Factory settings are a bit different for every camera out there. However, there are three settings you should change now on your camera to get the best photos possible.
1. Photo Quality
You paid for a 12 megapixel camera, now use those 12 megapixels. Change the photo quality to maximum. Many cameras come set to medium photo quality/image size. All this does is degrade your camera's capabilities. Let your camera capture the photo quality it is capable of doing.
2. Metering Mode
Most cameras come set to a multi-segment metering mode. This means the camera looks at the entire frame before determining an average exposure. While this sounds good, it often winds up wreaking havock on your images by trying to make everything equally bright. Change to center weighted average metering. This tells the camera to use an average exposure but to give more weight to whatever is in the center of the frame. While no single metering mode works perfectly for every image, center weighted average will work much more consistently for most photographic situations.
3. Auto Review
The auto review feature on your camera will drain your batteries and slow down your camera greatly. Turn off auto review. If you have a through the lens viewfinder, turn off the back viewscreen completely to greatly improve your camera's performance.
