Is Something Wrong with my Ixus? - General Chat - CHDK Forum

Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?

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Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« on: 02 / March / 2009, 12:32:47 »
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sorry i wasn't sure where to post this. this isnt a question about chdk just my camera in general, i was hopeing there was someone here who could point me in the right direction.

the other day i noticed the camera (digital Ixus 85) has started to take really dark pictures, the only way i can get it to take a good picture is with a flash, setting sISO to 400 (any lower results in the same dark image) or setting it to manual exposure and upping it to 2 instead of 0. there is plenty of light but the auto setting just isnt cutting it. they are only boring pictures of my car that i took to show some progress to a club forum but it doesnt seem right at all.

i took a couple of comparison pictures to show the difference and the available light.

this pic is taken on full auto



this pic is taken on manual with exposure upped



the thing is the above image it what i would see on the display untill i half pressed the photo button (the technical name escapes me lol) as soon as i half press the button the image goes dark as above

here is one with flash



and another



heres another comparison

full auto



modified manual



another thing is close pics on full auto come up like this



so you can see that there is plenty of light. it only seems to have started to do it recently.

has anyone seen anything like this before. im not sure what firmware its running it does have a 16GB SDHC card

thanks

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Offline fudgey

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Re: Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« Reply #1 on: 02 / March / 2009, 12:35:11 »
Does this have anything to do with CHDK?

Re: Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« Reply #2 on: 02 / March / 2009, 12:48:43 »
no sorry i probably didnt make it clear his is without chdk running, i didnt want to post in general as its camera related if its in the wrong place then please move it someone thanks

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Offline wontolla

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Re: Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« Reply #3 on: 02 / March / 2009, 13:23:30 »
I have no idea what the problem could be. Just some thoughts:

IMO, your underexposed pictures have a pretty fast shutter speed for an outdoor shot (1/360... 1/500...). For a cloudy day, it should be less than 1/100. That's why they are dark.
The camera increases the shutter speed when you are using flash. But small cameras have a flash range of about 3 meters (only for portraits at parties etc), so it they are unable to light a car 6 meters away.

Try more tests without modifying exposure compensation nor ISO. And next time, include the EXIF data in your post so we don't have to download every image to look at it.


Re: Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« Reply #4 on: 02 / March / 2009, 13:32:09 »
hi, i have to admit to not knowing what EXIF data is? im new to the world of better photography and chdk

ill see what i can do tomorrow

all the pictures posted that look dark are taken with everything set on auto including flash, ISO and mode.

all the lighter ones are taken in manual with either exposure or iso increased. if taken in manual with everything left at default settings i get a darker image again. except with things like digital macro setting. there is definately plenty of light it was 2 - 3 pm ish and it was only slightly cloudy
thanks

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Offline fudgey

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Re: Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« Reply #5 on: 02 / March / 2009, 13:53:42 »
EXIF is the name of a standard for adding some metadata such as shutter speed and ISO to JPEGs from things like digital cameras. Most image editors and viewers, even built-in tools in Windows dig some of these things from the EXIF tag if you look at the file properties closely.

If your camera is now taking a lot darker pictures than it used to, it could indeed be broken somehow. Maybe its ND filter is stuck (ixus models don't have iris apertures, instead they have "sunglasses" called a neutral density filter instead to get rid of excess light when it's too bright for the sensor at lowest ISO).

To test the ND filter, you could try CHDK's ND filter override: force it both on and off and take the same picture, one should be darker than the other if the camera isn't broken.

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Offline fe50

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Re: Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« Reply #6 on: 02 / March / 2009, 15:06:38 »
@steve b

Maybe you should restore the camera's default settings first (from the Canon menu, 2nd tab, "Reset All...") & test again...

Re: Is Something Wrong with my Ixus?
« Reply #7 on: 02 / March / 2009, 15:45:41 »
fe50 id thought about that i will try that first, after which i will try your suggestion fudgey. ill also take some comparison photos with a digital isux 80 which i bought at the same time for my nan that way you can see how the two cameras perform against eachother

ill let you know how i get on tommorow thanks


 

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