My Pentax Optio Suddenly Acting Weird

[worriedcameramom]

I just got back from a trip and I'm very upset about the way my photos turned out. I'm not sure what is wrong with my camera. I have a little Pentax Optio that is about 4 years old. It is 3.2 megapixels (an older model, obviously but always took good photos until this trip).

I replaced the battery recently with one I bought online that was supposed to be "OEM." Could a bad battery cause these sort of problems?

Some of my photos are insanely overexposed for no reason. They looked weird in the viewfinder at the time I took the photos, but I wasn't sure what to make of it. Some of my photos are just fine, and others are too blury or the colors are all wrong. I didn't change any major settings on the camera other than occassionally making the exposure lighter or darker, or putting it on "nightshot" if the light was very low indoors or at night, etc. This has never been a problem before.

Sometimes the viewfinder screen would seen to be getting "interference" from something...it wouldn't look solid -- instead it had some lines going through it....then the problem would disappear. I wasn't sure what to make of that either.

Another VERY weird thing....when I uploaded my photos and tried to fix them with Paintshop Pro 9 (as I have done many times before), they save all pixelated and weird looking. As far as I can tell, nothing is screwy with Paintshop Pro, so I have NO IDEA why this is happening! I've never seen this before!

If I try to fix them with the Pentax ACDSee software, they do not get pixelated or weird. My older version of Paintshop Pro doesn't seem to negatively effect the pictures either -- just the newer version.

Does any of this sound familiar to anyone? Is my Pentax camera going haywire? Did I ruin it by putting a bad battery into it? Is there any way to figure out what's wrong with it? Or....is it just time to buy a new camera (of course I'd love a new one with more megapixels).

In any event, many of the photos from my trip are ruined or just awful :-( This camera used to take beautiful pictures so you can imagine how disappointed I am.

I appreciate any advice anyone on this forum can give me.

Thank you!

[cdifoto]

If you post some of the problematic images we might be able to analyze them and figure out what went wrong.

I'm not saying it really is your camera going bad, but sometimes they really do go shizzankers after awhile.

Regardless, we'll need sample images as a starting point.

[worriedcameramom]

OK, here are some images of my trip to Tokyo:


Weirdly overexposed for no reason (the next photo was fine):

http://img440.imageshack.us/img440/5984/imgp7061yl3.jpg



There is a lot of glare from the white tops of the women, but in "real life" the glare was not present. The other colors in the photo appear washed out. This is a problem with many of my photos:

http://img358.imageshack.us/img358/8493/imgp6976ke7.jpg



Also, most of the night shots I took of the city lights are totally blurred. I'm no expert photographer, but I've taken shots like that before and the results were never this bad. I know that I was holding the camera very steady:

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/6349/imgp6938uo3.jpg



Here is an example of the bizarre pixelation that occurs after I try to touch up a photo with Paintshop Pro 9 (it has never been a problem before):

http://img187.imageshack.us/img187/8206/hakonebreakfastal6.jpg

Does anyone have any ideas what's going on?

I just powered up my camera out of curiousity (I used an old battery) and the viewfinder was doing that "interference" thing again.

I was searching the web and found some info that some specific Pentax models malfunctioned when exposed to high humidity. I did take photos at a very hot and humid spa on this vacation. I was only in the humid room for a few minutes with the camera. Could that have caused these problems? BTW, I looked on the Pentax website and see that they no longer support fixing the Optio S. (sigh....)

I love my little lightweight tiny Optio S, but sadly I have a feeling that it's dying.

[cdifoto]

In the first one, the camera simply chose the absolute wrong settings, assuming that was a normal bright day (as opposed to a British one). f/2.8, ISO100, and 1/60th will be overexposed, guaranteed. It's nothing that's your fault really, since the camera was in an auto mode and while not getting a perfect exposure, should have at least gotten much closer than that. I know that sounds like stating the obvious, but it basically means I have no idea what caused it.

The 2nd photo is a characteristic called sensor blooming. It happens to varying degrees in digital cameras, and can be worse depending on shooting conditions. Your shot was overexposed, which makes it even worse.

For the third (night shot), the camera slowed down the shutter speed as expected to try to bring in enough light for the scene in general, and as a result your shot is a blurry (I don't know any human that can handhold an exposure that slow without image stabilization). No one is as steady as they think they are. Seriously.

The last one, I have no idea. It could be a software glitch, but it could also be a setting or procedure you use during saving or editing. I have no idea there. I would simply avoid PSP9 and go with the previous version or ACDSee instead.

The only image in this set that I can chalk up to being a faulty camera is the first one, and it could just be an anomaly, or related to the humidity.

[worriedcameramom]

After poking around with PSP 9, I figured out what the problem was. My teenage daughter must have set the software to save the images at the lowest quality. When I finally found that setting (it took a while, because I didn't even know it existed) and re-set it to "highest" quality, the images saved perfectly again (phew!)

So that solves the Paintshop Pro problem, but unfortunately not the problem with my camera. I understand what you're saying about the camera choosing the wrong settings since it was on "auto," but it has never done that before, and I have taken hundreds of photos in all sorts of conditions.

What do you make of the weird interference-like thing happening with my display? I have never seen that before this trip. Do you think it's a battery problem or is my display going bad?

On a side note...I was looking at digital cameras in Tokyo's "Electric Town" and saw some nice ones with 12.1 megapixels that were only about $350. There were also a lot of nice looking ones with 10 megapixels. A far cry from my current 3.2! My daughter recently got a basic Canon 7.1 mp Powershot (cost about $150) and her pictures came out absolutely beautiful! We took photos of the same things. My photos are all washed out and hers are vibrant...and she's only 14!

[cdifoto]

Glad you got the PSP issue sorted. That's one thing to strike off the list. The interference...I'm not sure. I get purple lines going vertically (top to bottom) in my Fuji F40 LCD when shooting into bright pointed light sources (lamps sun, etc)...it's just flare, and it doesn't show up in the image itself. It's not something worth worrying about.

Also, electronic devices in the USA are by FCC regulation required to accept certain types of interference, much like radio static.

If it were me, I'd be inclined to use it a little more, perhaps for a week or so, just as I had before the trip. Check the camera settings and restore them to factory defaults just in case a setting was bumped or some such. If it doesn't act normal again, I'd look into retiring it. They're man-made devices and do have a shelf life, unfortunately.

Don't be fooled by megapixels when looking at new cameras. More isn't always better. Determining which cameras are best is what review sites such as this one are for. Compare images and features, but not megapixel counts.

[worriedcameramom]

Yes you're right, megapixels aren't the only thing to consider. It has been years since I've bought a new camera and I will do a lot of homework before choosing another one. My camera is dual purpose. I take product photos for my internet store (I have one of those white tent things with lights, etc), and also for leisure and vacation photos. So I need a little more than just point and shoot.

The interference in the viewfinder/display is troubling to me. I've seen flare from lights, and that's not what this is. It's like the display is going on the blink. It's sporadic.

Well it's really late here in California and I need to get some sleep! I have major jetlag from coming back from Japan and combined with a headcold I'm getting over, it doesn't lend itself to getting much rest. Tonight my cold medication kept me up (sheesh!) Thanks for all your advice. If anyone else wants to jump in about the problem with my Optio, please feel free tomorrow. I'll be monitoring this thread for several days. Thank you!

[cdifoto]

My LCD doesn't look like flare on the LCD itself. Looking at it you'd think it's defective. I just know it's flare because of when it happens. Unfortunately I can't see your LCD, and your description was rather vague...you didn't say the effect shows up in the images themselves, so to me it's not something to even think about.

Now, if you really want to buy a newer camera, you can easily justify it. The Optio has put in a good service for you and it wouldn't hurt to retire it anyway.

Besides, digitals are extremely affordable these days. My Fuji isn't my primary camera...I have approximately $15,000 worth of Canon equipment as my main gear. That's why I don't mind it being basic (I'm either scouting locations with it or just snapshooting - either way I don't want to use my brain for images). HOWEVER, if I were buying a P&S today and it had to fill all roles, I think it'd either be an A series (A570 IS, A590 IS, A720 IS, etc) or the bigger S5 IS or maybe even the pricier G9.

All have the manual controls you'd need for product photos. All have the ability to set a custom white balance for product shots. And all have auto modes for just snapping around.

[JLV]

I am not familiar with your camera. Some cameras allow you to select how the camera meters, such as spot, center weighted, multi, etc. It may be that your camera is metering off the dark part of the picture and over exposing the light parts.