Downloading From Camera to Computer..Why so dark?

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I just purchased a Sony DSC-F505V. Took my first round of pictures which looked great on the camera LCD. I downloaded to my computer and pulled them up to view...they were so dark I could barely make out the image? I called Sony who advised me that it is probably a software issue. I viewed in the MGI PhotoSuite that came with the camera and I viewed in Picture It...Why would it be so dark?

-- Karen Kallins (karen@dtsoft.com), July 28, 2000

Answers

Karen, you oculd have a lot of things going on here. Are you on a PC or a MAC? Working through this step by step is the best way to approach it. I am not familiar with MGI PhotoSuite. Have you opened any of the photographs in your browser to see how they look. I think that Sony is probably right (and I'm not much of a Sony camera fan). Do you have access to Adobe Photo Deluxe. If you do try opening your images in that and you should have some relatively powerful editing tools.

-- fred (fdeaton@hiwaay.net), July 28, 2000.

I hate to give the internet runaround, but you might want to take your question over to www.mavican.com They have a Cybershot forum. So you can get answers from people who have the same camera you have.

On the other hand, if you can open the pics in IE or Netscape... Have you tried uninstalling then reinstalling MGI?

-- David Erskine (davide@netquest.com), July 28, 2000.


A couple of quick thoughts:

1. Are you using a laptop? If so, the dynamic range the LCD is capable of displaying is probably much lower than the 24 bits per pixel the digicam captures. Generally, laptops are somewhat questionable viewers. You can adjust to see highlights, or you can adjust to see shadow details, but you can't see both at once... :-)

Don't get me wrong, I use a laptop to download/store/view most of my images, but you have to fiddle the brightness/contrast controls up and down a bit to get a sense of what detail the image really contains.

2. What numbers of bits per pixel is your computer set up for? 16bits/pixel or 24bits/pixel, or possibly less? You need 16b/p minimum and 24b/p looks a LOT better. If you're running Windows, you can right click on the background and select "Properties" from the menu. From there you pick "Settings" and then you can select from the drop down list under "Colors." Typically you're looking for "True Color 24 Bit".

3. Does the editing/viewing software have a calibration routine that helps you to set the brightness, contrast, and Gamma on your monitor/computer? Have you used it yet? If you don't see something like that in the menus, try the help file. Just look at the index for "calibration" or "gamma".

All the above assume that your camera is working properly(the shots look good on the LCD) and that your software has not been routed through the Twilight Zone or similar dimensions or lack thereof...

You might also try viewing the images on a TV through the video out feature and see how they look?

As was said before(by other posters), how do other graphics files appear when viewed through your software? If they look a bit dark, that may be the clue that it's time to check the above stuff and calibrate your system so that most things look right.

One last thought. You don't by any chance have the brightness cranked up on the camera's LCD? That would make dark images appear Ok(well, better, perhaps) in camera, but they'd look dark on the computer.

Good Luck!

-- Gerald M. Payne (gmp@surferz.net), July 29, 2000.


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