What you probably see chillman, is noise. The photo was probably taken with a higher ISO setting under low light conditions. Every digital camera has some noise, more expensive cameras have less.
This noise is most visible when you don't have a lot of light to work with, that's just the downsize of most digital cameras.
However, I do need to see an example to advice you on how to fix it. It's possible to fix it in Photoshop or with some 3rd party plugin. The final result however is not going to be excellent, because you'll always lose some quality. These colored pixels might also be what they call
hot pixels, but again, I need to see an example first.
If images come out blurry, then it's caused by
- a slower shutter speed
- the camera was moving
- the main object in the photograph was moving
One question is; is the whole shot blurry or only the main subject?
It's important to make sure that you hold your camera very steady. Place your camera on an object or against a wall if you have to.
The risk of blurry pictures increases if your shutter speed is close to 1/60 sec. But with 1/60 sec you'll have another problem, because it's very difficult to shoot moving objects with that speed. Even a slight move of your main subject can make the final image look blurry.
In
general: the less light you have to work with, the slower the shutter speed (more blurry shots!), unless you increase the iso setting or increase aperture (=lower number).
It also helps if you have a lens that can capture a lot of light. Mine starts at aperture 1.8, which can mean the difference between shooting with 1/60 sec or 1/125 sec. Avoid to zoom in under low light conditions if not really necessary, because you'll decrease the light that's passing your lens.
Of course, it always helps to use flash, but I'm sorry to say that most pictures taken with these built in flashes look crappy. They're more usefull as fill in flash.
Btw, do your pictures look dark when you use automatic exposure or when you use manual? Again, I really need to see an example of such a dark picture to tell you what went wrong. It's probably the light meter that got confused.
Need more questions? Feel free to ask