Downloaded image doesn't match quality of image viewed in the camera's LCD

[CHW]

Camera: Canon PowerShot A40
Software: Canon ZoomBrowserEX or Photoshop
Problem: When taking pictures with low light or varied light (i.e., sunset, candlelight) images furthest from the light source appear well defined and exposed in the camera's LCD, but when viewed after downloaded appear very dark, losing nearly all definition and color (almost black). Why is the image viewed on the camera so much better than the downloaded image? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks....!

[another view]

Hard to tell what you got with the small LCD on the back of the camera unless you zoom in (if you can on that camera, not sure) - and even then... Some of the latest and best camera LCD's are about 200,000 pixels (0.2 megapixels). When you view on a monitor set to 1024x768, you've got almost 0.8mp for full screen and have to blow it up many times larger than the screen to see a 100% crop. Big difference in detail there.

I've had shots that I was sure were what I wanted on the LCD only to have them not be quite what I thought after downloading. A little Photoshop magic can usually help though.

Compact digital P&S cameras have a hard time recording images in very low light conditions, the small sensor can get really noisy (grainy) quickly.

[livin4lax09]

also, calibrate your monitor. I know that I had this problem when i first started using my camera. Pictures looked great on the LCD, then when I uploaded, they were very dark. Once I calibrated my monitor, they looked much more similar.

[Michael Fanelli]

Camera: Canon PowerShot A40
Software: Canon ZoomBrowserEX or Photoshop
Problem: When taking pictures with low light or varied light (i.e., sunset, candlelight) images furthest from the light source appear well defined and exposed in the camera's LCD, but when viewed after downloaded appear very dark, losing nearly all definition and color (almost black). Why is the image viewed on the camera so much better than the downloaded image? Any advice would be greatly appreciated. thanks....!

The LCD on the back of the camera was never meant to judge the overall image. Use a histogram on the LCD and make sure your monitor is calibrated.