Is this normal for the 800 IS?

[SMiko1]

I just purchased a Canon 800 IS and was very excited to charge the battery and start 'er up :)

However, after I turned on the unit and set the time/date, I went to take a very first picture and realized that the viewfinder LCD screen was hideously noisy. The noise waxed/waned as I panned around the room. Is this normal for the IS 800?

This is my first "real" camera (disposables up to now- I know that makes you shudder! lol), so I am unaware if it has something to do with the camera auto adjusting the ISO settings and introducing noise into the LCD's picture. I am unaware if the ISO setting should affect the LCD screen's picture AT ALL? Please let me know so I can take the camera back for exchange if it is broken.

Seann :)

Glad to be here where I can absorb your picture-taking wisdom

[downtrodden]

Worry not young grasshopper, Electronic Viewfinders tend to be really noisy in low light situations (inside houses generally count as lowlight here). This varying noise you see in the viewfinder will not necassarilly translate ionto the picture you takke.

Which is kind of a misleading statement... You will inevitably get noise in your photos. I dont know if youre camera has manual controls or not, but if it's all auto, then in low light situations you may get speckling of nouise in your images. This has nothing to do with the Viewfinder or the noise you see in the viewfinder though.

best thing for ya to do is take your camera out and shoot some shots in all sorts of different lighting conditions so you can see how your camera performs in each condition!

And welcome to the forums! Hope you have fun! Read everything you can and learn as much as you can!

~Cory

[downtrodden]

I just thought of something else... I use my LCD screen of the S3 and S5 and i always keep the ISO 80, 100, 200 outside and only go to 400 inside. sometimes when i'm outside and point the camera to a shaded part, even though the ISO is the same, the camera "brightens" the LCD to see in the shadow and hence bring out a lot of noise. But yes, the ISO and LCD/ EVF brightenss/ noise levels have very little to do with the other.

[SMiko1]

Thanks for the timely answer :)

Seann