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terrible picture quality - why ?

rh71

rh71

No Lifer
We're very frustrated with our SD400 because everyone says it's a great camera but we found out it takes very grainy pictures (unless it's in macro mode), whether it be low light or not, flash or not. This is a 5MP camera and we should be able to see pores in the skin of people. We don't... I've mentioned this problem before and someone recommended a lower ISO setting (instead of leaving it on AUTO). Fine, instead of ISO400 (I can see the graininess in past shots) we set it to ISO200 in Manual mode. Any lower of an ISO and it introduces bluriness since it takes longer for the actual snapping of the picture.

our result

This is compressed slightly using PS but the graininess level is the same as the original, trust me. Practically every picture is like this. What are we doing wrong ? This was in good lighting and the flash was also used. I've seen others' shots where we can see practically every pore on a person's face...

This is supposed to be a point & shoot camera. Even the A40 wasn't like this (but its macro mode sucked and this doesn't). I'm about ready to go with Sony because it's just become frustrating. Our friends' cameras don't have this problem.

In what situations are we supposed to use what settings ?
 
i have a S500, no problems. did you RTFM? set manual ISO?

reset everything to default and try again?
 
wasn't this the sd400/printer for $60 deal? sell the printer and the camera's almost free...can't complain bout that!
 
Originally posted by: Cawchy87
Yikes, that is terrible. My sd200 takes much better pictures.

Try changing the resolution.
Click to expand...
we've used the highest res (L for large)... I guess that's when it employs the 5MP? Not sure how that works... and also used the next highest (M1 or M2). Both have this problem.

Originally posted by: wasssup
wasn't this the sd400/printer for $60 deal? sell the printer and the camera's almost free...can't complain bout that!
Click to expand...
no we bought it for $325 from buydig.com... it was a good price at the time.
 
Originally posted by: alphatarget1
what????? ISO 200? try ISO 50, flash, and f2.8 in that kind of situation. Works very well with my S50.
Click to expand...
what's f2.8 ? I don't see an option for that on the SD400.
 
make sure the iso is low as possible...around 100... higher sensitivity(iso) higher noise. course this requires more light and longer exposure.

if thats not enough, get a nicer camera.
 
Another forum indicated the SD400's flash is only good enough for about 10ft tops and this was a result of "low light". I did take some 3ft pics using the same settings of my arm just now and it came out great (pores and all that). I guess that's the problem... its flash sucks. I did also read in the past that the SD500 has a more powerful flash and didn't think anything of it.

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
make sure the iso is low as possible...around 100... higher sensitivity(iso) higher noise. course this requires more light and longer exposure.

if thats not enough, get a nicer camera.
Click to expand...
I did try sample shots at all ISO settings and the lower I go, the longer it takes to snap so it gets blurry since I will end up moving slightly without a tripod. I guess we will have to stay away from compact cameras or go with the SD500. 🙁
 
Originally posted by: rh71
Originally posted by: alphatarget1
what????? ISO 200? try ISO 50, flash, and f2.8 in that kind of situation. Works very well with my S50.
Click to expand...
what's f2.8 ? I don't see an option for that on the SD400.
Click to expand...

you can't set the f-stop w/ sd series cameras. yea try iso100 w/ flash for indoors.
 
Originally posted by: rh71
Fine, instead of ISO400 (I can see the graininess in past shots) we set it to ISO200 in Manual mode. Any lower of an ISO and it introduces bluriness since it takes longer for the actual snapping of the picture.
Click to expand...


You are using flash. Try the lowest ISO (50 or 100) and make sure your subject is no more than 8 feet or so away. The shutter speed should not matter much as long as the camera regulates the flash properly. P&S cameras get grainy above 200 ISO.

 
the blade on that knife is almost transparent 😕

on first glance, i thought he was committing seppuku until i saw the cake


lower the ISO setting to 50 to reduce the noise in the picture or use a post-processing technique to filter the noise out
 
Use wide angle (no zoom). Do the lowest ISO setting possible.

but then again even my powershot S50 gets blurry when you look at it at 2580x1944 pixels
 
Originally posted by: rh71
Another forum indicated the SD400's flash is only good enough for about 10ft tops and this was a result of "low light". I did take some 3ft pics using the same settings of my arm just now and it came out great (pores and all that). I guess that's the problem... its flash sucks. I did also read in the past that the SD500 has a more powerful flash and didn't think anything of it.

Originally posted by: 0roo0roo
make sure the iso is low as possible...around 100... higher sensitivity(iso) higher noise. course this requires more light and longer exposure.

if thats not enough, get a nicer camera.
Click to expand...
I did try sample shots at all ISO settings and the lower I go, the longer it takes to snap so it gets blurry since I will end up moving slightly without a tripod. I guess we will have to stay away from compact cameras or go with the SD500. 🙁
Click to expand...

first digicam? bigger sensor is better. thats why the dslr's are so nice,and expensive. less prone to noise. bigger i don't mean mega pixels only, but physical sensor size. big nice lense helps bring in the light too. then theres the thing about digicams sensors not really recording per pixel color information.. its one color filter per pixel then the processor guesses out the rest... not optimal. its why super high mega pixel cams are still useful, you downsample the images for true color detail. too bad they didn't catch on. http://www.sd9.org.uk/sensors.htm
 
I just found on this review of the SD500 (toward the very bottom) they mention this same thing... has to do with the AiAF. Why it doesn't automatically focus on the object in the center is beyond me. I guess I'll have to play with it some more (ISO, distance, etc.). So much for point and shoot.

(And this is our 2nd digicam... the A40 was our 1st and was great for us except the macro sucked and it's a brick... we got this new one because reviews were great on it... I guess people left specifics out or they're all above avg photographers.)
 
Originally posted by: rh71
I just found on this review of the SD500 (toward the very bottom) they mention this same thing... has to do with the AiAF. Why it doesn't automatically focus on the object in the center is beyond me.
Click to expand...

because the center is not always the focus point. But IMO, i hated AiAF, you can turn it off so the center is the focus point all the time. That's what I do w/ my SD200. I also refuse to use anything over ISO 100 on these tiny cameras.. way too much noise.

Originally posted by: Hayabusa Rider
Search for Neat Image and try that on your photos. They have a demo version that will work.

I used it for this pic

iso 1600 with my 20D. It also worked wonders with my a40

Give it a try and see.
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Holy crap, that's 1600? I want to trade in my rebel 🙁 Altho, what lens was that?
 
ISO200 is not that clear either. On the new Canon semi-pro and pro cameras (G series and Rebels) you get far better clarity.

What do you expect when you buy an SD/S400 anyways....
 
Originally posted by: lnguyen
Holy crap, that's 1600? I want to trade in my rebel 🙁 Altho, what lens was that?
Click to expand...
The 20D has about 1 stop less noise than the Rebel. So, you can now use ISO 3200 and it behaves like 1600 on the Rebel. However, that ISO 1600 pic has had noise reduction applied. It's not normally like that.

You can also use a Noiseware free version to get something like this from your pic. It removes the noise pretty well at the expense of a slight loss of detail. Of course, you can fine tune it by making the noise reduction as much or as little as you would like.

Removed noise

 
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