Results are always bad.... I must be doing something wrong.

Hello, Experts,

Attention again..!!!
Please check the sample photos I've enclosed here.

I am doing something wrong without a doubt.
This time I tried to take picture in "S" mode.
I set the camera to "S" Mode, ISO:100, White Balance: Auto, Focus Mode: AF-A, AF Area Mode: 3D,.

But when I downloaded the pictures, the results were way different from what I set.
The first picture resulted in Shutter Speed: 1/2000s, Focal Length: 300mm, f5.6, ISO: 6400.
The Second picture resulted in Shutter Speed: 1/6000s, Focal Length: 185.0mm, ISO: 4000

Why is the result way off the settings? Should the ISO not be 100? Why did it differ? Yes, no doubt I adjusted the exposure....

Please advice and suggest..... Something must be wrong the way I set the camera.

Thank you so much
Regards
Andres

The settings are such that the shutter is close to the fastest speed. The ISO is also pretty high... In shutter priority YOU selected shutter speed manually and the camera compensated by raising the ISO. That being said what exactly is wrong with the images? What were you expecting that is different from the end results?

The picture result is very bad.
The noise, I don't like them. Besides, I can't print the pictures, because after printing you can still see the dots all over the picture.... The sharpness is lost, it looks very tinted.

Before I clicked the above two pictures, I manually sent the ISO at 100.
But when I downloaded the pictures to my computer, I noticed that the ISO was 6400 and 6000.

I am wondering how the ISO changed all by itself.....?

Of late, I've been trying "A" mode and and "S" mode. But, there is hardly any picture good enough to use, including even those shoot during the day time. They are all tinted, with noise and spots all over.

Set your camera to auto, take a shot and make note of the settings, see if that picture looks good. Now set camera to S, adjust shutter speed to something close to what auto had, adjust nothing else, check results. Now leaving it at S make a larger change to the shutter speed and check results.
You mention your shutter speed was 1/2000 and 1/6000, they should be what ever you set them at.

The noise you see is from the high ISO setting. You might have set the ISO to 100 but... You then selected the shutter speed to a very high value. With a high shutter speed the camera compensated for the lack of light at this setting by adjusting the ISO sensitivity. S mode stands for shutter priority - you set the shutter. Question - did you set the shutter speed - if so why so high? Try the experiment Darrel suggests. Try to understand the relationship between shutter speed and ISO to achieve a proper exposure.

Thanks experts... thanks a million.... I'm going to try RIGHT AWAY.....

WoW, Thanks
Andres

Experts, if you have to shoot the above two sample pictures in broad day light, how would you set your camera?

Forget my camera settings, but can you please chart out the histogram for me as to how you would set your camera, so that I can try the same thing?

Cheers
Andres

If I was taking the shot I would have camera set on manual, ISO 100, Shutter speed 1/250, and F 5.6, than adjust from there after you look at results,, if you want background more out of focus than change F stop to lower number, if picture is to bright increase speed. Do you have an understanding of shutter speed and aperture?

Hi Molier82, you didn't mention what DSLR you were using but I suspect 1 of 2 things:
1) Your cam may have been set to Auto ISO (My D5100 has this setting where when you choose it, it overrides most of the manual settings you choose). B/c in Nikons the menu selection is done in such a way that you can easily overlook some settings and choose it unwillingly. I read a similar situation sometime ago in one of the forums so it could be what happened to you.
2) Or...I can only think of a similar non-photographic situation...remember if you have an electrical or electronic appliance or gadget and it gets "grounded"? Remember how it messes up controls etc...? Since your cam is an electronic gadget...it may not be not far fetched that it COULD happen. I also read in one of the forums that a bad lens to cam contact can be a culprit. If it did maybe its time to have your service center check it out.
And of course I could be totally wrong on both counts. If I am, then please accept my apologies in advance.
I know how it feels when you were expecting a great shot and it turns out quite the opposite.

Happy (Trouble) Shooting Molier!

Your profile says you have D3100 and D7000 cameras. Which one was used here.

If you suspect camera/lens contacts, clean them with a white art eraser.
If you may have set some settings like Exposure Compensation, try resetting to default values.

1. If you're getting 1/3000 you don't need 6400iso.
2. Higher ISO = more noise (dots) so just reduce the iso.

Seems to me you need some basic lessons.

ISO = the sensitivity of the sensor. The higher the number the less light you need to get a shot. BUT it has more noise.
Shutter speed = how fast the shutter moves, this affects how much light gets on your sensor and also how much movements will make a picture blur).
Aperture = how WIDE the hole in your lens will be. Lower the ƒ number the WIDER it is. This lets more light in and therefore effects what your shutter speed needs to be. BUT the wider it is, the less things will be in focus, so focusing right is important. Also, with most lenses the more you "stop down" (raise the ƒ number) the sharper your shot will be.

These 3 (ISO, Shutter Speed and Aperture) work together to give you good (or bad) exposure, noise levels and sharpness.

If you notice too much noise, reduce the ISO, lower the Shutter speed and/or widen the aperture.

If you want more things to be in focus, "Stop down" (make the ƒ number higher), lower the shutter speed and/or raise the ISO.

If you want less to be in focus or more light to come in. Open the aperture (lower ƒ number), you then can raise the shutter speed a little and/or lower the ISO.

If you want there to be no motion blur from your lens shaking: Use a tripod OR raise the Shutter speed, then you'll have to open the aperture and/or raise the ISO.

There's no particular right or wrong setting, it just depends on what YOU decide is right.

You can't just say: "What settings would you use?" because the answer is: "It depends."

Also, you should really try and edit these pictures you say are "always bad" often a bit of editing on the computer makes a LOT of difference.

Additionally:

READ THE MANUAL.

This will help a LOT to help you understand these basic things.

Experts, I used D3100 and 55mm-300mm lenses for the sample pictures.

Now, I am having a feeling that this lens is not so good. It results in lots of noise in the picture...
And, thank you all for the lessons.... Carefully noting it down and I'll try the same today........

Hope, I'll get better results... I'll upload the new pictures here.................

Thank you

Noise does not come from the lens... Read Adrians post (see above) and as he suggested read the manual. In the meantime use the Auto mode and learn from the selections the camera makes without your help.