have had my Pentax Optio 555 for quite a while now and every time i take a pic outside no matter if the sun in shining they always seem to come out as if it is a very cloudy day and they are dark, i sometimes even get this problem inside. My question to you is are there any settings that i can change to sort this problem out as it is becoming very annoying to have to change the colours in an editing package.

Thanks

Tim

have had my Pentax Optio 555 for quite a while now and every time i take a pic outside no matter if the sun in shining they always seem to come out as if it is a very cloudy day and they are dark, i sometimes even get this problem inside. My question to you is are there any settings that i can change to sort this problem out as it is becoming very annoying to have to change the colours in an editing package.

What do the histograms on the camera look like?

Sorry i am a complete noob, so i dont now what a histogram is :confused:, where can i find this?

Sorry i am a complete noob, so i dont now what a histogram is :confused:, where can i find this?

The owners manual should tell you how to display the histogram. Most cameras do this after the shot is taken, my old Pentax Optio 330 used to display a histogram before the shot as well.

Once you display the histograms for a few bad images, tell us what it looks like.

You'll have to tell us how your camera is set for us to be able to figure anything out. It should have come with software that lets you see the exif data recorded at the time of the shot. If you could post that and a photo we'd have a better chance.
You may want to work through a basic "How to take Photos" sort of book to learn what the basic controls do.
Are you using flash outside on distant subjects? The camera would think it's getting a lot of light from the flash, but the flash may only be effective for a few feet.

Sorry it took so long to reply.

Michael Fanelli: i have had a look at the camera manual for histograms, and found it but all it seems to show it a graph and some setting above, if could have a look at the manual http://www.pentaximaging.com/files/manual/Optio555_IB.pdf on page 40 under "Taking pictures" could you tell me which bit of info you want please.

Chunk: The setting that are in Record Mode are as follows.

Recorded Pixels: 2592x1944
Quality Level: 3 Stars (the max, other than TIFF which i am not sure what it is)
White Balance: AWB (automatically adjusted)
Focusing Area: Wide
AE Metering: Multi Segment
Sensitivity : Auto
Flash Exp. Comp.: 0.0

Here are two pictures and there EXIF data

Pic one (http://huskis.net/kitegallery/album01/IMGP0823) Data (www.huskis.net/23 DATA.doc)

Pic two (http://huskis.net/kitegallery/album01/IMGP0826) Data (http://www.huskis.net/26 DATA.doc)

Thanks

Tim

Michael Fanelli: i have had a look at the camera manual for histograms, and found it but all it seems to show it a graph and some setting above...

That's what a histogram is! The graph is showing you where your exposure is located. The left side are the shadows, the right side are highlights. In the general case, your histograms should be nicely distributed across the graph or maybe biased a little to the right. If it is bunched up on the left, your image is probably too dark, on the right, too bright. What do these graphs look like for the bad images?

Ok go both histograms for both of the above images

Histogram 1 (http://www.huskis.net/histogram1.doc)

Histogram 2 (http://www.huskis.net/histogram2.doc)

Ok go both histograms for both of the above images

Histogram 1 (http://www.huskis.net/histogram1.doc)

Histogram 2 (http://www.huskis.net/histogram2.doc)

These don't look all that bad. My next question is about your monitor. What did you use to calibrate your computer monitor? What gamma setting are you using?

I can see a few things that contribute to the results you have.

One thing that probably didn't have too much effect, but I would change anyway is to turn off the flash when you are outdoors unless you want to add light to fill the nearby shadows. That'll also take the flash out of consideration for white balance and exposure.

It's assumed that the average scene (grass, flowers, people mountains, blue sky, etc.) has the same reflectance as an 18% gray card. The automatic exposure control in the camera is set to make the average photo equivalent to 18% gray. When it sees a scene that is very bright it limits the amount of light into the camera and that bright scene is recorded too dark. That's what happened here I think. You can correct that by dialing in a stop or so of exposure compensation (whatever pentax calls it) or switching to a spot metering mode rather than a matrix metering mode and metering on something that isn't bright sky or sand.

Here's an explanation of histograms. It's kinda written for people who are already conversant in camera controls so you may find it more confusing than helpful.
http://luminous-landscape.com/tutorials/understanding-series/understanding-histograms.shtml

Here's a discussion of image file types.
http://www.scantips.com/basics09.html

Although it sounds rude, I usually suggest that beginning photographers work through one of the basics of photography books that you can find at any Barnes and Noble, Borders, or local library. For the most part one of those books along with your owner's manual ought to get you well along toward taking great photos.

Your camera should have come with some software that will help you correct those shots into something that looks pretty good by brightening and controlling contrast.

Have fun.