Please Help!

[GeorgiaOnMyMind]

In an effort to take a moving water picture on our last vacation, my husband changed numerous settings on my camera (Canon Digital Rebel XT). Since that time, my photos have been consistently grainy even with a flash when I'm used to it taking beautiful pictures with crisp blacks. I reset the camera back to factory defaults, but I can't seem to solve the problem. Any suggestions would be appreciated. I have attached a photo that demonstrates what I am seeing.

[JenGrace]

I'm not really familiar with Rebels, but you might want to see if there are noise reductions settings that are turned off, and check to see if it is on auto ISO. Higher ISO = grainy.

[digismile]

Your image unfortunately doesn't have any of the file information that would make it easier to help! Oh well. It looks like the ISO setting is on too high a setting.

I look online on the canon website and took a look at the Rebel XT manual. See page 55.

ISO speed is automatically selected in the "Basic Zones". So what setting do you put the dial on top? Probably not one of the basic zones. Try pushing the ISO button on the back of your camera (just above the set button). Use the up and down arrows to pick something between 100-400. The lower the number the less grainy a photo will be.

Try this first, and see how it helps.

[GeorgiaOnMyMind]

It looks like my ISO speed was set to 1600! I tried taking several test shots here in my living room to see if the problem was resolved, but all of them look identical to me. I will take more pictures outside later on with the ISO set between 100 and 400 (user manual said that was how I get it to do it automatically) and see how it goes. Thanks for your suggestions!