Why does my good quality camera still take red-eye pictures, and how can I stop it?

Question

I have a pretty good quality Kodak C340 digital camera, and you would think that when you pay a few hundred for a camera you wouldn't get so much red-eye, but with this camera I do. Why does it take so many red-eye pictures, and is there anything I can do to minimize or stop it?

Answer 1

There should be a red-eye reduction setting (I have one on my Pentax). Check the user guide, or try Kodak's website for how-to.

Answer 2

It should have red-eye reduction (sometimes this helps) where you can set the flash to fire a second before the picture and then fire again when the picture is taken. The idea behind this is the first flash firing will cause the retinas of the people you are taking to close down when hit with the bright light. Then when the picture is taken there is a lesser chance of the flash to light up the back of the eyeball and for this bright red to show up on the picture.
Pentax has some really cool cameras that now offer image editing on the camera AFTER the picture has been taken. They can remove the red-eye and also provide cool/lame frames for your subjects. It's kinda cool - but the red-eye thing does work time to time.

Also you can always edit them after on the computer...

Answer 3

The flash on your camera is just about directly above the lens and less than an inch away from it. If someone is looking into your lens, they are pretty much looking right at the flash. No amount of on-camera red-eye reduction will overcome this design. The smaller cameras are, the worse this problem will be, but putting the flash so close to the central axis of the lens is a mistake, in my opinion.

Ask your subjects to look slightly in a different direction, as yankfan suggested. Turn on a few lights in the room to constrict everyone's pupils somewhat. This will help.

Otherwise, you will have to use Photoshop or some similar program to remove the red-eye. Cat's are worse than humans for getting "red-eye," except that it's pretty much white. Here's a cat that I fixed using Photoshop Elements 5.0 with the clone tool.

http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2799674091/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750

Answer 4

Here is a crash course on Why -- the red eye
it is a flash thing
the flash of the camera sits entirely too close to the "taking" lens of the camera ---and the light from the flash strikes the eyes of the subject and All of the spectrums of the generated flash lighting are absorbed by the retina of the eyes with the exception of the red spectrum which is reflected back at the camera lens !!!

Outside of the use of post production programs designed to remove the red eyes in photographs--- the only way to eliminate this is by way of getting the flash you use for your flash photos farther away from the "taking" lens of the camera--- HARD TO DO if your camera has a permanantly installed flash set close into the lens---that is why it is MUCH BETTER to have a camera with a "hot-shoe" mounted flash --- because with a camera of this type -- several different types of photo flashes can be utilzed that sit considerably farther from the lense than most installed --permanant flashes--- get distance between the flash and the taking lens--- the reflective properties of the eyes reacts on a much steeper angle and is not picked up through the lens and onto the card (image)-------Hope this helps-- and Happy New Year !!!

Answer 5

The red eye is the flash reflecting off the retina

There is only one effective cure and thats dont point the flash directly at the subject. If you can point the fash at a reflective surface then it should work equally well with less harsh results.

Another method is to place a thin piece of white cloth over the flash.

Some cameras can compensate for the reduction in light when you use these methods. If yours doesnt then open the apeture a stop and experiment until its right.

Answer 6

Absolutely. You will want to set your camera to its best resolution, and use the Macro mode if it has one. Don't use the flash or you will get a reflection in your final picture, so you'll need to be in a well lit spot to avoid that. Also you will want to use a tripod to avoid moving the camera while taking the shot. If you move AT ALL it will blur the picture, especially if you are in macro mode. A Digital SLR camera with lots of control over aperture, and shutter speed, would be ideal, but you could get very good results with a point and shoot. The quality with a point and shoot should be good enough for lots of applications, except maybe magazine articles, etc....

Answer 7

Red eye is caused when the sudden bright flash makes all the blood rush to the surface of the eye.

Cameras with a red-eye reduction feature will flash twice when you take the photo, on the 2nd flash your eye will have adjusted to the 1st flash.

If your camera doesn't have this there is a software program that can remove red-eye:
http://www.irfanview.com

Answer 8

Your camera has a red yeye reduction setting on it. Read your manual, and it will show you the proper steps.

I own a Kodak camera. The manuals are long, but well worth it for quality pictures.

Answer 9

Adobe Photoshop is a good program to get rid of red eyes.

Answer 10

red eye is from the reflextion on the back of peoples retinals. You can't stop it genius the area actually is red in color. just photoshop