@heihachi_73 wrote:
Similar to your ES55, I also have an ancient Samsung S750 (from circa 2007) which also suffers from grainy images; it's all up to the amount of light I think, it's probably fine when taking photos outdoors in sunny weather, but indoors under a single CFL lighting the entire room, it's as good as it can get even at highest quality, ISO 80 and with the self-timer.
That's actually good to know 🙂 (As in, at least it probably wasn't what I was doing that was causing it. 😄 ). I have a tripod as well (quasi-Christmas gift, via a JB Hifi gift card in 2014) and I think I've used it twice 
I know I probably should be using it, but the best spot in the house, in terms of lighting, is kind of an awkward space, and I like to move the camera around to all sorts of different spots and angles, so I found it easier to just hold it and move around the object myself, plus I found image clarity was still less than perfect, which I thought the tripod would help with, but obviously more of a camera / setting issue. I'd probably be half-decent at dance-freeze games, now though. Except for not really being able to dance. 
I'll have to try adjusting the ISO on the next one, I only ever really experimented with some of the more basic settings, partly because I don't know what I'm doing or what the options would affect, and partly because I worried I'd forget what I'd done and not know how to change it back.
My old (old) camera was a Ricoh (which I had for ages and it put up really well with all sorts of abuse, including being held together with gaffa tape towards the end ) that used 2 AAs and I really liked that, because I could charge up spare batteries while using others, but the Samsung had its own rechargable lithium battery, less convenient but lasted quite a long time between charges - will note the advice re: required batteries, though, as that wasn't even on my radar.
Ta muchly for all the tips and info. 🙂
