pixel's on my pictures IST*DS HELP!!

[PixelKid]

So here's my first post. Let me just say that im fairly new to photography and i enjoy taking pictures of outdoors and landscapes.

So I traveld around the world from Nevada to Washington, Oregon, California, Hong Kong, Japan, Thailand, Singapore, Hawaii and more All the while taking pictures with my ist*DS (which i love!) and then i go to put the pictures on my computer and they ALL have HUGE UGLY pixels. I'm shooting with the standard stock pentax lens with 18-55 zoom or my Sigma (70-300)... I may be dumb but i think the pixels come from the fact that im using a 6 Megapixel camera and then putting the pictures on my 18 inch laptop and the computer is trying to squish all that info into a smaller space and there's too much info to do that? i dont know! I just purchased Photo Explosion Delux to start editing some of my photos.. SO my question Does anybody know how to help me get these photos clear? =\ please help!

[PixelKid]

I posted some pictures in my gallery for you to see what im talking about. both were taken in Hawaii a few months ago

[KHedquist]

I have the same camera and lenses. I get very good results from them. Check out my gallery "khedquist".

I shoot jpeg on the highest qualit setting. You may want to check your camera set up. Go into menu, setup, pixels.

Kevin

[Windwalker]

I have had a terrible time with my Sigma 70-200 F2.8 lens until today. My pictures were turning out much more grainy the yours. I thought something was wrong with the lens.

Then I noticed that the shots my wife took were much better then mine, sharper and with less grain. The difference was that I had set the camera (*ist DS) to automatic along with the lens when giving it to her. Then I noticed my F stop set in my photos were all F2.8 and the shutter speed very fast (F2.8 @ 1/2000), as apposed to her shots that had more believable settings (F8 @ 1/650)

I took some test shots today with my lens on and off the auto setting of the aperture ring of the lens and had much better results on the auto setting then using the aperture ring on the lens.

Here is what I think is happening (subject to conformation from Pentax). The camera is unable to read the aperture from the lens. It sets the default as F2.8 and adjusts the shutter speed accordingly. The sensor has insufficient light to record a usable image and so ’‚’‚…‚’‚¦…“pushes’‚’‚…‚’‚‚� the ISO speed of the exposure until it has a usable image. This is the cause of the grain.

When I set the lens to auto (’‚’‚…‚’‚¦…“A’‚’‚…‚’‚‚�) and use the aperture adjustment in the camera I don’‚’‚…‚’‚…¾‚t have this problem. The camera sets the aperture correctly and the exposure is correct. If I want to adjust the aperture I should use the electronic setting letting the camera set the lens.

I am checking with Pentax to see if the camera does in fact do it this way, but it fits all of the criteria. As an old film photographer I am in the habit of using the aperture ring instead of the electronic setting in the camera. Might you be doing the same?