Problem with Canon SX210 IS

I've bought Canon SX210 IS last November. At the beginning I was very happy with it because it took photos of very good quality (auto mode). After a month or so the joystick started making problems so I took it back to the store under the warranty. Some weeks atfer when I got it back I started to notice that the photos it took were very awful (in the auto mode) especially the ones taken outside and the ones where objects were not very close. I started to suspect that auto mode isn't good for this kind of photos so I played a little with the settings and tried to take few photos with Program mode. Still the same. I checked all the photos I took from January and I realized that there are also some other problems with photos. Human skin has unnatural color, people faces are not clear and they are also too dark, the sky is always completely white, some photos are grainy.

The weird thing is that on some occasions takes photos were very good - all of them! But when a camera had a bad day all the photos very awful.

Any idea what could be wrong???

I've attached two photos taken with Program mode.

http://www.davorin.org​/IMG_1326.jpg

http://www.davorin.org​/IMG_0084.jpg

The samples look good to me. Some days I can't take a good shot if my life depended on it...Maybe it's the light, subject, my mood or whatever. Using auto mode (I never use it) is like a crap shoot though. It could use different settings each time you press the shutter..at the same subject. I like to study the exif on each shot to get an idea what's going on. I'd like to blame the camera when shots don't come out the way I hoped but it's usually my fault

You serious? This samples look good to you? my 8 years old Canon makes better photos than this.. and why I didn't experience this kind of problems in the beginning??
I know its not always camera to blaim but I think that in this case there is something wrong with the camera or the settings.

Yea, I'm serious. What don't you like about them? Let's see some shots with your 8 yo Canon

I agree, the problem you're seeing is not with the camera, except insofar as you're seeing shallower DoF than you want. The focus in both pictures appears to be spot on for what's dead center in the image (Coke bottle for the first, cart in the garage for the second), and stuff out of the plane of focus is blurry. Since the SX210 doesn't have a viewfinder, you add opportunities for you to shake the camera; that's inherent in LCD-only cameras though.

Jon wrote in post #12854194
Since the SX210 doesn't have a viewfinder, you add opportunities for you to shake the camera; that's inherent in LCD-only cameras though.

Tripods big or small are essential equipment.