Canon Power Shot SD1000 Pictures Grainy / washed out/ dull?

Question

Hi, I have a Canon Power shot sd1000. Every picture i take comes out grainy, washed out, and dull. the only ones that come out ok are very close up pistures usually of face shots from the shoulders to top of head with the flash on. if i take a pi of anything more than a couple of feet from me its absolutley grainy and if its indoors i open the blinds to give more light and it comes out flushed out and lacks color as well as grainy
: ( Help. i have a 3 year old and there are so many cute pictures that are just being ruined as they are all grainy

Answer 1

Hey, maybe you are setting to auto that sets the ISO for itself. Change it to around ISO 64 or less or maybe even 100. If that doesn’t work, try cleaning the lens. If not, then your camera just’s a junky. Or use a flash to wipe out noise.

Answer 2

Reset the resolution (file size) in your camera to "Medium2/SF" or "Medium1/F." That should help get rid of some of the "graininess." However, the bulk of your problem sounds like not enough light in the overall scene. Make sure all you window blinds are open and, if need be, turn on some of the room lights, too. The fact that you say close-ups are okay reinforces the issue of light since the flash is used. Further away, even with the flash on, will NOT solve your problem. The flash is too small and the room is too big for any of the light bounce around. Set the camera control for both flash and ambient light used together. You might want to try the "night snapshot" setting indoors with your child. It uses both the ambient light and the flash.

Answer 3

Take a deep breath and relax.

Now go get the Owner's Manual that came with the camera. Read and study it. Take one feature/setting at a time, practice using it and go to the next one. You must learn to operate your camera before you can expect good results.

Answer 4

Has to be the towel..pop it in the dryer with a fabric sheet while it is still damp and it won't smell stale. My sheets are washed every other day and I don't plan to stop..!

Answer 5

You could try to set the ISO to 80 or 100 in the manual mode. The SD1000 is capable of taking stunningly beautiful photos.

ISO 80: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1535326545/
ISO 80: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1478013495/
ISO 100: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1478459345/
ISO 125: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1351375542/
ISO 160: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1477973069/
ISO 200: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1409657652/

But these are still not grainy or washed out at ISO 400:
ISO 400: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1496955477/
ISO 400: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1491747268/
ISO 400: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1478875352/
ISO 400: http://www.flickr.com/photos/jchatoff/1478825980/

Thanks Jean!