Help! What is wrong with my camera.

[ajkramer87]

You might want to look into getting the book understanding exposure by bryan peterson. It will help you understand what happens when stuff like this takes place.

 

[ImageArray]

You might want to look into getting the book understanding exposure by bryan peterson. It will help you understand what happens when stuff like this takes place.

I might just do that. I thought I understood the basics... but apparently I was wrong! Thanks for the book reference.

 

[csgrafix]

Yea...
looks likes your blurry pics are in low light so the camera needs more light hence the longer shutter speed.

plenty of light in the outside shot
looks like you had some flash or other sorce of light in the last one too.

 

[Dao]

For some reason, your camera's shutter is staying open pretty long......

Now that you mention it... I have noticed a difference in something. When I actually push the button to take a picture my LCD screen goes black (which is normal) but stays black for a longer period than it used to. Is this related to the shutter? It used to turn black for a split second and now it stays black for at least a good full second. I didn't change anything - and I would have no idea how to change that (don't even know if this camera even had a setting where the shutter speed can be changed).

Oh this is so frustrating!

- If you take a photo, you want your photo to be exposed properly. Otherwise it will be too dark or too bright.

- To obtain a properly exposed photo, you need the right amount of light.

- Your camera has a light meter to determine the right amount of light at a particular situation/condition.

- When you take the photo of your son indoor, light is kind of dim (when compared to outdoor during the day). So it took longer for the camera to collect enough light to obtain a properly exposed image. And the time required to obtain the image is the shutter speed so to speak. (Of course P&S camera usually take a little longer after you press the button than a SLR camera)



So the problem you had was, I believe, not because of camera is defective. You just need to find a way to increase the shutter speed. In order to increase the shutter speed, you can ....


- Increase the ISO (or let the camera to choose it for you) value. The higher the ISO value, the more sensitive the sensor to light. So you can properly expose the image with less light.

- Add more light to the scene. i.e. use flash, go outside during the day, ask your son to sit closer to the window during the day etc.





Or use a longer shutter speed but put the camera on a tripod or a table top to avoid motion blur due to camera shake. (of course, ask your son not to move around when taking the photo)