Digital cameras 101

[Tracy McCarthy]

I have a Digicam 3.0 MP camera.  It takes beautiful pictures outdoors.  However, any pictures that I take indoors look horrible.  I have tried various settings and nothing will solve this.  Could there be something I am missing or could there be something wrong with the camera.  I recently purchased this camera and I have used it only twice and both times the pictures taken indoors are awful.  Any suggestions?

Thanks,
Tracy

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi Tracy,

Welcome to the Q&A Board.

Most digital cameras do better in outside lighting than inside if you're using the built in flash, but they should not be horrible. The very first thing I'd check is the manual to see if you're using the flash within the recommended range.

It would also help if you provide some detail about what your mean by "horrible." Are the inside photos too too red, too dark, too blurry, too noisey?"

I'm unfamiliar with the brand name Digicam. Please provide a link online to a description of the Digicamh 3.0 MP Camera so we can better understand the features and be of more help.

[Tracy McCarthy]

I bought the camera at overstock.com and do not have any more information than what is on there sight.  It is called a digicam on the site and on the camera.  Here is the link to the product page - http://www.overstock.com/cgi-bin/d2.cgi?page=proframe&prod_id=1083188.  

The pictures that are taken indoors at very blurry.  I have tried taken pictures many different ways but the picture usually looks blurry when taken indoors.  Especially when I choose automatic flash.  Thanks for any help you can give.

Tracy

[ShutterbugGail]

Inside photos are always challenging.

Here are a couple of thoughts about how to address the problems you're encountering.

First, if you are using the zoom when taking inside photos, don't. This camera has a Digital Zoom, which is not a true zoom. When using a digital zoom, it can make images appear "rough" and blurred. So shoot at the widest angle for the best possible resolution.

Stay within the flash range as specified in the camera manual. If you don't, the camera will select a slow shutter speed to let in more light. This will significantly increase the chance of camera shake and result in blurred images. If you use a flash outside it's range, images will also appear darker.

If the camera has a self-timer, use a tripod, or put the camera on a flat, level surface, before pushing the shutter button. This helps prevent camera shake.

If one of the problems you're facing is that your images have an orange cast, you normally would adjust the white balance setting. However, as far as I can tell, your camera doesn't have that setting. If it is still light outside when taking inside photos, open any door and/or window shades in the room, to let in available outside light. But still use the flash and keep other lights on in the room.

Hope some of this helps. Let us know.

[Tracy McCarthy]

Thanks for the info.  I will try everything.

Tracy

[MISST]

I received a fujifinepixA200 as a gift (2.0 mpixels)  and I just recently purchased an olympus D545.  My question is which cam is best and how many mpixels should I truly have?   what is the best mpixels to have?

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi MISST,

Welcome to Digicamhelp!

The best way to tell what camera is best is to take photos with each and compare. Both Olympus and FujiFilm make fine cameras. You may also want to do a Google search and find some reviews of what others are saying about each.

As to the best megapixels to have, that depends primarily on two things. First, how large prints do you plan to make? If not more than 4x6," then a two megapixel camera is fine.

The other thing is if you do a lot of image editing. If you crop you images a lot, more megapixels mean you can crop more without losing image quality.

Since the Oly is a four megapixel camera, and the FujiFilm is a 2 megapixel camera, obviously the Oly will give you more printing and editing options.

We have it all explained here:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-a-megapixel/index.htm

Also check out this page which suggests how many megapixels you need for a particular size print:

http://www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-a-megapixel/megapixels-and-print-size.htm