SX30 Manual Tips

I'm seeking tips as to how to get cleaner shots on manual mode. Yesterday I was at a car show in very bright sunlight and the auto setting just wasn't cutting it. I switched to Manual and decided to have fun a learn this camera a little better. So I was messing around with aperture and shutter speed. After learning on how to calibrate it correctly tonight by reading the manual and the ISO settings, I may have been able to get a better shot.
I was taking some shots in my house, set everything as it should but still shots were grainy. Once I raised the flash the photo was clear. Can anyone help me over come this?
Below are some shots that were in Auto and a few in Manual

Auto

Photo EXIF data?

If you were shooting indoors without flash, you probably needed either a high ISO or a long exposure. Both those lead to noisy images, which will look "grainy". Adding flash means you can use lower ISO and shorter exposures.

Jon wrote in post #12252045
Photo EXIF data?

If you were shooting indoors without flash, you probably needed either a high ISO or a long exposure. Both those lead to noisy images, which will look "grainy". Adding flash means you can use lower ISO and shorter exposures.

EXIF data? Idk what you meant with that. You wanted to know the info such as aperture, shutter speed, and ISO, I do not remember.
And I think I'm starting to understand that the more I practice. But I'm unsure why.

For example how can I get my second set of pictures to look like my first set with clarity? It looks as if my camera has become a 3.0 MP camera on a cell phone.
What is my camera doing in Auto that I'm not doing in Manual?

The EXIF data is written to the file whenever you take a picture. If you look at "Information" for a picture in Zoom Browser, for instance, you'll be able to see aperture, shutter speed, ISO, shooting mode, and a host of other information about each individual photo. Most EXIF info. is standard so third-party utilities like Irfanview or PhotoShop Elements can also read it.

I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of extracting some of the EXIF information from your pictures above. This will let smarter people than me provide some useful comments. These are in the same order as your pictures. I do notice that when you go to Manual mode, you are using ISO1600. This will make some noisy pictures, and there is no reason for that high a value outdoors.

======== SW7040.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/1000
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 200
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7035.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/800
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 200
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7019.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/640
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 100
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7057.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/1250
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 200
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7138.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/3200
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual
======== SW7171.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/800
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual
======== SW7168.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/1600
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual
======== SW7179.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/2500
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual

You might be interested in this book/course;

http://www.shortcourse​s.com/store/canon-sx30is.html

Dennis

lar55 wrote in post #12254936
I hope you don't mind, but I took the liberty of extracting some of the EXIF information from your pictures above. This will let smarter people than me provide some useful comments. These are in the same order as your pictures. I do notice that when you go to Manual mode, you are using ISO1600. This will make some noisy pictures, and there is no reason for that high a value outdoors.

======== SW7040.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/1000
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 200
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7035.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/800
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 200
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7019.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/640
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 100
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7057.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/1250
Aperture               : 4.0
ISO               : 200
White Balance               : Manual
Exposure Mode               : Auto
======== SW7138.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/3200
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual
======== SW7171.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/800
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual
======== SW7168.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/1600
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual
======== SW7179.jpg
Focal Length               : 4.3 mm
Shutter Speed               : 1/2500
Aperture               : 8.0
ISO               : 1600
White Balance               : Auto
Exposure Mode               : Manual

denncald wrote in post #12255412
You might be interested in this book/course;

http://www.shortcourse​s.com/store/canon-sx30is.html

Dennis

Thank you both very much. I will try to get out and take some photos this week and set the ISO as needed and experiment. Thanks again. Ill come back with my results

Read up on using ND filters and Circular Polarizers. Also watch where shadows fall, try not to have them falling on the primary image unless you want to use software to clean them up later.

thats a great tip ill use for some photo shoots ill be doing for me and my friends.
@lar55, how did you extract that information. i just took more test shots, some in landscape mode, auto, and manual but i'm having trouble comparing my camera to my computer to write down the information myself
edit: i found an add on for firefox but it does not show the mode the camera was in. what program or add-on are you using?

@auto-clicker: FYI, the SX30 cannot take filters/polarizers. At least not without an aftermarket adaptor of some kind.

I used a program called exiftool to get the information, but I use Linux and although I think exiftool is also available for Windows it probably is not your best choice. Lots of programs will display the 'generic' EXIF information, like shutter, aperture, and ISO - including Windows explorer "properties". But some of the shooting mode information is stored in Canon-specific places, and not all tools will decode it. If you are using the software that came with the camera ("zoom browser"?) that should work. I use another (Linux) program called geeqie to review my pictures, and it also displays most of the EXIF information along side the pictures (but unfortunately not the Canon-specific codes).