Help needed for fuzzy problem

[hawk2]

I recently got back from Cuba it was my first trip to a warm place so i whent out and baught a new digital camera. when i returned and looked at them on the computer many of them were fuzzy. This is very disapointing but i would like to know what I did wrong so i can do better the next time. here are some samples of how many pictures turned out.

i wasnt moving for this picture so im wondering what happened.

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but then it can take immages like this one!

Please help if you can, I would realy apreciate any help you could give.

 

[alcina]

It looks to me like camera shake - a shutter speed that is too slow. I'm guessing these were shot on auto or similar and the camera decided it needed more light and chose a shutter speed slower than 1/100...probably 1/60 or even slower...

If you go to the original photo in your Windows explorer and right click the image you will get a Properties menu. You want the Advanced Tab. In there it will tell you what your shutter speed 1/30, 1/160 etc. If you can let us know what it was set at and which mode you used we can offer more suggestions.

To get you started, switch to manual mode or at least shutter priortiy and set the shutter at 1/100 or 1/125 - this should stop the shakies. HTH

 

[hawk2]

I whent into prperties like you told me to but it doesnt say anything about shutter speed.

Here is a screan shot of what it looks like when I do what you wanted.

 

[Land Locked]

Cool, thanks, you learn something new every day!
Go to summary, advanced.

 

[dbh]

Here is freeware. Install it and open your original pic with it and it will tell you EVERYTHING:

EXIF Reader

This is a whole other discussion: when a DM (or anyone else) touches ANYTHING underwater, not only will I not take a pic of it, I will swim away! Don't encourage them by taking pics when they do that. Don't tip them....and tell them why!

Rant off!

Dave

 

[hawk2]

Im a newb diver so i might not have as much info as you, but all he did was hold out his hand and it crawled up onto it and then he held it out for others to look at... shure it jumped on another diver after that scaring her to death but wasnt his fault lol. That was the one and only thing he picked up, and it came to no harm, so why is tht bad?
That guy Bill has bean diving almost his whole life in that area, hell he defogs his mask with a type of seaweed.


The summery advanced on mine says nothing at all.
thanks for the exif freeware here is what it said....

This is for the first image, do you want the others listed too?

 

[dbh]

My advice is for the underwater shots. I suck as a topside photographer . Like Kristin said, your shutter speed is way low....1/30 of a second. If you have manual control, shoot 1/125 (as a starting point) for wide angle and 1/250 (as a starting point) for macro.

Also, the blue cast in your pictures is caused by not being close enough for your strobe / internal flash to light your subject. With an internal flash, you won't light anything farther than 12"...18" Max. With a good external strobe you can go 4' - 5'.

HTH,
Dave

 

[Charlie99]

My guess is that your camera is slow at autofocus. The majority of point and shoot cameras will start to autofocus when you press the shutter halfway down, and will also have some autofocus lock-on indicator such as a green LED. My Olympus Stylus, for example will flash the green LED when trying to autofocus, and solid green when locked.

If you just press the shutter all the way in one press, it will try to lock for a second or so, then just take the photo whether or not it is focussed.

The easiest way to play around with this is to simply take some photos of a textured surface like a rug or a plaster wall while paying attention to your focus lock indicator. You might have to download to your computer to really see how good the focus is, since the LCD on most cameras doesn't have very good resolution.

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The problem might be camera shake and slow shutter, but of the photos you posted, only the one of the spider crab has high contrast near the center of the photo, which is generally what is used for autofocus on cheaper cameras. Since it is the only one with sharp focus, it strengthens my suspicion that it's an autofocus problem.



When using your camera underwater, sometimes it is useful to first lock the focus (and exposure) on a stationary object like some coral, then shift the camera over to the moving fish at about the same distance.

 

[alcina]

Hawk2 - Thanks for the data. As dbh said, that shutter is too slow. It's the main problem when shooting in program or auto mode. I can't remember if the Sea Life cameras have the manual mode, but if they do, switch over - with a little practice it will dramatically improve your keeper rate. There are several threads with great tips in the forums - try the Getting Started thread that is stickied and there is another one about the Canon A series in the Canon Corner - the info will apply to any camera, more or less.

Also have a good look at Charlie's advice - using that half press to lock your focus is a very good thing. It also can force you to slow down a little and really look at what you are shooting - this will also help with the photos.

It would be nice to see the shutter/aperture for the remaining photos, but I'm pretty confident that upping your shutter is going to get rid of that blur.

 

[gert7to3]

I think you have autofocus, camera shake and slow shutter speed issues occurring in combination through the picture set you posted. Charlie99's advice about halfway depressing your shutter release and pausing until you achieve focus will help alot.

The first picture looks like a slow shutter speed problem.

The second picture is likely a combination of focus lock and camera shake. Everything is blurry and no part of the picture was at infinity. The lighting is similar to the lighting in the last two pictures, where shutter speed was probably good because the light was bright.

The third picture has good focus in the lower right quadrant. I would call this one strictly a focus lock issue. The camera was still focused at infinity when you tripped the shutter.

In the fourth picture, you paused long enough for good focus, with enough light to result in a higher shutter speed. Your subject here was also relatively static. Focusing on moving fish is difficult.