Digital cameras 101

[Benny]

Hi, I have a Panasonic TZ1 digicam. Images on the LCD appear good but playback on the TV is very dark with faces appearing very dark. Adjusting the brightness/contrast on the TV is not helping much. Am I doing anything wrong or is it the camera? Please help!
Thanks.

[bdery]

Hi,

First, do the images look good on your coputer screen?

Second, what type of TV doyou have?

TVs (except for HD) have a resolution that's much lower than your images (and even HD is lower, just less so). In addition, TVs in general have colors that are much more saturated, with more contrast. That's probably what is affecting your images. I don't see many ways round this except playing with color setttings on your TV, but you say you tried that, and in addition it can mess up the "regular" image a lot.

Maybe others will have input on this.

[Deb]

... but playback on the TV is very dark with faces appearing very dark ...

Hmmmm, generally speaking the images should look similar. I've viewed my images both using the camera-to-cable-to-tv connection as well as simply inserting the memory card into the tv's slot and they've looked the same both ways.

I'm curious, what method are you using to playback your images on your tv?

[Benny]

Thank you bdery and Deb for your responses. I have a Panasonic Tau conventional TV and I find the images even on the computer monitor dark. I have to brighten them using  software for them to be acceptable. I just connect my camera to the TV screen after adjusting the system to PAL on my camera with 4:3  ( which is used here).I did not have this problem when I was using a Nikon digicam and a Pentax digicam earlier.

[Mike54]

Hi Benny, this is just a thought but does your camera have an adjustment for the LCD brightness? If so perhaps it's adjusted to the plus side and thus isn't accurately displaying the images (either on the PC or TV).

[ShutterbugGail]

Have you made a print yet? If so, are the images dark?

[Deb]

It sounds like your camera is underexposing your images. Do you have a histogram feature on your camera? If so, take a look at those and see if the images are consistenly dark. If you find that they are dark, then most likely one of your camera settings needs to be reset. I'd start by checking the EV compensation setting. If it's set to a minus number, reset it to O. Then take a shot and see if your image is properly exposed. Let us know what you find.

PS: Just found the online manual for your camera. Yep, you do have a histogram feature. (Page 38 of the online Operation Manual describes how to interpret your histograms.)