Question by EzzyMezzy: Digital Camera Best Photo Settings?
I bought a Sanyo x1420 supposedly 14mp.
I tried taking pics with a typical 8gb SD card, class 2. but the pictures were always noisey and abit colour-less.
So i went out and bought a class 10, 16gb SDHC instead. hoping the quality would improve.
Needless to say, it hasn’t.
I’m going on holiday in a few weeks and want to take lots of pictures and movies. I bought this SD card mainly to film in HD since my old class 2 and class 4’s couldn’t.
But the quality is the same?
And when i set my camera to 14MP it adds “black bars” to the side and its not wide screen even tho it says it should be. so i have it on 10mp wide screen. The quality looks the exact same
My question is, can you please recommend the best settings for my camera?
I know my camera isn’t the most advance thing. but its small, i can carry it around and i thought 14mp would look a lot better but the pics r noisy, its ridiculous.
What are the best
Photo stabilizer: on or off
Focus mode: 9-pt autofocus, spot focus or AF seeker
EXP measure: wide, center or spot
ISO settings: 64 – 6400
compression: fine or normal
Resolution 0.3m – 14m
Please help 🙂
Best answer:
Answer by Zu Teo
I’m not exactly a photography expert…
But I’ll just answer what I know of.
Image stabilizer is an anti-blur or anti-shake function.
Focus is up to you really. Auto focus automatically detects a subject and focus on it. Sorry but I have no idea what AF seeker or spot focus is.
For ISO settings, for sunny outdoor pictures, the recommended ISO is 100-400. Overcast skies or evening would be 400-1600. 1600-6400 is necessary for dark environments. Please note that this does not include the flash option.
Compression probably means compressing the image file. Considering that your SD card has quite a high memory, I would say normal instead of fine.
Resolution is the amount of information an image holds. Generally, higher resolution equals better quality.
The problem may not lie on your SD card. You should check if there are any problem with your LCD screen. Have you popped your SD card into your laptop to view your photos yet?
If everything doesn’t work, you should bring it over to Sanyo’s technical support.
Hope this helped 🙂
Add your own answer in the comments!
The black bars are completely normal. The screen on the back of your camera has a ratio of 16:9 i.e. widescreen but traditionally photos use a 3:2 or 4:3 ratio. If you take photos as 16:9 10mp they will be too wide to fit on a standard sized print without cropping the photo.
You also have to accept the limitations of the camera. It’s a very cheap entry level camera which means the results aren’t going to be amazing. And the type of SD card will do absolutely zero to change the quality of the images you capture.
Resolution:- set this at 14mp
Compression:- set this to fine
ISO:- always set this as low as possible but remember in darker scenes you might need to increase it. I would recommend not going over 400 if you can help it.
Focus:- unless you are focussing on a very specific spot in the scene i.e. the middle, then use 9pt autofocus. I would use spot for example when taking a portrait and fixing the focus on the eye of the person
EXP:- again, unless you want to expose a very specific part of a scene then generally use wide
Stabiliser:- if this is optical stabilisation then leave it on unless using a tripod. If it’s digital stabilisation then take it off
A memory card does not determine the quality of photos you take. Many things to such as the sensor size, quality of the lens and camera processor. And so does proper exposure.
First, there is probably nothing wrong with your LCD. Like other digital cameras that shoot HD video, black bars will appear on each side when shooting still images to match the aspect ratio of the photos. The bars will not appear when shooting video.
While I’m not familiar with your digital camera, I’ve owned more than 15. Here are some of the things I’ve found work well for general photo-taking:
Except if using a tripod, keep Image Stabilization on. This helps reduce or eliminate camera shake which can result in blurred images.
Focus mode: use a single area focus mode (instead of automatic mult-point focus), so you can control where the camera focuses when you press the shutter button halfway.
Exposure mode: use wide or center. Spot metering has a very narrow exposure area so doesn’t meter the entire scene.
ISO – it’s best to set the ISO manually, rather than keep a camera on auto ISO. High ISO numbers result in grainy photos, though sometimes using high ISO numbers is the only option for capturing images in low light. Still, keep the ISO setting as low as possible.
This article at my site will give you a better understanding of ISO:
http://www.digicamhelp.com/camera-features/advanced-settings/iso/
If you use the search feature at the site, you can find out more about Exposure Modes, Image Stabilization, Focus, etc.
The SD card will not make any difference in your image quality. It will either work or not work. That is the nature of digital media.
The primary reason for noise is your ISO – always keep it as low as possible.
A minor reason for noise is your sensor. You are learning that higher MegaPixel counts in tiny sensors result in more noise. I would venture to guess that a 10Mp camera would have less noise than your 14Mp camera.
Decreasing the resolution will not make a difference either as the pixels on your sensor have a defined size – and are very tiny as they have to cram 14Million of them into your sensor.
However, keeping your ISO as low as possible will greatly offset this problem. You may simply want to consider your camera a “daylight” only camera; and use a flash whenever it becomes darker.
That should help a lot.
None of the other settings will make much difference in the amount of noise you are getting.
Photo quality depends on the ability of the photographer, not the camera and definitely not the memory card.
Settings? Anything that has Auto, set to Auto. Megapixels or resolution, set to highest. ISO, set to Auto or lowest. Stabilizer on, Focus mode, use most number of AF points. Meter, center. Compression fine. This is the best you can do if you don’t know what you are doing. The camera will try it’s best to whatever you point it at. Just remember, to avoid getting blurred or noisy shots, shoot under well lighted areas only.