please help me.. i am clueless!

[jenniferma]

Hi-- Last year we received a Kodak Easyshare camera CX6330 as a gift. It is a 3 megapixel and I love the convenience of the digital but lately I am becoming increasingly unhappy with the photos. They just aren't CLEAR enough-

Is this because of the 3 megapixels? or is this just the camera? I have two little kids and I a lot of my photos just don't turn out-- they look clear until I download them and then they are blurry. I also am unhappy with the amount of red eye I get as well as the flash seems very strong... is this normal for this camera?

thanks for your advice... What do I need to do to get the quality of film with the convenience of digital (spend more money.. I am sure!) Would a 4 or 5 megapixel Kodak be better, or would I have the same problems?

thanks!
jen

 

[safetymom]

I used to have a 3 megapixel camera that did beautiful photos. Even when I enlarged them to 13x19 they turned out great.

There is more to a good camera than the megapixels.

Do you have a setting for your flash that does a pre flash to cut down on the red eye?

What quality setting are you taking the pictures at? What size are you viewing them at?

 

[WillCAD]

When you say they are blurry, do you mean on screen, or after you print them? If the latter, how do you print them?

Many digital cameras have a terrible shutter lag, i.e. there is a lag between the time you press the button and the time the picture is actually snapped. This lag is usually only a fraction of a second, but that's more than enough time for your subjects to think the shot has been taken and start moving, resulting in blurred images.

Of course, it may also be that you are moving the camera after you press the button, but before the pic actually snaps, which will also blur the heck out of every single picture.

Red-eye happens because the camera's flash is reflected off the back of the eyes and back to the camera. There are several ways to reduce red-eye, with the most popular being a strobe or pre-flash, which is a burst of light that comes out BEFORE the actual picture-taking flash. The pre-flash is bright enough to cause the human eye to close it's iris, which reduces the amount of light that will reflect off the back of the eye when the actual pic is taken. (NOTE: If your camera has this red-eye reduction feature, the pre-flash might be causing you to think that the pic has snapped and move the camera, creating blur).

The only way to completely eliminate red-eye is to significantly change the angle between the flash, the eyes, and the lens. Pros usually do it by mounting external flash units on big brackets that kick them up to 12" away from the lens. It's also possible to buy flash units with tiltable heads that will send the light up toward the ceiling instead of directly at the subject; this puts less light on the subject, so it only works if the ceiling is low enough to reflect some of the light.

Red-eye is mostly just a fact of life; we live with it and get rid of it in photo editing software after the fact.

Your Milage May Vary!

 

[Ronda93]

I'm not familiar with your model, but if the problem is recent I have a couple of suggestions.

Make sure the photos are being created a the highest setting - it's probably around 2000x1500. Most cameras have three settings for size and at least two for quality/compression. If these get lowered (particularaly size) the quality drops off quickly when viewed on the computer.

If there is any focus zone control, make sure it's centered. Some models have the ability to auto focus on different zones. If it's been moved off center it could be focusing on the backgrounds and missing your centered subject.

Red eye happens. Fix it after the fact. I've never found the on-camera red eye reduction techniques to be successful. They just confuse subject and photographer alike.

I second the lag and movement problems mentioned by others. The lag is noticably present all the way up to the dSLRs.

 

[jenniferma]

Hey Everyone-- thanks for all the advice. I did change the setting to the best setting. I also turned the flash down a bit.

I think you may all be right about the movement-- and I think it is ME that is moving-- not my kids!

Safetymom-- your photos are great-- so much better than mine- what kind of camera do you use?

thank you all for your help though... I wish you could test cameras BEFORE you buy them-- I would love to just know if this is the camera for me.

thanks again- jen

 

[safetymom]

My pictures were taken with a 3 megapixel Epson digital, 4 mp Olympus, 5 mp Nikon CP 5000.

 

[elizke]

One more thing to note is that many many digitals produce photos that are alittle soft and almost as many people use editing software to sharpen them a touch, which can really make a huge difference. (As long as it's not overdone.) You may not want to get too much into editing, as it can be very time-consuming. But for more special photos it really can save a picture. I don't think the Easyshare software has jpeg sharpening, but Picasa or Fasstone and other free ones do.

 

[manning]

There is a megapixel race going on out there. The average point and shoot photographer who is not going to crop very much (if at all) and isn't going to make a print bigger than 8x10 doesn't need more than 5 megapixels. Of course as time goes by you will be forced into higher mp's as lower ones will be discontinued.

I was in the store the other day and was looking at 1 gb memory cards. If you are shooting at 5mp you can get 403 pictures on the card. Shoot at 8mp and you will get only 80 pictures. Big difference with only a 3mp increase.

One photo editing program you may want to look at is Adobe "Photo Elements 4.0" at $99.99. It has about 90% of the features on their professional version "Photo Shop CS2" at $649.00.

 

[manning]

How many pixels camera do you need to get good pictures?

It depends at what resolution you are printing at and the size of the picture.

Use the following to determine the max you need. This applies if you will not be cropping your photo.

Determine the length and the width of the picture. Then multipy each side by the resolution IE

you are going to print a 5x7 inch picture:
at 200 dpi resolution
5x200= 1000. 7x200= 1400.
Then 1000 by 1400= 1,400,000 or 1.4mp camera

at 300 dpi resolution
5x300= 1500. 7x300= 2100.
Then 1500x2100= 3,150,000 or 3.2mp camera

You do the same for 4x6 and 8x10 prints or any other size you want to make.

I would suggest using 250 dpi resolution.