Canon S70 - way too dark pictures

[lucky]

Hey guys!

I just bought an brand new Canon S70. First thing I noticed when shooting that pictures are way too dark. :mad: They look fine on LCD but when transferred to computer they are total disaster.

I've tried to change settings of my camera based on information found internet but with no luck.

It's very hard to take pictures in nature at sunny day. Shadows are very dark and highlights are bright. Sample picture can be seen here:
http://www.dosch3d.ee/sample.jpg

In-house pictures are bit better but not good. Darker corners of room and dark items look almost black.

I know that some other people have same issue... Has anybody found solution for it? :confused:

[lucky]

Anybody got solution?

By the way, in-house pictures are also a bit better if I dont use flash. But then camera shows shaking icon and images will be blurry.

What's matter with Canon? Can't they just make cameras to work for simple peope and auto mode. This was the first and last time I buy Canon product :mad: :mad: :mad:

For bigger fotto see: http://www.dosch3d.ee/sample.jpg

[LANNY R]

Your picture looked beautifully exposed on my monitor. I do digital photoretouching for a living, so I make sure that my monitor is constantly calibrated correctly. Check to see that your monitor is not displaying the pictures to darkly, and recalibrate it if you need to. The photograph that you posted as a sample is hard to photograph with bright snow and dark shadows, however, I am seeing lots of detail in both, which is a sign that your camera is compensating nicely. You might get images more to your liking if you waited till the sun was higher in the sky so the shadows arent as stark. BTW, the details in that picture are amazing--I am seriously considering that camera now.

[lucky]

GREAT!!! :) Thanks for your reply. I did some research in Google and found some really good tutorials for calibrating monitor. Results got much better and now I am happy with all my pictures.

I finally got reply from cannon and they also said that my monitor is problematic.

For anybody else who has same issue, I suggest you first to check out pictures in other computers...

And by the way Canon S70 is great camera. I have also got small Ixus 40. Difference is noticeable. S70 gives you correct toned and sharp pictures in most conditions. My recommendations.

[PhilR.]

The reason why your sample picture is dark in the shadow areas is because the great amount of light entering the camera will cause the camera to pick an exposure setting that will be appropriate for that great amount of light. Unfortunately however, this short exposure will not be enough for the shadow areas to record properly. This is because the camera cannot think about both light and dark areas - it can only see the overall (great) light level and make it's exposure decision based on this. A scene such as that one is not within the realm of a normal picture-taking situation. In order for you to get better results, you need to learn how to manipulate the exposure settings for these more unusual situations. That's what those manual settings are for....

Also, for your particular instance, you will have to decide if you want to expose the sunlit sections properly, or the shadow areas properly. You can make a compromise, but it would be impossible to do both, since the camera can't do different exposure settings in one picture. If you want to highlight the shadow areas, you can overexpose the shot by decreasing shutter speed or opening the aperture. Of course, you can also do these things on your computer using the appropriate software...

PhilR.