Recieved a camera as a present...but man it is bad.

[Doomer]

accidentally drop it in a few toilets because you have butterfingers?
my mom dropped her oldish olympus vr330 point and shoot in a toilet >.<

What was she taking pics of? (sorry if someone else already asked.)

 

[schmuckley]

FinePix AX650

^
Good p&s camera.

 

[fralexandr]

What was she taking pics of? (sorry if someone else already asked.)

Don't think she was taking a picture of anything :S.
She was on vacation in Europe somewhere.

 

[Renob]

It was a group present and I am with that group always.

Kind of noticable if I pull out a camera that is different than the one that they gifted me, don't you think?

Ill problably stick with it even if Im not happy.

Worst part is, my girlfriend has asked me for a P&S too but Im not getting her this one...

Grow a pair, get a real camera and move on...

 

[BeeBoop]

Agreed with Renob. OP has some growing up to do. You can't expect a friend to get you what you want no matter how close you are to them. In fact, never expect to get the perfect gift from a friend, never. Just suck it up, smile, and say thanks. Otherwise, you're being selfish and acting like they owe you something. Why does your friend owe you the perfect camera? They don't owe you anything. The only exception to the rule is from your significant other. Buy your own camera and be done with it.

 

[CuriousMike]

Renob and BeeBoop sound like Americans.

op does not sound like an American.

Not that this is bad or good - it's just my guess.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Are you taking pics outside or inside? This is just my guess and I could be wrong here as I'm far from a camera expert or photographer just because I own a DSLR but what I think could be happening is the P&S is upping the ISO for darker areas. This makes the photos more grainy. Does the camera have a shutter speed option? Try taking pictures with a slower shutter speed while putting it on a steady surface. Timer works good for that so you don't have to touch it. If it has a full manual mode play around with shutter speed, ISO and aperture (not sure if a P&S would have that option though).

If you want a better camera look into a cheap DSLR, actually, a mid range one, even those arn't THAT expensive now days. You can get a nice Nikon or Canon for under 1k now days. I bought mine from a coworker who does photography on the side as it was a spare he just wanted to get rid of as he has one already and his primary is better. You could get lucky and get one second hand like that. Mine is a Nikon D7000 if you're curious. There may be better options in that price range now though, not sure. Happy with mine though.

If your friends ask just say you enjoyed the camera but decided you wanted to step up to a more expensive one. Tell them you still use the P&S for situations where you don't want to lug around the DSLR. By experimenting you may find situations where it will still work. Does it have a time lapse feature or video recording features? Sometimes there are situations where you actually want two cameras like if you're filming something.

 

[xavier es]

like Red Squirrel says
explore the settings of the camera. i just bought a camera that took such bad pics i wanted to return it. i went into the settings and turned off some of the bells and whistles and now i get much better photos.