• We’re currently investigating an issue related to the forum theme and styling that is impacting page layout and visual formatting. The problem has been identified, and we are actively working on a resolution. There is no impact to user data or functionality, this is strictly a front-end display issue. We’ll post an update once the fix has been deployed. Thanks for your patience while we get this sorted.

Canon G3 blurry photos?

paruhd0x

Diamond Member
Hello 🙂 I got a Canon G3 camera about a month ago, and have been avidly taking pictures. I have noticed that about 60% of my indoor photos that I turn the flash off because I like natural lighting much better, turn out to not be focused correctly. I am using the auto feature on the camera, I'm sort of stumped on why it would be taking so many unfocused pictures. I just took about 40 images, and only 13 were actually focused correctly. Anyone know why this is happening and how to overcome this? It was dissapointing how many pictures I had to trash.

Thanks in advanced.
 
Originally posted by: paruhd0x
Hello 🙂 I got a Canon G3 camera about a month ago, and have been avidly taking pictures. I have noticed that about 60% of my indoor photos that I turn the flash off because I like natural lighting much better, turn out to not be focused correctly. I am using the auto feature on the camera, I'm sort of stumped on why it would be taking so many unfocused pictures. I just took about 40 images, and only 13 were actually focused correctly. Anyone know why this is happening and how to overcome this? It was dissapointing how many pictures I had to trash.

Thanks in advanced.

that's cause there isn't enough natural light to feed the camera. The picture is not out of focus, it's called camera shake. As the image is passing through the sensor, it's capturing the image and since you slightly move the camera, it has to compensate for the new image. This is not due to the camera, it happens to ALL cameras, digital and film. You have two options.

1. Tripod
2. Flash

The elapse time light and image is passing through the sensor is called Shutter. I've never played with a G3, but it should tell you the shutter speed when you are taking photos. Anything less than 1/125th of a second, you should use flash or a tripod.
 
Is is 1/125? I know on my 35mm A2e, it recommends anything under 1/60. I'm new to the digital stuff myself, so I'mn not entirely sure either.
 
Originally posted by: HappyCracker
Is is 1/125? I know on my 35mm A2e, it recommends anything under 1/60. I'm new to the digital stuff myself, so I'mn not entirely sure either.

generally rule of thumb for photography is, don't hand hold anything slower than your lens focal length. 52mm's are pretty common place in the SLR world and most people can hand hold at 1/60th. But 125 is just a safe bet.
 
The threshold for using a tripod really varies depending on the circumstances.

Where a small amount of shake is acceptable, you can get away with more. I've had reasonable results with handholding my G3 at 1/4 sec, but see below. Or, if you want maximum sharpness, then you need to use a heavy tripod, and a remote control or self timer.

It also depends on how likely there is to be shake - if you're outside and it's windy, or your in a busy room, or perhaps err... slightly impaired, then you need much shorter times. Conversely, if you can lean, or lean the camera against a solid object, then you can take much longer times. I've got some good 5 sec exposures by leaning up against a tree.

Similarly a long focal length (high magnification) magnifies the shake, so you need a correspondingly shorter time to compensate. With 35mm, a simple rule was nothing less than the focal length. With digital the different sensor sizes cause confusion. For a G3 this roughly translates as 4x the focal length (i.e. no less than 1/30 at wide, and 1/125 at full tele).
 
If the camera has several AF sensors, make sure the sensor the camera selects corresponds to your intended subject. You can always use the center sensor only (I'm sure the G3 has this option) to eliminate anything else as the culprit. If you are using it indoors and not using flash, chances are the shutter speeds are too slow. You can raise the ISO rating of the camera to compensate for the low light( this allows for more digital 'noise' to show up however) or use a tripod.
 
Are you making sure to depress the shutter button half-way, allowing the camera to focus, and then depressing the shutter button all the way?

(Asking this because shutter speed/aperture size is not usually an issue with Auto mode.)
 
Like everyone else said, it is probably your shutter speed. I do the same thing with my G3. If you use the LCD, you will notice that you get a little icon in the lower left corner that has two hands cradling a camera. That icon indicates that your picture will be senstive to camera shake. I try to lean up against objects or set the camera on my knee and I always try to take a slow breath and completely exhale before taking a shot with slow shutter. Also, if you use the LCD you can see the result of your picture for 2 or 10 seconds depending on how you have it set in the menu.
 
Back
Top