Digital Camera Question ( or maybe just normal camera )

[speg]

Heya, I got a new digital camera this week ( Canon A60 ) And so far im loving it! However, this is my first real camera and I after taking some pics at a party last night, I had a question. Why are the pictures with the flash on so much better than those without the flash? Like, they're much sharper and not blurry, I thought the flash was just for lighting, but it seem that it makes them more not-blurry.

The pics can be found here for some examples of what I mean.

 

[GTaudiophile]

I dunno how the A60 works exactly, but my guess is, the camera automatically compensates for turning off the flash by decreasing shutter speed, resulting in blury images. Either that, or you're doing that in the manual settings.

Edit: Turning off flash with low-lit room = you have to decrease shutter speed and/or decrease aperature size to compensate = blury images. If you can, try only lowering aperature size first and see if that provides enough light before lowering the shutter speed. Also try increasing the ISO from 50 to 100. Although my G2 has Auto, 50, 100, 200, and 400 ISO settings, it really can't handle anything above 100 well.

 

[speg]

Becasue a slower shutter speed lets more light in? Making a birghter picture, ( which you would need if you have no flash ) All this stuff is so confusing...

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: speg
Becasue a slower shutter speed lets more light in? Making a birghter picture, ( which you would need if you have no flash ) All this stuff is so confusing...

Yes, but if there is the slightest movement, that will also be caught with a slower shutter speed. Like, if you want to catch the wings of a bird while in flight, you have to use a shutter speed faster than 1/2000th of a second. If you want those wings to appear in motion, you'd use a slower shutter speed of like 1/100th of a second. Use shutter speeds of 1 second or longer for night-exposure.

 

[speg]

So how do I let more light in while keeping a fast shutter speed? Im assuming apperature and ISO have something to do there? I'll have to look up on what those mean...

 

[GTaudiophile]

Originally posted by: speg
So how do I let more light in while keeping a fast shutter speed? Im assuming apperature and ISO have something to do there? I'll have to look up on what those mean...

Yes. Aperture size is the size of the "hole" in your lens, also affecting light onto the CCD. Shutter speed is how fast that hole's "cover" blinks over the CCD. I'm not sure what ISO does in digital terms, but it's suppose to act like traditional ISO film ratings. Like I said, with most non-SLR digicams, ISO settings over 100 are fairly usless with all the grain. So, your options are to increase ISO to 50 or 100 and/or decrease the aperture size.

This FAQ might help.

 

[Sid59]

you have camera shake in those room pictures. You can't hand hold such slow shutter speeds. You either put it on a tripod or use flash. Try the Shutter Priority. Set it to 125 or so. But it'll prolly open up the Apeture and lose some depth of field. Rooms usually are very poorly lit. Use flash.


3000

 

[speg]

Originally posted by: GTaudiophile

Originally posted by: speg
So how do I let more light in while keeping a fast shutter speed? Im assuming apperature and ISO have something to do there? I'll have to look up on what those mean...

Yes. Aperture size is the size of the "hole" in your lens, also affecting light onto the CCD. Shutter speed is how fast that hole's "cover" blinks over the CCD. I'm not sure what ISO does in digital terms, but it's suppose to act like traditional ISO film ratings. Like I said, with most non-SLR digicams, ISO settings over 100 are fairly usless with all the grain. So, your options are to increase ISO to 50 or 100 and/or decrease the aperture size.

This FAQ might help.

Wait, if I want more light in, doesn't that mean I would increase the apperature? AH! I'll check out the FAQ, looks good thanks!

 

[RossMAN]

speg - Your pages load fast, who's your webhost?

 

[GoSharks]

you will want to decrease the aperture number, which will increase the aperture size. lower numbers = bigger hole = more light. make sense?

 

[speg]

Shark, makes sense, but I'd think bigger numbers = bigger hole
Rossman, addaction of course! ( on the leo server )