I get the same problem. I have found that SOMETIMES using the "landscape" setting on my camera helps out. Sets the focus to infinity. Not sure on your camera, but I also have noise reduction and a clear image setting that helps sometimes. Usually means I have to hit the menu and shoot with every setting, but with awesome clouds and sunsets, it is worth it to capture it.
Sometimes just post shoot processing can help. A fave I "saved" with a little G blur
//photos4aidan.home.attbi.com/WebPages/RAFarming/source/2002-11-09_16-13-11.htm
If you haven't tried yet (and can) shoot in uncompressed TIFF or RAW mode with the same settings you've used and see if it's JPEG or the optics/sensor combination creating the problem.
Virtually all of my cloud/sunset photos were taken with my camera in auto mode...I've had plenty of problems but I guess the graininess (if any) just didn't bother me much...you can click here to see some. The more recent examples are at the end of the gallery.
If anyone wants I'll be happy to retrieve the EXIF info for any posted image.
Sunsets generally aren't my problem, it's shooting clouds in an overcast sky during the day. I could try the RAW thing the only problem is that the files are so damned big you can't fit very many on one card.
Your sunsets look pretty damned good there General.
It's wierd looking back on some of my shots with clouds in them taken with my G2, that I have some grain in them too. I really haven't taken cloud shots with my other camera. Have you seen what they look like when they are printed? I have a shot that I took with some great looking clouds. There was A LOT of graininess in them and I almost didn't want to take it to the store and have it printed. When I did it came out perfect and looking just fine. I wonder why it looked like that on my comp. So you might want to see if it comes out on print any better.
Also, check your monitor settings (may look better at certain resolutions) and that you're not zooming in too close in Photoshop or something, and seeing stuff that won't print.
I'd suggest copying 2"x8" "slices" out of 5 assorted test images and assembling them into one 8x10 and printing that. Make sure the images cover the gamut of images to are likely to print. That should be the least expensive way to see if any particular types of images are likely to cause problems.
You know, now that I think about it, I printed this image off at 8x10 a while back and it looks just fine.
Strange.
I don't think it has to do with jpeg artifacting because even the original looks grainy. I guess I'll have to take a test shot in RAW format and see how that looks.
