Best Cameras-trouble with PowerShot A540

debutanteclothing

debutanteclothing

VFG Board Member
I may be posting this in the wrong category. Sorry. Please feel free to move it.

My husband bought me a new camera for my birthday in September. I have yet to be able to use it correctly. It's a Canon PowerShot A540. The LCD is kind of grainy, my old Cool Pix was much better.

But what drives me crazy is that the freaking thing won't focus. I have the same lighting set up, except for overhead, and it gives me the shaky camera symbol.

Can anyone recommend a good camera that they trust to take solid pics of clothing. Say under $200? I might have to break the news to my husband :(

Or, if you have any tips for this camera that would be great.
 
this might sound silly but are you using a tripod? If the camera is particularly senstive, it will probably need one at all times.

kelly
p.s. I use a kodak easyshare cx7530 and it has done the job but I have never been happy with the zoom which doesnt work very well once you zoom in a bit more than normal.
 
I can't make comparisions ... and I am on a Mac, if that matters, but I LOVE my Fujifilm finepix 2600zoom. I just bought one on eBay for $13.00 !!! (they charged $10.00 postage) because I wanted a back-up. I haven't seen the camera I bought yet, by the way - sent payment minutes after I won and have heard nothing from the seller, so we shall see. Anyway - you can check out my auctions and see the quality... EASY camera to use.

WWW.amandainvermont.com
 
I agree with Kelly. I got rid of the grainy-ness.

Also what kind of light are you using? My old camera was grainy when using regular lightbulbs that looked way bright enough.

When i used natural lighting or halogen it took care of it too..

Some cameras react to not enough or the wrong kind of light be turning out grainy pictures.
 
Hi everyone.

Thanks for all your tips. Right now I am using Reveal bulbs, but maybe my new camera doesn't like them. I will try again with a higher ISO. The camera has a ton of features, that I never needed with my Coolpix.

The pics themselves aren't grainy, the viewer is. My pics are however slightly out of focus so I have to go in with my Photoshop and sharpen. But again, maybe that will be taken care of with the higher ISO.

I'm going to try different lights too. Ugh. I just don't want to have to buy differemt camera, but it's really impeding my picture takin.

Poor hubby. He meant well.

Sandra
 
Does this Canon have the image stabilization mode on it? If not, I'd use the tripod. The IS series did, but I am unfamiliar with the PowerShot models.

I use an Olympus C-2100--a very old, but fabulous "prosumer" camera I got used off eBay for around $240. It has the stablizer mode, which is perfect for me because I don't use a tripod and I don't have very steady hands. It also has a 12x optical zoom, which I love--I can do jewelry up close and it'll stay in focus. Though it has the manual overrides for focus and speed, I usually use it on automatic, and normally don't need to change it.

As Deborah points out, dpreview is a great place to research cameras, as is Steve's Digicam (can't remember the URL right now, but you can google it). Those two are superb places to get info!

Are the Reveal light bulbs the daylight ones? I get different results with different bulbs sometimes, too, even when I adjust my white balance control.
 
I have the FinePix, too, and I love it....just enough manual ability to appease my former art photo self.

I would suggest looking over the manual and seeing if you can up the ISO to 400 or so, check if there's a setting for indoor photography, and it may be silly, but make sure your batteries are fresh. Those rechargeable ones can run out of enough juice before they stop working to make the best camera fuzz out, and they don't last forever, they do run out of full tilt spunk after repeated charges. (great for flashlights and toys after that)
 
hi guys
amandainvermont, may I ask what type of lighting set up you use? I was taking pics outside but its FREEZING here in Canada, so I need to find a way to take them inside.
I was taking them inside using my cameras built in flash but the pics were almost distorted at times.
I have 2 thick books telling me how to take piccies for auctions, but it all seems so complicated, I need somthing simple.
I use the solid black or white sheet background, just need to sort out the lighting
cheers
 
I have used a Kodak Easyshare DX4530 5 MP for a few years and it's been GREAT - SO user friendly and it takes those close up's like a charm. I highly suggest it.
 
I have the same camera and I love it...

I keep it on the high speed (running man) symbol all the time, I had the same problem you did and when you are not using a tripod, it is the way to get it to work!

You also have to lightly hold the button down and let it focus before you take a picture.

-Amanda
 
nolly...welcome!
You may want to get a neutral gray background as well. While I find the black or white nice for shooting lighter toned items, those with similar color tones to the gray, 95% of dresses will look better without the contrast created by sharp backgrounds.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top