Digital cameras 101

[Maureen]

I have had my Samsung Digimax A6 camera for about 2 years and have been quite happy with the photographs I have taken with it. However during a recent 3-week holiday in America I found that some of the images I took have an appearance as if paint has run all over the image and it is blurred.  Could somebody tell me what this might be.  I took around 176 photos in all and there are about 6 which are completely spoilt.  Is there anyway I could recover the image? I have downloaded them onto my computer, and saved them my 'My Photos' file.  In particular I am bitterly disappointed because I visited Gracelands the home of Elvis Presley and the photo I took of the graves has come out distorted and as mentioned above, looking like paint has been thrown all over the image.  I would appreciate anyone's imput.

Thanks you

LitMo :( :(

[bdery]

Hi Maureen, and welcome!

There are many causes that could explain what's happened, but without seeing samples, it's hard to tell. The best way for us to advise you would be so see samples. You could post them on a hosting web site (Kodak gallery, Photobucket, Pixassa's online gallery, etc).

A few hypothesis : what you describe could very well be motion blur, caused by an exposure time that's too long. This happens in low light, and when your camera is set to a long exposure mode (like Fireworks, for instance). It could also be a failure of the sensor or the processor in the camera.

Did the pictures show up well when you reviewed them on you camera's LCD? If that's the case, but they are damaged on your computer, it could mean that your memory card has somehow corrupted the data while transfering the card. To avoid that, make sure to format your card from time to time.

It will be easier to help you if we can see some pictures.