general I’m annoyed with my camera.

Posted June 20, 2006 • Comments Off on I’m annoyed with my camera.

My camera, the Casio EX-Z750, is a great little machine for its size. I really like it.

But the photos from the beach make it super clear that I’m not getting the best from it. The pictures are really, really noisy, and I don’t seem to be able to zoom in as much as I should be.

I just discovered why. I’ve been shooting almost everything in the “Anti-Shake” Best Shot mode. It turns out this mode, unlike any other Best Shot mode, overrides my settings for ISO and even file size. Every photo taken in Anti-Shake is 1600×1200 (the second-lowest resolution this 7.2 MP camera does) at ISO 400, even though I have the camera set up for 3072×2304 at .

No WONDER I have hundreds (hundreds!) of tiny, noisy, grainy pictures.

I’m so pissed.

There doesn’t even seem to be a way to reprogram an existing Best Shot mode and save it. From now on, everything is being taken in Portrait. ISO 100, full resolution, and automatic everything else. I’m not crazy about the way it meters in this mode, and things come out a wee bit pink, but it’s better.

The sad and disgusting part is that I figured all this out while taking pictures of my own back to see how bad my sunburn is. As soon as I can afford to replace my medicine cabinet, I’m rearranging my bathroom to have two mirrors I can actually stand between.

A nice side effect is that the back of my hair really does look as super cute as I thought. Yay on that.