Recommendations for taking sunsets with S2

[hotcheese]

Hi
I've got a Pentax Optio s5z which has a built in sunset mode and when set to this I just point and shoot and get great pictures of sunsets.

I've recently got the S2-IS but using it in any of the auto modes for recording sunsets is rubbish compared to the pentax. As well as the auto modes I've also tried loads of different manual settings, fiddling with different values for shutter speed, ISO values, aperture settings but so far haven't come up any combination of settings that produces any decent photos of sunsets.
I should mention I'm a beginner so am just trying different manual settings at random without knowing which values might be best but I've tried loads of different combinations and none are satisfactory.

The S2 beats the Pentax hands down in every other department but for sunsets I have reverted to using the Pentax as that takes great photos with vivid reds/oranges etc. and captures what can be seen with the naked eye but I can't get anything near satisfactory results with the S2, in particular the colours come out very weak and pale to what can be seen with the naked eye.

Does anybody have the S2 and can recommend some appropriate settings to use, or is there a rule of thumb exposure/aperture settings that are generally good for these conditions I can use as a starting point?

Thanks

[Duke107]

I.m no pro that's for sure but it sounds as if your over exposing your S2 shots of the sunset.

[hotcheese]

Its not just my settings, when its set on auto its much inferior to the pentax. However generally its superb, just look at some of the macro photos people have posten on here taken with it. But for some reason for sunsets its auto setting just doesn't seem to cut it. This evening I've been experimenting taking some with exposure bracketing enabled and combined with setting the colour settings to vivid am getting some better results. But its still not as good as the pentax which is just a small pocket camera not as sophisticated as this. I'll keep experimenting.

[MoHo]

Maybe try these settings:
Shooting mode: P
Focus mode - Center
Metering - Matrix or Spot
ISO - 50
Exposure Compensation: -2/3
Picture setting: Custom (-) Contrast
White balance - AUTO
Digital Zoom - OFF
Don't zoom in............shoot wide-angle.

See if this helps :-)

[MoHo]

More info here: http://www.digicamhelp.com/taking-photos-of-the-sun-with-a-digital-camera/index.htm

[hotcheese]

thanks, might not get the chance to try tonight but will be able the next night