My camera sucks

[BendtheBar]

So I bought an expensive digital camera last year and the indoor pics are horrible.

See below.

There are limited settings for the camera's software, and no matter what I have it on I get blur and crap quality.

Any suggestions? This is the camera:

Amazon.com: Kodak Easyshare M530 12 MP Digital Camera with 3x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Red): Camera & Photo

Amazon.com: Kodak Easyshare M530 12 MP Digital Camera with 3x Wide Angle Optical Zoom and 2.7-Inch LCD (Red): Camera & Photo

[BendtheBar]

Just read reviews and the blur and lighting are issues with my model

[Tannhauser]

I don't know much about photography, but two suggestions:

1.Is it possible to put your camera onto a high ISO setting? Most digital cameras probably adjust this automatically, but it might be worth having a little play. AN ISO of 1600, say, might reduce the blur/camera shake, though at the expense of detail and an increased graininess.

2. How are you holding the camera? I can never get indoor pics worth a damn without having the camera resting on something. One of those little bendy tripods is great, but a table or back of a sofa can help. Even leaning against something can sometimes help.

[5kgLifter]

Originally Posted by Tannhauser

2. How are you holding the camera? I can never get indoor pics worth a damn without having the camera resting on something. One of those little bendy tripods is great, but a table or back of a sofa can help. Even leaning against something can sometimes help.

Yeah, that's a big problem with cameras, the smaller camera, the more fiddly it is to get a stable base...with the larger lens cameras, place one hand under and around the lens, one hand around the body (side), and jam the elbows against the body to stabilise it completely. That should help with blur, if it's through movement.

[begota]

Originally Posted by Tannhauser

I don't know much about photography, but two suggestions:

1.Is it possible to put your camera onto a high ISO setting? Most digital cameras probably adjust this automatically, but it might be worth having a little play. AN ISO of 1600, say, might reduce the blur/camera shake, though at the expense of detail and an increased graininess.

2. How are you holding the camera? I can never get indoor pics worth a damn without having the camera resting on something. One of those little bendy tripods is great, but a table or back of a sofa can help. Even leaning against something can sometimes help.

Absolutely agree with all of this. Also I crank down the amount of mega-pixels if it is too much for the sensor. Which is often the case with digital cameras in the 10-12 mega-pixel range. Low light conditions can cause big problems with digital cameras, and turning the ISO up can increase shutter speed, but because it amplifies the pixels on the sensor it also increases noise.

[Tannhauser]

Steve, coincidentally, Mrs T took a bunch of family photos over the Christmas and it's the same story. They are all blurred, grainy or both. Very disappointing. She took them with my Panasonic Lumix which is a capable little compact.

I just looked at how the camera was set up (right click thumbnail of the image in windows, select properties, go to 'detail' tab). Sure enough, on the worst ones, the shutter speed was 1/4 of a second, which almost guarantees camera shake, The ISO was at 1000 as the camera tried to cope with low light. The culprit was simply that I'd left the camera in compulsory 'no flash' setting (the details tab also shows this). Sue thought that the flash was going off, but it wasn't. Even though the camera was in intelligent auto mode, this doesn't override the 'no flash' setting.

It does look to me from the pic you posted as if the flash either hasn't gone off at all, or hasn't been effective in providing enough light.

The other thing that occurs to me is that many digital cameras really struggle to autofocus if light levels are low. That might also account for blurriness, and there's not much you can do about that one.