How to overcome Grainy photos on some in door shots with my Canon A710

For most cameras, that's normal. There are a few high-end DSLR cameras that do well in low light but you pay a premium price for them.

Some people report that with an ISO setting of 200 or higher, there is graininess in the pictures, so check your ISO setting. I don't own one of these cameras, but there is a lot of discussion on the net about them. The following amazon discussion about the problem deals with a fellow who upgraded to the S3 from the S1. One problem was the ISO setting got bumped up, but another problem was the ISO was increased in the Sports Mode. See if any of this applies to your situations:
http://www.amazon.com/Grainy-noisy-pixelated-photos/forum/Fx36DLASC37633N/Tx2BFEA8BW518TA/1?_encoding=UTF8&asin=B000EMWBV0

The Canon A95 has been known for taking noisy and grainy photos. Try using a low ISO setting of 50 or 100 to see if that helps. Using auto ISO or ISO above 100 will put more noise/grain in your photos. Also, always shoot in the best lighting situation possible. The more light the better. You can always improve your photos with good editing software too.
I hope this helps and good luck!

Set up a cleaning session on the sensor frrom settings and see if that improves it

You have likely set the camera to shoot photos in low resolution, or high ISO or both. Check your camera manual for detailed instructions on how to set these options.

If you don't have your computer manual, you can download one from this page at Canon.com. This is for the Powershot S500, this is the same camera as your IXUS 500, they just gave it a different name in different countries.

Always set the camera to shoot in the highest quality resolution mode. Memory cards are relatively cheap and you don't want to end up getting that photo of the lifetime but because you shot it in a low resolution mode you can't get a good print!

If you are shooting in low light the camera may be automatically boosting the ISO. There are only 3 ways to shoot in low light:

1) Flash - only works when your subject is relatively close to the camera.
2) Increase the ISO which results in noise in the dark areas of the image.
3) Use a tripod and a long shutter (slow shutter speed).

The problem is with the auto feature of the camera .Use auto in daylight outdoors for any other situation try different setting like p made.Donot increase iso level more than 400.Clean your front glass element with soft cotton cloth

Regardless of the camera make/model... dark, grainy photos are usually a result of a lighting problem. Looking at the specs for your camera, the flash is only speced for 4m. If you are shooting near or above this you might have trouble. I ended up using an external flash that is triggered by sensing the cameras flash. Pretty inexpensive and pics ar 10x better. Try a local camera shop or B&H Photo (NYC) is where I got mine set up on line.

It will be grainy a bit specially in digital zoom and even in optical zoom to the full level it might become grainy as camera is unable to absorb all the light from distant object......

grainy pictures are possibly casued by a very high ISO (sensativity) setting, you should be on 100 or lower for best normal shots. Higher settings are for low light and custom shooting in strange lighting or aperature/shutter speeds. Try full auto setting.

Apparently this is not the camera for marching band stuff at night because I had this problem over the weekend!  I tried everything...