On 12 Oct 2006 20:01:04 -0700, emrlaw.DeleteThis@att.net wrote:
> I just received a Canon A630 today and every photo I took of my kids
> this evening has very bad red-eye, regardless of the distance to the
> camera. The red-eye reduction is "on" but it doesn't seem to do
> anything. It looks to me like the red-eye lamp is the same as the
> auto-focus lamp (has a yellow color). Do you think I'm doing something
> wrong or do you think there might be something wrong with the camera?
> Any help would really be appreciated. Other than the red-eye, the
> camera takes great pictures. Thank you! Ethan
The only thing you're doing wrong is assuming that a red-eye
reduction lamp is powerful enough to be effective. If it doesn't
force a large reduction in the pupil's diameter, the red-eye will
remain as bad as if it wasn't used. The pupil doesn't contract very
quickly anyway, as you can tell by how long it take for the eye to
adjust when leaving a dark room into bright sunlight or vice-versa.
You'd probably get much better results if you had the subjects look
at a movie flood lamp or a bare 100 watt incandescent bulb for
several seconds before turning them off and taking your pictures.
The anti red-eye lamps just aren't intense enough to be effective,
and if they were, they'd probably use more battery energy that the
flash itself, which would dramatically reduce the battery's
performance. You're better off disabling the anti red-eye lamp and
using more realistic methods to reduce red-eye, such as turning on
as many indoor lights as you can and trying to keep subject's eyes
as far from the lens axis as possible. But don't go too far, as
guests might balk if you try to hire an ophthalmologist to
administer Tropicamide or phenylephrine drops in their eyes.
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