Hi there! I'm new to the forum, so please be gentle.

We have a Kodak Z712 IS. We've have it for a few months now. Basically bought it to replace another camera when our son was born.

I'm having 2 issues that I would love if someone could help me out with.

1 - When I'm taking pictures of people...their faces are almost ALWAYS way over saturated. Like the flash is swallowing them. I've pretty much been sticking to the Auto setting because whenever I switch to another everything I take is BLUR BLUR BLUR as I'm not sure what to pick.

2 - Christmas decorations. I can NEVER ever get a decent picture of our tree or our decorations. They all just come out blurry or again overly saturated.

Can anyone tell me what I should be setting this camera to? I'm so lost and would love to have a nice picture of my kiddos without having their faces look like they're clowns.

Thanks so much!
Kathy

I'll try to give you some help. First, I don't think what you're seeing is over saturation but rather over exposure. Over saturation is having the colors to intense ond over exposure means that the subject is too "white" with details being washed out. The underlying solution is to reduce exposure.

The blurry decorations could be from misfocus or from too slow a shutter speed causing blur because of camera motion. My guess is too slow a shutter speed.

These are guesses because you haven't shown us any samples. Post a sample photo showing each problem with the EXIF data (information) intact and we can give more specific help. The EXIF data shows the camera settings for each picture.

A good starting point

1- Put the camera in the P mode

2- Set compression to fine

3- Set AF to continuous

4- Set Image Stabilizer to continuous

5- Set White Balance to Auto

6- Set Sharpness to normal

7- Shoot in the P-Mode

8- Play with the camera, learn the camera, practice with the camera, then when you want to get a shot you'll have some idea how to set it up.

Well, that is a good start SW-

But does the OP understand your instructions? We really do not know. That is why getting sample photos might be the quickest way to a REAL solution. AC also made a good try!

Sarah Joyce

I have my Z712, and now my Z1012, set by default to compensate by -0.3EV, which often gives a better result to my eye than standard exposure. This is regardless of metering mode. However, unless it's a snatched shot, I generally use the 'live preview' in the electronic viewfinder to adjust brightness by eye to my taste. My choice may be anywhere in the EV correction range, depending on the subject. If I'm in doubt I take extra shots, or bracket the exposures.

This is true "What you see is what you get". (WYSIWG). If you have 'quickview' turned on, you see instantly whether you got what you expected, and usually you did.

Until recently, top of the range expensive cameras only offered you "what you see is what you might get, if the camera and you agree about the right exposure". (WYSIWYMG). I now do, on a very cheap camera, what took me hours in the darkroom before I even press the shutter release, My pal with his thousands of pounds' worth of Nikon dSLR gear has to trust his camera to record to his satisfaction the real world that he sees through the direct optics of his lens, pentaprism & mirror. However, through decades of experience, he & the camera invariably agree. I see in my viewfinder what the camera is actually going to give me.

I notice this excess brightness with other cameras as well. I think maybe it's a fashion for bright pictures. I hate blown highlights more than anything, and will happily put up with lost shadow detail by preference. So Kathy, I suggest you use any of P,A,S, modes, and adjust the image in the EVF by eye, twiddling the "EV" compensationsetting until it looks right (half-pressing & releasing the button after each twiddle, to force a reassessment of the image). After a while, you'll find an EV setting to suit you.

Viewed on a computer screen, digital images are rather like projected colour slides. The law in the olden days was 'expose for the highlights' for slide film, and 'expose for the shadows' for negative film, thereby recording the maximum viewable dynamic range. HDR constructions using software such as 'Photomatix' on bracketed exposures may be the short-term answer for getting the scene to a satisfactory jpeg.

Open the little book that came with the camera and go to the ICON section. Learn your ICONS and what they do. I know of one ICON in the P-mode that might help you out when taking flash pictures. Another thought when using flash is not to be to close or to far from your subject