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Bought a new digital camera -- Pictures are really dark! **UPDATED w/ PIC**

Q

Quad

Golden Member
I just bought a Canon Powershot A400, and I took it right out the box and began shooting some indoor photos. On the LCD they look fine. But when I download them to my computer, they are really really dark. Even with the flash, they're a bit better, but still unacceptably dark.

Is this a problem with the camera? Or is there some setting that I have to play with?
I hope this problem is typical so we can solve it quickly!

Thanks

**UPDATE**

Pic -- sink

ok here's a pic (using the flash) of my bathroom sink/cupboard. the lighting in the bathroom was quite bright at the time (it was taken in the morning, lots of light shining through the window). The camera was in Portrait mode

On the LCD, this pic is PERFECT (perfect brightness). But here, it's much darker!

I tried viewing it on another machine (with another monitor) and it's still dark

any ideas?
 
sounds like your monitor has a problem


i had a monitor that was terribly dark... everything looked fine on other monitors / computers but not mine

now i have 19" LCD... everything clear using DVI 😛
 
your monitor probably needs to be calibrated. I had the same problem, if you have another computer try seeing the picture there and see if there is a difference.

Edit: if it is your monitor you can try to adjust it manually and the gamma etc or you will need a device to do it like a colorvision product
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
"Is this a problem with the camera?

Sounds like you got a bogus unit. Upload a picture that's unedited...
Click to expand...

Yes, if we could see a pic we could tell if it is your monitor or the camera.
 
Seems like 90% of the users I run into have their monitors set way too bright. I'd be REALLY surprised if this turned out to be the problem.
 
Ugh, that's too bright if you set it to see all various blacks past the "U". What does the author mean in this post, when he says, "...you should see caramal color skin and some detail in the black fabric."? If I turn my brightness high enough to see all the variation in this chart, I can see ALL the detail in her fabric.
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
Ugh, that's too bright if you set it to see all various blacks past the "U". What does the author mean in this post, when he says, "...you should see caramal color skin and some detail in the black fabric."? If I turn my brightness high enough to see all the variation in this chart, I can see ALL the detail in her fabric.
Click to expand...
Well, DPReview recommendeds that you set it just bright enough to be able to differentiate between A, B, and C, and X, Y, and Z.
 
"DPReview recommendeds that you set it just bright enough to be able to differentiate between A, B, and C, and X, Y, and Z."

I printed out this image, with this chart at the bottom, using 100 whiteness paper. It resolved all the shades, and shows quite a bit more detail in her clothing. I set my monitor to match the printer's output, but it's brighter than I like for text. Maybe that's what this HIGH-BRIGHTNESS button is for.
 
Originally posted by: Ornery
Nothing wrong with your camera!

Edit: Why did you edit the picture? Change anything other than size?
Click to expand...

Nope, I just shrunk the size in paintbrush

This pic is so much darker than what I see on the LCD
 
Maybe your shutter speed is too high. Try lowering it to 1/60th of a sec if its not there already. Also, I'm not sure about the A series but with the S series you can adjust the power of the flash. Try that too. If you took that picture using a zoom, that might also explain a darker picture also.

Just try messing with the settings until you get something acceptable.
 
doesn't seem too dark when you posted it...

LCD's on the back of cameras are always misleading... simply because if you're not
holding the camera in a certain direction, they can look either over or under exposed
just due to the angle at which you view the picture... the true image is that of which
shows up on your computer screen...


Plus it's a point and shoot digital... (no need to embellish upon this)


I'm going to take the image into into photoshop....
 
I calibrated my Gamma using THIS site. And to me, that shot looks fine.

BTW, just keep practicing. Eventually you will learn how to make the camera take the pics you want. Also read the manual, front to back. 😉

btw2 - Never use MS Paint to do any resizing or editing. There are plenty of free editing programs (ask in software, I just use Photoshop that cost $)
 
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