TroubleShooting

Q. I get red eyes in flash photos of people. How do I get rid of it?
A. Red eye is caused by the flash reflecting off the red retina in the eye, back towards the camera. To reduce red eye, turn room lights on as bright as possible and have your subjects look at a point away from the camera. If your camera has a red eye reduction mode, use it. Use Porters red eye retouching pen to quickly and easily remove red eyes from your existing prints.

Q. What can I do to get rid of shadows when I take flash pictures of people?
A. Move your subjects farther from the background----5 to 10 feet away if possible. When shooting vertical shots, tilt your camera so the flash is above the lens, not below it.

Q. Color pictures I take indoors without a flash have a yellowish tint. How can I prevent this?
A. Incandescent light bulbs produce light that is much more yellow than the daylight and flash for which most color film is designed. An 80A blue filter on the camera lens will correct the problem and produce much better pictures.

Q. Existing light pictures taken under fluorescent lights come out too green. Is there a filter to correct this?
A. There are many different types of fluorescent lamps, each with its own color characteristics, so no one filter will provide perfect color with all of them. However, a Tiffen FLD filter or similar will greatly improve photos taken with most types of fluorescent lighting.

Q. How can I get steadier photos and videos when I can not use a tripod?
A. Rest your camera on a fence, railing or other solid support. Another option is to use a gunstock shoulder brace or a monopod.

Q. It seems that pictures I take with my telephoto zoom lens are not as sharp as those taken with a shorter focal length lens. Did I get a poor quality lens?
A. Not likely. As you increase lens magnification, you also increase the effect of camera movement when you are using the camera handheld. For example, a picture taken with a wide-angle lens at a shutter speed of 1/60th will usually be sharp, but it probably will show some camera movement if a 300mm lens is used at that same shutter speed. A handy rule of thumb is to use a shutter speed no slower than the reciprocal of the lens focal length when the camera is handheld. (1/60th for a 50mm lens, 1/250th for a 200mm lens, 1/500th for a 500mm lens, etc.)

Q. My automatic camera shows zero on the frame counter but will not fire when I press the shutter release. Is something jammed?
A. Maybe the last time you used your camera, you finished the roll of film, the camera rewound it, but you did not take it out. Modern cameras are designed to NOT fire if there is a roll of film in the chamber that isnot loaded properly. Cameras will fire when the film chamber is empty or when the camera is loaded and the frame counter displays a frame number.

Q. Sometimes all of the prints in a roll will look off, maybe too light or too dark or the color in not accurate. Did I set my camera wrong?
A. If the entire roll looks bad, then probably bad printing is the culprit and you should have the photofinisher reprint the roll.

Q. My camcorder battery is supposed to power my camcorder for two hours, but I am lucky if I can get twenty minutes from a charge. What is wrong?
A. Most camcorder batteries have nickel-cadmium (nicad) cells, which can develop a charge memory when repeatedly charged and discharged a small amount.About every four or five charges, nicad batteries should first be fully discharged before charging to prevent charge memory. Many chargers have a discharge feature for this purpose. Separate dischargers are available, too. Lead- acid camcorder batteries do not develop a charge memory and should be recharged after use.