fuzzy/blurry pictures

[ooptea]

my wife has a cybershot 3.2mega pixel camera and it seems that everytime she takes a picture half of them will have blur. some of it is caused by our lovely daughter moving but other times when there are pictures of her mom or whatever there is still blur. i dont think that she is shanking when she takes the pictures but its possible. so the question is did she buy a bad camera or is it users error?

[Sheba]

Might be a couple of things...

Are you shooting indoors or low light? Some digital cameras need to be put in manual mode to compensate for low lighting.

I'm no photo guru, but my husband is the photographer and I know he can run his camera fine, but put it in my hands and I can take a blurry picture like no other!

OR, did she play with the settings and maybe the shutterspeed is too slow for the conditions? Some settings you can't even take a picture without blur unless you have it mounted on a tripod.

Like I said, I'm no professional, these things just came to my head first, I'll ask my husband, but he'd probably start with asking those same things.

[ooptea]

i dont think its a setting issue because it takes random great pictures.
here is one of my daughter clean and sharp no blurring so mybe it is a user based probem (note my IT talk)

[Hatch]

Hi ooptea,

My wife has the Sony DSC V1 and we had similar problems. One issue is the camera is very small and any slight movement while taking the photos can ruin the images. We found the camera in full Auto mode works best...any other mode we have to make use of a tripod to produce decent photos. Wish I could offer some help... only suggestion is...and this may sound like I am
a nut case,... but concentrate on pressing the button on the camera. A slow squeeze will help keep the camera in place. Again... this may sound nuts... but I try to apply the same methods for shooting photos as I do guns . You should almost be surprised the camera took the photo. LOL To rule our camera shake... set the timer and place the camera on a flat surface or tripod... if it is still producing fuzzy images... reset the camera settings to default and try again...still have problems... the camera has a defect.

Hatch

[Sark]

A few tips for compacts.

Set the camera to Aperture priority mode and use a wide aperture setting (try f2.8). Many people assume the opposite, but wider aperture settings ensure faster shutter speeds and it's the shutter speed that has the greatest effect on subject sharpness when holding a camera.

If possible raise the ISO, not too high though as noise is common at higher settings on compacts. Try ISO 200, but you may have to drop back to ISO 100.

Another trick if you have PS, is to underexpose by a stop by setting exposure compensation to -1 stop (minus 1). This gives another stop of film speed and can easily be corrected in PS at no real cost.

Good luck.

Sark

[Doc]

Keep in mind that with a wide aperture, your depth of field will be narrower. That is to say the area that is in focus, front to back, from your subject will be lessened. This can be a good thing and is used a lot for portrait photography with a medium telephoto lens. Your subject will be in focus and the background blurred (out of focus) so as not to distract. Just something to be aware of.

My 2? worth.

[Rich]

I also have a Sony Cybershot 3.2Mp. I find that sometimes when I first turn it on, everything in the display window is blurry. If I turn it off and turn it back on it's just fine. I don't know why. I thought I'd chime in and let you know it might be a camera issue.

I've just gotten used to checking the display to make sure it looks clear and if not, reboot.

Rich

[ooptea]

thanks guys i will give those tips a try and report back.

[Sark]

Doc said,

Keep in mind that with a wide aperture, your depth of field will be narrower.

This is true, and it's not a method I would have recommended for landscapes, but even at f2.8 I find I often blur the background further in PS. Ooptea's attached image is a good example. The background could have benefitted from being out of focus to some degree. I suspect in that example a mid aperture setting was used.

Sark

[ashish17]

I think when you are using your camera it must be in steady position..but keep in mind that just after the click you hold the camera in that position when it was in shoot position...
don't move the camera after the click....

hope it will work for you.