Grainy Pictures With Canon A540 Digital Cam Need Help with settings!!?

Question

Hi... I am trying to take some pictures with a Canon Power Shot A540 but I guess due to poor light conditions etc the pictures are very grainy and not at all smooth .. I have the ISO at 80 plus I have selected the Fluorescent mode .. Can some one tell me what mode should I select? What settings etc etc? I need to take some close up product pictures .. like the one's u see on ebay .. u can say close up of watches or anything ....If i should select some specific shutter speed .. etc etc .. Why are the pictures grainy? Any help will be appreciated Thanks!

Answer 1

If you are not going to go with a DSLR, almost any point and shoot with a macro mode will serve you well. The thing is, I feel that you need to use the flash to force the aperture to close while still having enough light for an exposure. Many here will tell you different, but follow this advice and see what you think.

Use your macro setting and experiment. Let's say you have a point and shoot camera with macro and a flash on the camera. You might have to go to a manual mode to do this, but...

Put your item on a nice background surface. I like to just put it in a ring box or on some velour. Zoom out at least half-way so that you will be working about a foot away from the ring. Be sure that you get focus confirmation. Shoot a picture USING flash. Check the LCD for the result. If you have overexposed the item, use the EV adjustment to reduce the exposure. For small items, I often find that I need to reduce the exposure by about 1.0 EV. (That's -1.0 EV.) It is better to have the item properly exposed and the background underexposed, so just worry about the jewelry for now. Using a deliberate underexposure will cure the "too shiny" appearance of the stones and metal.

If you know how, you can use either full manual exposure or just Aperture Priority and choose a smaller aperture (larger number) to make the ring show up in better focus.

If you have a DSLR, post your question again stating the kind of camera that you have and the lens that you are using and we will give more details.

If you are doing any image processing at all, such with Photoshop or it's cousins, you can crop the image to 800 pixels by 800 pixels and use Supersize images on eBay. I always use the Picture Pack when I am selling anything of any value.

Check out http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/heartring.jpg which I did a while ago using a Nikon Coolpix 5400 exactly as described above. I do NOT think this is acceptable, but we decided not to sell the ring anyhow, so I didn't bother to do a better job. It's still better than some I've seen. I don't keep old photos of sold items around, so I don't have much to show you, but at least you know that it's possible to get an acceptable result even without spending huge dollars on your equipment.

The key things to remember are:
-Macro setting
-Zoom out to get about a foot away from your subject
-Use flash
-Try different EV settings and expect that you will end up with a negative EV setting, such as -1.0 EV.

Here are a couple of coin photos done exactly as described:

http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2801041875/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750
http://www1.snapfish.com/slideshow/AlbumID=57759389/PictureID=2801041874/a=75953750_75953750/t_=75953750

Here are a couple more auction photos done as described, using a 60 mm macro lens on a DSLR:

800 x 800 http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/yorkie01.jpg
800 x 800 http://www.members.aol.com/swf08302/montblanc05.jpg

If you are interested in a full description of an SLR set-up, post a new question and ask specifically for that information. I'm gathering from the nature of your question that you might be in the point and shoot market.

Answer 2

I own a Canon A540 and I use pretty often. To take close-ups set your camera to Macro mode and do not use flash [you may have to cancel flash manually]. Make sure you have enough light, since you are not using flash. In my experience flash in Macro mode overexposes the photo.

Also, you'll have to set your zoom to the longest length that way you will have correct focus.

As far as ISO, and White Balance - unless it's an extreme lighting condition "Auto" does a pretty good job. If I had to choose ISO I'd go for either 200 or 400. Any less might cause underexposure; any more may cause grainy picture. White Balance will depend on the type of light source. Good luck.

Answer 3

If you are trying to take close ups, use the macro mode. White balance can be auto, or if available, use the manual setting, point the camera at a white object in the light that you will be using and select. Have plenty of indirect light, or reflected light so that glare is absent. Use a tripod if necessary. ISO should be as low as possible to get rich color saturation and avoid grains.

Answer 4

i know canon a540's macro is not good... i think you should try iso min 200..

if you can adjust shutter then use min 1/25...

don't make white balance..

don't make any other setting except using different settings of ISO and shutter. and or try auto.. if more grainy on auto use.. P mode with iso min 100.. in goodlightning.. atleast one tube light..

ok

for taking products photos..

make a small box..with lil.. transparancy of lights.. in which you can put your product,, give energy saver lightning from two site..



and try the pics then... hope it will help you

Answer 5

Set the ISO to 400. Fluorescent is a very cold (bluish) setting, I would go for incandescent. For closeup shots, try to get as much lighting on the subject as possible rather than using the flash, especially if you're photographing things objects that have a lot of chrome. Use a desk lamp, or prop up flashlights around the subject.

Answer 6

some thoughts (i have an older canon s40)

- iso80 is to low try iso 400 or higher

- put your camera in automatic mode (mine has green auto selection on the control knob)
- select portrait mode (makes one focus point)
- do not use your flash , add some additional lighting reflected off a piece of white paper - this gives difused lighting
- make sure the item is completely lit up
- try taking them during the day with natural light

check ebay tutorials on how to take pictures

Answer 7

Set to lowest iso to avoid noise/grainy.
Use a tripod for long shutter speed to avoid blur.
Use bright light to avoid noise.