AvrilInSydney

Hi Everyone, it is great to be able to have some help with this. My olympus 5060 takes nice crisp clear outdoor shots but miserable, muddy interior shots. I use a tripod, no external flash and pretty much stick to the auto settings. I am just not getting that nice clean look - if anyone has any tips or tricks to share I will be really grateful. Thanks mates!

The Coach

Do you have an example of "miserable, muddy interior shots"?

Don't forget, if it's too dark quality will go down, because you're reaching the limits of what's actually possible, not even a digital camera will change that.

Sark

Hi.

In Auto the camera may very likely increase the ISO setting (Film Speed). This allows the camera to use a faster shutter speed or wider aperture for lower light conditions. Unfortunately this is where digitals suffer. The higher the ISO the more sensitive the sensor needs to be and the more vulnarable it is to undesirable artifacts (Noise).

Top end pro digital SLR's are less prone to this due to their larger sensors, but digitals are just less able to handle low light conditions compared to traditional film cameras.

Using flash is probably the best option, or trying manual or semi auto (Aperture priority maybe) settings.

Bear in mind also that what the human eye adapts to and percieves as reasonably bright indoors is not what will be captured on even a traditional film camera. Indoor shots that are not lit with flash or some other form of lighting, other than domestic lighting, will rarely look very good.

Sark

Sark

Just to make clear a point...

In Aperture Priority mode you can fix the ISO setting manually (Not to high). With a tripod you will then not need to worry too much about the shutter speed.

With traditional film you would generally use higher ISO's in low light, but as already mentioned, digitals at the compact end of the market don't like to be rated to fast.

Sark

AvrilInSydney

Thank you so much both of you. the types of shots I am taking are daytime lit with flash. I will try your advice - do you think I should set the iso to, say, 80 or 100? Thanks again, and best wishes from this wanna be photographer in Sydney Australia.

AvrilInSydney

Thanks too to JoeD, I do have an example but being brand new here I just need to take some time to reduce the size and post-that's a good idea and I will do it a.s.a.p. Thanks, and good wishes. Avril

Sark

Hi Avril.

ISO 100 should be fine. If you are using flash you should be able to get away with an aperture setting of around f8 (In Aperture Priority mode). This should ensure reasonable depth of field.

Bare in mind that the subject, if a person for instance, may be well lit by the flash but, the background will recieve less light. If you're trying to photograph the room itself, you're going to struggle with a single on camera flash.

Your camera has good reviews and with the flash turned on should be capable of reasonable results indoors if dealing with foreground subject matter rather than interiors in general.

Good Luck

Sark

AvrilInSydney

Thanks Sark, I got some lovely shots yesterday with the isO turned down to 80, much clearer. Guess I will also save a little for the add on flash. Thanks again for your interest and advice, Avril