

it's really hard to tell with an image this size (I had to resize so I could post it), but if you look at the side of the house its all grainy and the color(gray) isn't right. Everything is pixelated and junky.

it used to be so sharp and detailed before I got my lens fixed....

[tim11]

It is hard to see the problems on that resize image. EXIF was the information embedded to the image about the settings when the image was taken. Sometimes, when you resize the image it was lost. Fortunately, in this case, it was intact.
F-number F/2.8, Exposure time 1/40sec, ISO-320. From this I deduce that light is failing? At dusk or dawn?
Try taking some photos at brightest time of the day, see if the images are better in your opinion. If they come out better, there is nothing wrong with the lens, it's just that the camera tries to cope with lower light, thus boosting ISO resultinig in grainy image. And at 1/40 sec exposure time you will see the effect of your own hand shaking.

[mch111782]

It is hard to see the problems on that resize image. EXIF was the information embedded to the image about the settings when the image was taken. Sometimes, when you resize the image it was lost. Fortunately, in this case, it was intact.
F-number F/2.8, Exposure time 1/40sec, ISO-320. From this I deduce that light is failing? At dusk or dawn?
Try taking some photos at brightest time of the day, see if the images are better in your opinion. If they come out better, there is nothing wrong with the lens, it's just that the camera tries to cope with lower light, thus boosting ISO resultinig in grainy image. And at 1/40 sec exposure time you will see the effect of your own hand shaking.

It was at dusk, but it had been happening even during daylight hours.
I tend to shake when I take my pictures even when I try not to. Is there a way to adjust my exposure time? And would you recommend that maybe I take my Auto-ISO off so that I can keep the ISO down? Or should I leave Auto-ISO on?

Thanks!

-Matt

[tim11]

Are you sure it's on Auto ISO and not fux at ISO 320? I'd suggest Auto is the best until you know what you are doing. If you fix ISO to 100, shooting at dusk as I did originally would only delay exposure time to something like 1/10sec; resulting in more blurry image.
The suggestion that you take some shots in brightest time of the day (outdoors) is to test out if the lens is okay; just so to eliminate one of the original concern.
It is very hard to keep hands steady at shot lower than 1/60sec. If you shake at 1/40s, it's normal.
I am not sure if you can set exposure time on your camera. Again, this won't be the solution if the light is failing.

[forno]

First thing I would do is reset all seetings, then I would go to the shop you bought it from and take a pic with your camera on factory settings

Then take a pic with a new camera and then see what the difference is