Trouble with poor light shots

[james staves]

Hi, I'm not a photographer and know very little about camera's so was hoping someone could give me some advice on how to improve my photo's. I currently have a Kodak C763 digital camera which I'm guessing is probably quite basic, the problem I have with it is that unless the light is good then the photo's come out so dark that you can't see anything. The camera has diffrerent settings such as night portrait and landscape however they all come out the same!! Am I using the camera incorrectly or do I need a new one? I only use it for holiday snaps and family events etc. but I want a reliable camera to use in different situations.

 

[stevedunster]

I'm afraid I don't know much about your camera, but one of the things that makes expensive cameras/lenses expensive is their ability to do well in low light situations.

I wouldn't have expected a cheaper camera to have coped with low light very well, or at all. If it does it might well create very noisey images, but you don't complain about noise, you say your images are dark.

I wonder if your camera is designed so that when it is dark, it relies on its flash. Perhaps you could check that in dark situations your flash actually fires. If it doesn't, maybe you have a tired battery and/or you are not waiting long enough for the flash to recharge.

Another thing to consider is that your internal flash is VERY small and probably doesn't have much range. Anything beyond the range of your flash will come out very dark. I wouldn't have expected your flash to have lit much more than 10ft or so away.

Forgive me, but it is also worth checking you haven't got a finger or thumb over your flash when you fire - little cameras can be a bit of a fiddle to find safe places for all your fingers.

Hope some of this helps

Steve

 

[trencheel303]

Sorry if I'm being dense but... flash?

I've got an F/1.8 lens and still use flash sometimes... no camera is perfect.

 

[stevedunster]

Sorry if I'm being dense but... flash?

I've got an F/1.8 lens and still use flash sometimes... no camera is perfect.

Me too - let me try and explain. James announces himself as a novice with a small point and click complaining that his low light shots come out dark. Without knowing how much James knows, it seems entirely reasonable that he may not be familiar with flash guns having a short range.

All you have to do is watch the opening of the Olympics just to see tens of thousands of cameras set to auto flashing away. I'm guessing most of them lit up the head of the bloke in front and the rest of the frame was black.

If James is trying to shoot a harbour night scene he might not have realised that his flash won't illuminate his scene.

I mention it because we have no idea of what subjects as what distance James is shooting. So I was covering all bases.