Please help me love my SD630 Elph

[cajunrose]

I just got a SD630 Elph. I want to love it, but I have missed some once in a lifetime shots and it makes me want to cry. It is past 14 days so I can't return it. Outside images are very grainy and sometimes blurry. I have played with the settings, but apparently I don't have it set right. It certainly doesn't do well on auto. Can you help me figure out when to use which settings or something? I have read reviews on here. I have read my manual. I just don't know what to do. I want to throw this thing away. I will post example photo's as soon as they upload.

Thanks
stephenie

p.s. I call myself pretty well versed in camera's and the way they work. I have taken a photography class even. I dont' know why this one isn't working for me.

[BowerR64]

What are you trying to shoot? these small cameras have limits you need to shoot inside its limits to get decent shots.

[cajunrose]

Nothing complicated. My 3 year old daughter sitting on a statue of a bear for example (Grainy). My FIL, BIL and my husband (who only are together all at once every 10 years or so) walking side by side down a path (Blurry). My daughter running (blurry AND grainy). My daughter and a friend we will never see again walking down a path (blurry).

I'm just heartbroken that these pics didn't come out. They can't be replaced or reproduced. I'll post them in a few minutes.

[BowerR64]

i would guess the flash is off?

[cajunrose]

Flash was off but there was plenty enough light that they should have come out (all daytime pictures).

[repoman]

For grainy shots you need to turn the ISO down to 50-100 (200 will probably be a bit noisy/grainy). For blurry shots you need to turn the ISO up, which strangely enough also means more grain. That or it's not focused well, post some samples so we can decide if it misfocused or if it's motion blur. Check the EXIF on your shots to see what the shutter speed was.. if it is at least 1/focal length or 2/focal length you would have a hard time making it blur if you were holding it steady.

It makes it a bit difficult on that camera since you don't have any manual controls

[cajunrose]

Uploading now.
I dont' understand why auto won't work in the situations I was taking them in. All outside, bright light. I have never had this kind of problem with a ps digi cam. I have owned 5! To me (and in the past it has been the case), I could turn the camera on and take a pristene picture on the first try and not have to fool with settings all the while missing the shot completely (I DO have a 3 year old you know..LOL) If this is the case, I wish I could return it but it is too late :(

Pics in next post

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_4681.sized.jpg
Blurry
Full auto Iso auto
Exposure: 1/80
fstop: f4.9
focal lenght: 17.4 mm (cant' find where it says 1 or 2)

More to come

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5444.sized.jpg
Grainy
Full auto
1/60
f/2.8
5.8mm focal length

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5505.jpg
Grainy AND blurry maybe?
manual mode Probably iso 800 (was playing with settings). She was in the shade. My EXIF doesn't show iso (says unknown).
Took nearly same shot on auto and got nearly the same results.
14.421 mm focal length

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5514.jpg
VERY grainy
She was in the shadow
took same shot on auto (with nearly same results) took this one on manual on 800 iso
1/1000
f/4.9
focal length 17.4

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5525.jpg
VERY grainy
in the shadow on a sunny day
manual iso 800
1/1000
f2.8
focal length 5.8mm

[repoman]

The higher you set your ISO, the grainier the images are going to get. With such a small sensor camera, anything above and including ISO 200 will get pretty noisy. You should stick to ISO 50-200, only using 400 if you need the faster shutter speed (by the looks of things, 800 is pretty useless).

What iso does, by the way, is change the sensitivity of the sensor.. iso50@1/30second is the same as iso100@1/60 = iso200@1/120 = iso400@1/250 = iso800@1/500 of a second.

I don't know why some of them came out blurry, maybe the lens didn't focus right or it's just a very soft lens. If you have photoshop or something similar, you can sharpen them up and reduce some noise, or maybe someone here can do it for you (i'll try my luck at a couple if you want to send me some full size ones)

[truflip]

Stephanie,

Can you try taking a shot of a small lamp? picture the bulb.. and use the same settings as you did with the shots you have posted. also how was the lighting back when you took these shots? was it cloudy? dark? You may be better off with other settings as most of the time the Auto setting ruins pictures =(.. I will look at the SD630 later and see what optiosn you may be able to use =)

[RebelRat]

You certainly don't need to get 1/1000 th sec shutter speed. You could have used ISO 100 and still had a decent shutter speed.

[cajunrose]

I thought (in reading my manual) that iso 800 should be used in lower light settings and that is why my full auto wasn't working correctly in the shade. I just dont' know. I have kept this camera too long to return it now.

I have photoshop but everytime I try to sharpen blurry pictures they get grainy. I'm not a ps guru though.

I'm near tears (literally) over loosing 2 shots. The rest can be redone, but not those to...not ever again. I looked at them on the screen after they shot and they looked fine until I uploaded them. How am I supposed to know if it came out ok? Shoot the same shot in 30 settings? That's just not possible. Is this camera not capable of shoot a regular outdoor shot on auto mode?

[cajunrose]

I never touched my shutter speed (unless changing my iso changes shutter..I can't remember..been a while since I messed with my full manual camera or taken a class) I'm going back up to read posts to see if I may have changed that and not known it.

[cajunrose]

Stephanie,

Can you try taking a shot of a small lamp? picture the bulb.. and use the same settings as you did with the shots you have posted. also how was the lighting back when you took these shots? was it cloudy? dark? You may be better off with other settings as most of the time the Auto setting ruins pictures =(.. I will look at the SD630 later and see what optiosn you may be able to use =)

Light off or on? (sorry for stupid question) Seems like on would be way too bright. (ETA: Nevermind, I want to reproduce previous conditions which would be outside in the shade)

Most of these shots were overcast or shade.

[RebelRat]

Raising the ISO will increase the shutter speed. 1/000th sec will stop a speeding car. Also, a apreture higher than 2.8 would have given more depth to the photos and a sharper image. Having it at 2.8 and the subjects moving away from you probably caused a little blur due to stepping out of where the camera focused.

[truflip]

light on.. so its nice n bright =) stand maybe about 3 feet away.. were basically checking to make sure the camera focuses fine and that it would default the ISo to the lowest (when it detects bright light, it will use the lowest ISO) =) You can also resize the picture to 1024x768 for faster uploading

PS: i jus looked at the camera settings.. could you try pressing the center button, it will let you select shooting modes. please use portrait. and take shot.. see how it turns out.. also you might want to manually select the ISO, its pretty convenient with this cam because it has its own ISO button it seems.. for daylight shots, you should be safe up to ISO400 UNLESS you will be printing large prints..

for photoshop.. you can 'clean' the grain in an image through noise reduction tricks.. there are different plugins for that.. they maybe be able to save your images.. =)

[cajunrose]

Raising the ISO will increase the shutter speed. 1/000th sec will stop a speeding car. Also, a apreture higher than 2.8 would have given more depth to the photos and a sharper image. Having it at 2.8 and the subjects moving away from you probably caused a little blur due to stepping out of where the camera focused.

I do understand that. However, this was full auto. I didn't touch the aperture (on the one with my family walking away is the one I'm talking about).

[RebelRat]

If all else fails, a bad picture, is better than no picture. :)

[cajunrose]

light on.. so its nice n bright =) stand maybe about 3 feet away.. were basically checking to make sure the camera focuses fine and that it would default the ISo to the lowest (when it detects bright light, it will use the lowest ISO) =) You can also resize the picture to 1024x768 for faster uploading

PS: i jus looked at the camera settings.. could you try pressing the center button, it will let you select shooting modes. please use portrait. and take shot.. see how it turns out.. also you might want to manually select the ISO, its pretty convenient with this cam because it has its own ISO button it seems.. for daylight shots, you should be safe up to ISO400 UNLESS you will be printing large prints..

for photoshop.. you can 'clean' the grain in an image through noise reduction tricks.. there are different plugins for that.. they maybe be able to save your images.. =)

I'll do this after my little one goes to sleep. I appreciate you guys helping me.
Is there anybody here good at PS that might be able to save these 2 images for me? I'll play with it in PS myself, but I'm no good at it.

[RebelRat]

I redone you first picture in Photoshop elements, I think it is a little better.

http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blurrypspy8.jpg

[cajunrose]

I redone you first picture in Photoshop elements, I think it is a little better.

http://img182.imageshack.us/my.php?image=blurrypspy8.jpg

That is actually much better! I might be able to get a 5 x 7 out of it. Can I send you the full sized version of that one and one other to work on?

[cajunrose]

If all else fails, a bad picture, is better than no picture. :)

YOu are right of course, but for what I paid for this camera, and it isn't even a month old, I expect it to take good pictures (within reason...I think everything I'm asking it to do on auto is within reason).

[BowerR64]

1/60th - 1/100 is what i normaly use indoor in low light. In my room i have 2 75watt bulbs i think i usualy use 100 ISO

1/1000 is fast for low light thats why you have to use such a high ISO.

I find somtimes using the flahs even though i dont want to at times or it doesnt help sometimes tricks the camera into using a faster speed that you can fix in photoshop.

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5538_001.jpg
Full auto 1/50

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5539_001.jpg
Auto High ISO 1/79

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5540.sized.jpg
Portrait (flash fired) 1/60

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5541.sized.jpg
Portrait (no flash) 1/15

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5542.sized.jpg
Manual auto ISO 1/60(this set itself) 1/30

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5543.sized.jpg
Manual ISO 100 1/13

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5544.sized.jpg
Manual ISO 80 1/10

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5545.sized.jpg
Manual ISO 200 1/25

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5546.sized.jpg
Manual ISO 400 1/50

[tim11]

Sorry to read about your predicament. On the other hand, those grainy images of your girl look like classic shots. Maybe you should consider printing 10x8" in sepia. NeatImage or Noise Ninja might help; though I personally don't use them.

As many already said, use lower ISO possible. As you change ISO, the camera should display shutter speed? If it's way too high, you can set ISO lower. ISO 800 should only be used in dim light; not outdoors.

Edit: (Refering to your last post) If you turn your camera away from the lamp you will get lower shutter speed, and different SS when pointing in other directions. I believe your camera will display the info even before capturing? By pressing DISPLAY button somewhere?

[cajunrose]

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5548.sized.jpg
ISO 800 1/159

[cajunrose]

Most of those look relatively clear (which surprises me) and yet, this picture I took of my daughter (overcast sky smelling a flower) on auto came out grainy and blurry :confused:

http://raeleesplace.com/gallery/albums/album08/IMG_5534.jpg
Auto 1/50 (is this too slow/fast?)

[BowerR64]

1/50 is to slow specialy for outdoors. The shot smelling the flower may have looked better with the flash. I think you were close enough for it to be effective.

[truflip]

thanks for showing some samples.. try to stay at ISO200 and below.. for outdoor shots.. try to use 1/100 or more .. the camera does not have IS so it may suffer a little bit from hand shaking..

it's ok to have a dim picture because it will still have the detail which can be lifted in photoshop.. bright pictures lose details so dont be afraid to get shots that come out dark.. :)

how well do you know the camera? is there a way to set the options and save it? you definitely want to use around ISO100 (to reduce the grainy ness) and use higher shutter speed (to reduce blurriness) .. again. dont be afrraid of dark/dim pictures. they are much easier to fix if u encounter one :)

[cajunrose]

Truflip: I don't know if there is a way to save the settings. I'll have to look that up. I'll have to look up how to set the shutter speed too.