utterly confused

[Scarecrow]

Taking some advise about shooting I decided to switch from a 400 iso to a 100 iso for shooting in a dark room/ inside a museum. Needless to say almost every shot looks like cray to me a little fuzzy or out of focused. I know some of them are my own fault not bring a tripod with me inside or leaving the flash out in the car. The problem is even some of the pics I set the camera on a solid object so it would not move or shake came out kind of out of focus. Is this normal for using a 100 iso your image becomes softer just currious?

 

[The_Traveler]

You are saying to your camera to make the sensor less sensitive thus requiring a longer exposure time.

What you are getting is motion blur.
Read a book on exposure.

 

[subscuck]

I'm not sure who would have advised you to turn your ISO down in low light. Lower light = higher ISO, unless you're shooting off of a tripod. Post some pics with exif intact, you've probably got very slow shutter speeds.

 

[480sparky]

It could be motion blur, and it also could be shallow DOF. It also could be a poor focus point to begin with.

 

[Derrel]

100 ISO ruins more photos in indoor light than almost anything; next time, stick with ISO values of 400, or higher, in similar conditions.

 

[Kerbouchard]

If you were setting your camera down on a solid surface, ISO 100 should have been fine. No problem with using base ISO in low light as long as you use good technique. A couple things to consider for next time...

1. If your camera is sitting on a table or something, you can't really look in the view finder to verify focus...consider using live view for that situation.
2. A tripod does more than just hold a camera still. It also helps dampen the vibration from the shutter actuation. It could be that the vibration from the shutter is causing the softness. Consider mirror lock up or delay if you have that option. This allows the mirror to flip out of the way, vibration to settle down, and then the shutter is actuated.
3. Did you use the self timer or remote or did you push the shutter release? If you pushed the shutter release, you moved the camera when you did it...even if only slightly.
4. If you weren't in manual, when you set your ISO to 100, your camera probably automatically picked the largest aperture it could. A lens is not usually at it's sharpest wide open.

My guess is your soft results are a combination of all 4. Hope you get better results next time.

 

[GreatPhotoRace]

As a poster mentioned above, read up on exposure.

Here's a quick guide:

Higher ISO -> Sensor/Film more sensitive to light, therefore higher exposure
Faster shutter speeds -> Less time sensor is exposed to light, therefore lower exposure
Larger Fstop -> Smaller the opening in which light is allowed to enter, therefore lower exposure

To shoot in places with low light, you will need to increase the exposure, generally you want to:

- Increase the ISO (side-result: more noise the higher the ISO)
- Slower shutter speeds (side-result: motion blur) *be warned anything slower than 1/60 is hard to do handheld
- Lower f-stop (side-result: more shallow DOF)

Depending on what your goals are in shooting the photo, you will need to balance/adjust those three things. Play around in manual mode and you'll soon get a feel for it!

HTH.

-GPR