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Anonymous
Hello, /p/. It's nice to meet you.

I've never owned a digital camera before I was issued one by my school — a Sony Cyber-Shot DSC-H7 (relevant?). I'm happy with it, but image quality seriously dips whenever I take a shot zoomed in. The photo turns out grainy and often discolored. Is it the camera? Are there settings I can adjust to fix this?

A dragonfly for your troubles.
EXIF data available. Clickhereto show/hide.
Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeSONYCamera ModelDSC-H7Camera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS2 WindowsMaximum Lens Aperturef/2.7Image-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution72 dpiVertical Resolution72 dpiImage Created2008:07:08 21:57:14Exposure Time1/80 secF-Numberf/3.5Exposure ProgramNormal ProgramISO Speed Rating100Exposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternLight SourceUnknownFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length11.90 mmColor Space InformationsRGBImage Width598Image Height466RenderingNormalExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardContrastNormalSaturationNormalSharpnessNormal
>> Anonymous
     File :-(, x)
Example of graininess and discoloring.

Camera-Specific Properties:Equipment MakeSONYCamera ModelDSC-H7Camera SoftwareAdobe Photoshop CS2 WindowsMaximum Lens Aperturef/2.7Image-Specific Properties:Image OrientationTop, Left-HandHorizontal Resolution72 dpiVertical Resolution72 dpiImage Created2007:11:23 20:06:32Exposure Time1/100 secF-Numberf/4.0Exposure ProgramNormal ProgramISO Speed Rating1600Exposure Bias0 EVMetering ModePatternLight SourceUnknownFlashNo Flash, CompulsoryFocal Length47.60 mmColor Space InformationsRGBImage Width600Image Height450RenderingNormalExposure ModeAutoWhite BalanceAutoScene Capture TypeStandardContrastNormalSaturationNormalSharpnessNormal
>> Anonymous
It's not the zoom, it's the amount of light.

>ISO 100
>ISO 1600

Wikipedia "film speed," shoot manual, and keep that shit as low as possible. Too high of an ISO is the cause; this is the solution.

Also, zooming in usually leads to bad pictures. "If your pictures aren't good enough, you're not close enough."- Robert Capa, a great photojournalist. (Those D-Day pictures you've seen? Him.)

Keep it zoomed all the way out and move closer; for portraits zoom it in a little but not much. If you have to zoom in, do it, like in the OP (at 11.9mm, it's not too far in, a very slight medium telephoto, Wikipedia it, also this would be a good length for portraits, maybe a little more), but don't do it when you don't have to, like>>220150, at 47.6mm, which is a supertele. Really long.


OP pic is nice.
>> Anonymous
Noted and very much appreciated.
I'll dick around with the cam settings tonight and see how things turn out tomorrow.

Hats off to you, anon.
>> Anonymous
I'd normally go with digital zoom and not optical zoom as the problem, but unless you're shooting over 15x, that probably isn't it.

Use a the correct white balance and don't rely on the camera's. That will most likely fix the color problem. (It's in the menu on the camera.)

Also, if zoomed in, use a tripod or brace yourself against something to prevent shake from blurring your picture.