A70 Owners... Umm, is this normal?

[darkeneddays]

Hi

Wasn't sure if this could go here or Tech Support but whatever.

Anyways, I bought my wife an A70 for Christmas after reading numerous reviews of how great it was. Well, for the most part the camera is great. However, it seems like 1 out of every 3 pics are blurry. It doesn't seem to matter whether it is autofocus or manual, same result. Granted, my wife and I are digicam n00bs so if there is something we might be overlooking please feel free to tell us.

Here's a couple pics of my goddaughter to show what I'm refering to:

Clear Picture

Craptastic Blurry Picture

So I guess I need to know whether my wife and I suck at taking pictures, or if we got a dud camera.

 

[Eli]

Unless it really is defective, it simply didn't focus.

If the green focus box doesen't come up, try in macro mode.

 

[StageLeft]

Have you read the manual much? I am not being a jerk either - but having read part of the manual for my new fuji s5000 I realize that there is a lot of functionality I had no idea existed. It's possible that you're just missing out on some minor part of using the autofocus that the manual may help you out in...?

 

[Bassyhead]

With autofocusing, make sure you check the manual on how to have the camera prefocus before you take a picture. You'll see a green box where it focused.

 

[TekDemon]

The camera doesn't seem to be focusing...try putting it to Auto with the LCD on, then holding the shutter button halfway so the camera has time to focus and you see green boxes on the focal points it as selected. Then depress the button all the way, and your pictures should all be clear =P If you're not using the LCD, depress the button halfway until you hear the camera(or feel it) focus, then click the shutter.

Maybe you're getting too into the moment and clicking away crazily fast =p

 

[TekDemon]

if that doesn't solve it there's a problem with the camera

 

[dartworth]

RTFM

btw...Perhaps it was a low light situation?

 

[aircooled]

I do not own that particular camera, but remember that [most] digital cameras have a delay between when you click the button and when it takes the pic. Make sure you are holding it still for several seconds after you press the button.

 

[iamwiz82]

are you allowing the camer ato focus before depressing the shutter completely?

 

[Bekker]

I am an old man, but I find that most of the newer small cameras can be shaken slightly when depressing the shutter. If you don't keep the camera very still, even shortly after taking the pic as an earlier post stated, you will get results like that.

 

[StageLeft]

Try various shots on a tripod/kitchen table, using the timer to ensure no camera movement when the shot is taken. If all of those are good, then you know it's your old shaky hands

 

[AMCRambler]

Make sure you've got in on auto because I think one of the settings is like portrait mode and it gives crisp clear pictures but the camera and subject have to stay still. That will usually give you streaks though. Your pictures just seem to be out of focus. Make sure you are depressing the button half way and letting the green focus light come on before you push all the way down on the shutter like they are saying.

 

[Mday]

Originally posted by: darkeneddays
Hi

Wasn't sure if this could go here or Tech Support but whatever.

Anyways, I bought my wife an A70 for Christmas after reading numerous reviews of how great it was. Well, for the most part the camera is great. However, it seems like 1 out of every 3 pics are blurry. It doesn't seem to matter whether it is autofocus or manual, same result. Granted, my wife and I are digicam n00bs so if there is something we might be overlooking please feel free to tell us.

Here's a couple pics of my goddaughter to show what I'm refering to:

Clear Picture

Craptastic Blurry Picture

So I guess I need to know whether my wife and I suck at taking pictures, or if we got a dud camera.

you're not getting the hang of using a digital camera.

some typical errors

pre-focus:
unlike traditional film cameras, there are "2" levels of pressing the "take a picture" button. the first is a pre-focus, this allows the camera to use autofocus, and if you hold it at that point, the focal length is fixed. the 2nd is the actual shot. so if you hold down the button midway, it's pre-focus, if you hold it down completely, it's the actual shot. if all you do is a single press going through both modes, that's where most ppl make mistakes. the pre-focus can take somewhere around a significant fraction of a second, so you're actually not taking the picture yet. so, if you move the camera right away after doing a single press, your picture will be out of focus. sometimes this also leads to pictures being taken before the subject is in focus.

low-light:
this is a more of a problem than with film. low light typically causes the SNR to be quite low, causing a bad picture (looks grainy), this isnt the problem you have. however, always use a flash if you think there isnt enough light. typically, there is always not enough light.

improper subject distance:
you may be too close or too far away from the subject, and if you zoom in, this can cause focus problems. this problem occurs more often if you are too close, than too far.

improper autofocus subject:
the camera's autofocus may be fixed on a different item than you wish. this occurs only if something is in the way. this is also not the problem with the picture.

--

here's what my diagnosis is:

improper autofocus coupled with low light situation. you'd think there is proper lighting, but that is not so. there might not have been time to make sure the subject was in focus before the photo was taken. autofocus takes time. manual focus is only faster if you are an experienced photographer. dont expect to whip out the camera and go shooting like a wild man. half the pix will not be in focus, and the other half will suck.

you should see the crappy out of focus pics i took with my first digital camera... and then my 2nd digital camear ;-)

 

[darkeneddays]

Alrighty, thanks for the responses.

However, we have always used the auto-focus function w/ flash on every shot. In fact, over Christmas we set the camera on a tripod and tried some pictures. Same damn result.

Tripod Blurry

We don't know all the functions but we got the auto-focus down...it just seems to screw up half the time. I'll tinker with it some more and see what happens. Great camera if 50% of my pics didn't end up looking like crap.

 

[JHoNNy1OoO]

Have you tried taking multiple pictures of a stationary object instead of multiple pictures at multiple distances with different lighting and pose. I'd say if you pointed the camera in your kitchen on a tripod and took 3 consecutive pictures(nothing moving) and one came out blurry and then you took 3 more and one more came out blurry that the camera was defective. Then I'd try it with another stationary scene and if it did it again, I'd definately get on the horn.

GL fixing the problem.

 

[darkeneddays]

Just to test a theory, I set the camera volume all the way down(my wife had the "click" and "say cheese" sounds cranked all the way up).
Went and took a bunch of random pics using auto-focus, in doors and outside, all the pics came back clear.
I'll take some more to see if this will continue to hold true...

 

[jayXTP]

Put the camera on Auto, press the button half way down until the green box comes up on the LCD, if the box is red/orange then it hasn't focused properly. Press all the way done. Try that, it should work.

 

[Amorphus]

Originally posted by: darkeneddays
Just to test a theory, I set the camera volume all the way down(my wife had the "click" and "say cheese" sounds cranked all the way up).
Went and took a bunch of random pics using auto-focus, in doors and outside, all the pics came back clear.
I'll take some more to see if this will continue to hold true...

maybe A70 owners can offer some insight on this, or you can check some forums.

anyways, could it be that your camera's not properly charged?

 

[cchen]

Originally posted by: darkeneddays
Alrighty, thanks for the responses.

However, we have always used the auto-focus function w/ flash on every shot. In fact, over Christmas we set the camera on a tripod and tried some pictures. Same damn result.

Tripod Blurry

We don't know all the functions but we got the auto-focus down...it just seems to screw up half the time. I'll tinker with it some more and see what happens. Great camera if 50% of my pics didn't end up looking like crap.

Not quite on topic but what was the person who took the picture aiming at? You and the baby are in about 25% of the picture while everything else is just the wall and ceiling

 

[Eli]

The blurryness in those pics isn't from movement, it's from being out of focus.

The only time I have ever taken pictures like that was when I was in macro mode and really far away from the subject.

If you are not pressing the shutter button half way down to let the auto focus work, that is your problem.

Turn the "say cheese" stuff off, and turn the operational noises up so you can hear them. Press the shutter half way down. It will beep twice and a green box indicating the point of focus.

It will beep once and no box will pop up if it did not focus. This will typically happen if you are in the wrong mode for the distance, or because of low light, or sometimes because it just didn't find a focus. I have to try 2 or 3 times sometimes, especially if its very dark.