Quote:
Originally Posted by kb100  HI Gurus
I have a 4 year old Canon Ixus 430 camera. Its a 4 mega pixel point and shoot - well, I don't know if it does anything more - I just put it on max resolution and point and shoot!!! 
It used to give me excellent sharp and vivid pictures. But lately the pics have become extremely 'grainy' - this effect gets even more exaggerated indoors. What could be the reason? Here is an example
Secondly what might be a good camera to buy. Something with some good preloaded options/settings - again lots of landscape and holiday 'spur of the moment' shooting - No time to join Photography classes!!  |
KB just would like to know did you put Spot metering mode intentionally ? And the white balance to manual also intentional? From your picture's exif info it looks like so. For the kind of just point and shoot scenarios I would suggest you to put the metering to evaluative mode and white balance to Auto. Spot metering can make lot of difference in exposure depending on the situation as it takes just a very small portion(1-9 degrees) from the center of the viewfinder whereas evaluative will take the whole scene into consideration.Spot metering is very useful if you know how to make use of it but otherwise better stick to evaluative.Let me know if this helps.
Regards,
Kaushik
PS : about P&S cameras there are so many options, if you like to have a camera which is small,easy to fit in your jean's pocket I would suggest to go for another Ixus or Sony W or T series cameras. These are packed with features and very handy.
If you want to learn and have some control over the shots and some reach then go for canon S3 IS/Panasonic FZ series or something similar. Will be bulky but with very good optical zoom.These will also have those features with something here and there.