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canon powershot sd870is taking dark pictures can anyone help?

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sherry

Guest
Hello..I am new to this so I hope I am posting this the right place..

I recently bought a Canon SD870IS..love the camera..but I am having problems with certain pictures being dark/blurry.. for example..went to a wedding Sat., at 3p.m. church was well lit as well as the reception.. my pictures where just turning out dark..

I tried..every setting literally.. from kids/pets..indoors..nighttime etc..I am pretty sure I tried them all and nothing was working..

is there something I am doing wrong or something I may be missing or is this a down fall I found out to late in this camera..

I appreciate any advice or comments..
thanks so much!!
Sherry
 
Terry

Terry

New member
Hi Sherry,
Welcome. Perhaps a higher ISO would have helped you need less light. Do you know what it was set to? You would be surprised that even churches that seem well lit won't have as much light as you think. if you were zoomed in with the camera you would have been at f5.8 and the blurry is because the camera then had a slow shutter speed. If you can look at the data from the picture and post that it will help in figuring out the settings.
 
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sherry

Guest
hope I doing this right..
first..
here is what I took off of one the photo's..like I said I was switching all around..

one of the pictures:
shooting mode: Auto
tv shutter speed 1/60
av 5.8
exp. comensation 0
ISO speed 250 auto
focal length..17.3
white balance..auto..
like I stated I took a good bit of pictures..different modes..

maybe you can help me with which setting should I try for indoors..like weddings etc.. but I have tried to take pictures outside when the sun is going down..still lots of light..and picture is dark..

I am not a photographer..lol..love taking pictures.. but really not sure what I need to know.. like if I try to zoom in really close will that slow things down..and make the picture not as clear..or bright?? yep clueless!!:(:(

I hope I am not being to difficult or dumb to this..

also.. I don't know how to upload pictures on here.. I am not even sure if I am replying in the right area..so please bare with me..
and thanks for any and all help!!!!!!!!! my husband, said "next you will want to sell this camera"..and really I love the outdoor.. pictures it takes through the day!! and it is pretty quick..

I am sure it something I am doing wrong!!!
 
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sherry

Guest
I think I uploaded them correctly..thanks..you guys are great!!
 
Will

Will

New member
Sherry it looks to me as though it might be because you are using the flash beyond its range.
The one image that looks OK is the one with bright ceiling lights.
Looking at the camera info for the wedding vows image it says 1/60 sec at f/5.8 ISO 250 which probably wouldn't work with the built in flash in a dark room using the zoom at the distance the subject was away from you.

I may be wrong but I think that's what the problem is. If the camera has higher ISO settings that might have helped.
 
Will

Will

New member
I looked up the specifications for your cameras flash which says that at the telephoto end it only has a 2.0m range so you would be better to use wide angle and crop the image.

• Auto
• Manual Flash on / off
• Slow sync
• Red-eye reduction
• Range: 30cm-4.0m (wide) / 2.0m (tele)
 
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sherry

Guest
hi Will..the one picture that was with the bright lights..was the same distance as the one with the little boy sitting at the table.(that was really dark and kinda blurry) .I just switched it to night shot??

and your last post..like I said I am not camera swavay (sp?) but what do you mean by saying wide angle and crop..do you mean not to zoom in..don't laugh...ha.ha.
and what I am finding hard is..I was only two pews back in the church?? gosh is this a pain to you..I hope not..and I don't want to be difficult..but I just want to understand my camera better.. I was messing with it tonight..and I realized I believe the only way I can set the ISO to high is just on the auto shots..not on pets/kids, night shots..etc..
I really do appreciate you helping..sorry I am so camera illiterate.. I wish I understood better..
 
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sherry

Guest
Will, one more thing..I was looking at the numbers? at the bottom of the photos I was referring to..they weren't the same..but I was standing in the same place... maybe you can put it in dummy terms what I need to do..for indoor pictures.. what setting I should put it on.. THANKS A BUNCH!!
 
Terry

Terry

New member
Sherry,
Here is a quick lesson. There are three parts to the equation. Shutter speed, f-stop (aperture) and ISO. They are all interelated. Let's say if we measures the light and it turns out that you would get a good exposure at ISO 200, 1/100 second and f4. Let's say you keep ISO and f stop the same and changed the speed to 1/50 the shutter is open twice as long and you are letting in double the amount of light. So to get back to our proper exposure you would need to make a change to ISO.
So, back to your camera. When you zoom in the f- stop that let's in the most light is about f5.8 which let's in less light than what you get when you aren't zoomed f3.3 (smaller numbers = more light). Now you can say ok, then I will slow the shutter and keep it open longer to get the light. Two problems with this a)you can't hold the camera steady at for long times and b)the people in the picture are moving. So, we move to ISO. This part of the equation is increasing the sensitivity of the camera sensor to light (amplifying the signal). The problem with going to high ISOs is noise (bloches of color) in the picture.

So, in your case zoomed in you don't get enough light from the aperture, can'tkeep the shutter open longer because you get motion blur so you can increase the ISO. I believe you should be able to set the auto ISO to go higher than 250.
 
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sizifo

New member
I think you have the following options. A) Learn the basics of how the aperture/iso/shutter speed determine the exposure, and what the tradeoffs are. B) have somebody set the high iso to more than 250, and don't worry about what this means. However, you should expect grainy shots when using the flash at a distance. C) Put the camera on auto, and make sure you are close to the subject when using the flash (no more than 2-3 meters).

Also, I think you should forget about the kids/night/ or whatever mode. They won't help with the kind of underexposed shots you're getting.
 
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sherry

Guest
Thank all of you for your help and suggestions...!! I will continue working on all of this..
 
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