Fuzzy Land Shots

[Blu Nrg]

I have been looking through the threads to see if this was only going to a repeat. Didn't anything about out of focus land pics, so here it goes. I just recently bought the DC1200 and underwater/pool shots and video is clear. However, the land shots were slightly out of focus. I know a 12mp camera can takeclearer detail than what I was getting. Well, if anyone else is struggling with this here is my tip. I set the ISO to 400, color to standard or vivid (both worked well) sharpness to hard and set to daylight. That cleared up my photos quite bit. I think the real key was setting the ISO to somthing I was familiar with. I used to take the majority of film photos with 400 speed film. I plan to experiment some more with uwater still shots when I get to the lake. I think I may have to bump it up to 800 or 1600. Anyway, if anyone is having similar results on land, give these settings a try.
Blu Nrg

 

[Coop42]

You're probably right about the setting the ISO to something you're familiar with. That way you get have a feeling for the amount of light you need to hand hold a shot at a particular zoom length. However, I'd recommend against raising the ISO much higher than that, especially under less than ideal conditions. The typical response in dark conditions is to raise the ISO, making the camera 'more sensitive', and in theory, being able to get that picture with less light. The DC1200, like all point and shoot cameras has a very small sensor chip which is susceptible to a lot of noise at high ISO settings. If you have a lot of light, it's not a problem, but if you have a lot of light, you don't need the high ISO.

I've attached a photo comparing my Nikon D300s to my DC1200. The photos were taken in my front hall, just a few seconds apart. The day was slightly overcast, so the light was indirect and slightly muted. Just the sort of time you might want to up the ISO a bit to increase the sensitivity of the camera (to reduce the time the shutter would be open, reducing shake or blurriness). As you can see. under the same lighting conditions the D300 at ISO 1600 is less noisy than the DC1200 at it's lowest ISO setting of 64.

That's not to say that the 1200 is a bad camera (it I thought it was crap, I wouldn't have bought one), or that you can't take good photos with it. You can, but it does show that it wants lots of light (hence the really good photos people have taken using strobes) and that a lower ISO is better than a higher one.

You may have to make your screen fairly wide to see the full image, but it works best to see a reasonably accurate comparison that way.

 

[Blu Nrg]

I appreciate the feedback. In AZ there is tons of sunshine so I will be lowering the ISO and see how the photos look. Thanks, Blu Nrg