BootsnAll Travel Community

I recently purchased a Canon Digital Ixus 65 (i think its 65). I love it, its sleek, has that big screen on the back etc. But I was so frustrated when I uploaded my first set of pictures onto my laptop.

I had everything set to Auto but all my pictures came out grainy! They were of pictures taken indoors at night. They looked faded and grainy.

I was told it could be my ISO setting, until then I didn't even know I had such a thing on there. So i read the manual, read up on photo tips online, but all I could understand was bla bla bla bla bla. lol I tinkered around with the ISO (which goes up to about 800). I still can't for the life of me figure it out.

So these are my questions which I hope a kind soul out there can help me with:

1. Is it really the ISO setting? If so, what should I set it to when it's dark and if im using the flash? What about without flash?

2. What is the ISO anyway? Life seemed so much simpler without it lol.

3. Is there anyway I can fix the pictures I already took , aside from just adjusting the contrast?

Please help!

Christine,

ISO in layman's terms is how sensitive the digital camera sensor or film (back in the old days) is to light. As you can imagine there is less light at night so your camera will automatically switch to higher sensitivity (higher ISO) in order to capture the image. As the ISO goes up, so does the noise/grain level. As a rule of thumb you want to keep the ISO as low as possible to minimize noise.

In order to keep ISO low while shooting in dark conditions, you will need to turn on your flash. That gives your camera more light to capture and therefore require a lower ISO setting.

By the way, thanks for your compliments on my web site.

Just been looking at the specs for an ixus 65 - seems they have two auto settings (Normal auto and High ISO auto).

http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/ixus65/nov-e.html

You should ensure it's on the normal auto for most the time as that should in theory keep the iso below 400 and probably around 100-200. This should also force the flash on for low light situations keeping the ISO low and the picture clean.

The only time you would perhaps want the High ISO is for night time and low light shots where a flash wouldn't have any effect (a landscape shot) and a tripod isn't avaliable to you.

You can clean up the grainyness with a few nosie reduction programs. I've seen before and after shots and they work pretty well. Try "noise ninja" or "neat image"

are the fotos blurry or pretty clear?

If they are blurry, then the shutter is probably staying open a relatively long time, and it's picking up camera movement. Regardless of ISO settings, some cameras have grainy photos with long exposures, but generally, Canon's do not.

Like Pete said, one way to fix the problem is to keep the ISO low (50 or 100) and turn on your flash. This is fine for snapshot type photos, but flash photos typically aren't all that inspiring.

Often the 'best' low light photos are done at low ISO (again, 50 or 100) and using a tripod and long shutter time.

here's one of my photos - taken just after sunset, on a tripod - shutter was open 15 seconds. Such a photo would be impossible to hand hold.

Get to know your camera and its settings -- and keep experimenting. Low light photos are some of the most interesting, but require some advanced knowledge to pull off well (mixture of natural and artificial light, ISO settings, shutter speeds)

Any further questions, ask away - have fun, good luck!

Pete, you're welcome! And thank you for explaining what ISO is all about. I understand it much better now.

Owen, yes it's got those 2 settings in auto mode. Initially I would just leave it on the normal auto because I had no idea what to do with the ISO anyway, but thats when I started noticing the noise. Like Steve said, pictures with flash are so uninspiring, you don't pick up the natural colors of the scene. I guess unless I have a tripod or the steadiest hand in the west, I should stop being so ambitious lol. Thanks for the tip, I will leave it on normal auto mostly.

Ummm cheese, thanks! I'll download that and try to fix the photos I've already taken.

Steve, wow I love that picture! It's beautiful! I wanna take pictures like that!

Blurry only when I don't use the flash and when I absolutely fail at keeping my hand steady. Which is most of the time during my night shots. You're right I'll just keep practising, it should make almost-perfect !

Thanks again guys!

Here are some ideas for "creative tripoding"

I don't often carry a tripod, because there are so many installed around the world. Use vertical poles, walls, various railings, and even the floor to your advantage.

Holding the bottom of your camera against a vertical pole steadies it quite a bit. On a round pole you can infinitely adjust the placement so you can frame the shot the way you want.

When you set your camera on a railing, it's often pointed too high or too low. Slip a coin under the front or back of the camera to adjust the angle. Need a greater angle? use a thicker coin, or a couple -- or anything else that may work (car key, pencil, etc) - you get the idea. Can be a touch tricky to get it balanced just right, but this is no more trouble than carrying and setting up a tripod.

When I do carry a tripod, 99% of the time it's this Manfrotto Digi Tabletop Tripod - only about 6" long, infinitely adjustable, and rock solid. Manfrotto makes the best tripods in the world, that's why even this little guy costs $40 or so.

have fun!