Pics coming out dark

hdtrc · Sep 23, 2013

Hi,

First posting for me. I have a A720IS and am feeling that my camera is not handling low light very well. I had an A20 that I feel did much better than the A720.

I recall being able to shoot in low light and the A20 would take a pic brighter than the actual scene and seemed to be able to go deeper into low light than my A720. My A720 makes low light pics darker than the actual scene. This happens at least in AUTO mode and with the flash off. Lately I've had to take pics of machines that I'm repairing and if I use a flash, too much gets washed out. Without the flash, its too dark.

Do I have a setting off or misadjusted?

Ed

Dao · Sep 23, 2013

It is really hard to say. Do you have a sample photo for us to look at? If possible, do not remove the ExIF data of the photo.

If you think the issue maybe as a result of the setting is off, you can try to reset the camera back to factory default and see if that help.

cgipson1 · Sep 23, 2013

Since we don't know all of the setting you have set, it is hard to say. However, that camera does have a Max ISO of 1600, which is not going to handle extremely low light very well. You might want to post of few of the shots with Exif data intact, so we can see what is going on. Learning to properly use the camera with flash would be your best bet.. that will take some playing with it, and practice.

Personally I would set it to SPOT metering or maybe Center Weighted (I can explain why if you need me to... and manually set the ISO to 100 or 400), and then try the flash, should be much more accurate than the default full automatic Evaluative Mode. It is pretty much a true point and shoot, so you have very little control of what you can do with it.. although it does have a manual mode you could learn to use.

Canon PowerShot A720 IS Concise Review: Digital Photography Review

Tinderbox (UK) · Sep 23, 2013

I have had the A590IS for years and it always takes great photo`s , have you tried doing a full reset? , there is a memory backup coin battery in the AA battery bay try removing it for a few seconds.

Though the A720IS is old and has a tiny sensor and it`s not even backlit compared to sensors in modern camera, you might be expecting too much or has it gone faulty.

My A690IS always had low battery message problem, until i used a fix i found online.

John.

hdtrc · Sep 23, 2013

Thanks folks.
The A720 is much much newer than my old A20 so I'm thinking that it should perform just as well. I forgot to bring the camera to work so I can't take any new pics. I might have one on my computer but I don't have the settings shown on the pics. Let me work on this.