My S400 won't focus

[Dancermom]

Just got this camera from Amazon. Read the book, tried some pics in the default setting indoors. It won't take the pic. Tried changing some settings, still no luck. The light just flashes orange. Is it me, or the camera? I was able to take a pic by aiming out the window, but nothing indoors, even with the flash on auto. I bought this mainly to take pics for Ebay since I heard the macro is good.

[CyberDyneSystems]

I don't recall off hand how to do,. but got one of these little guys a while back,. and the first thing I had to do to make the camera even remotely usable was to set it to use just the one center Auto Focus point.

It's in the menu somewhere,. check you manual,... it helps a lot!

[Tom W]

If the upper light is blinking orange, it indicates "ready to shoot" but with a camera shake warning.

If the lower light is blinking yellow (which could be mistaken for orange), it indicates difficulty in focusing.

Check that auto-focus assist beam is on, and that AiAF is off (it should work either way, but with AiAF off, it will consider the center of the picture only when focusing).

Make sure you are giving it enough time to focus and shoot. In really dim areas, mine sometimes takes a second or a little more to focus.

Other ideas:

Check that your battery is fully charged - it may not have enough charge left to prepare the flash.

Make sure you're not in the "infinity" mode (designated by an image of a mountain along the top of the LCD screen) or the "macro" mode (image of a flower on screen) unless you're shooting within macro range.

Try a higher ISO setting. The default is 50, and that does limit your flash range quite a bit.

Long shutter should be off.

white balance auto

[Dancermom]

I found directions in the manual about how to set the AutoFocus from AiAF setting (nine frames), to the center AF frame. Still won't work. Any other suggestions, before I send it back? Guess I will keep using my Coolpix 950. It washes out my doll faces, but at least I can get it to take a picture!

[S45_fornow...]

Sounds like the flash is turned off...

[Dancermom]

Nope, flash is on. Thanks for trying, Tom. I tried your suggestions, no go. When I tried moving further back from the object, I got a steady orange light on top, but still no picture. At least the camera didn't think it was being shaken anymore. I think maybe this is just a bad one. It shouldn't be this hard to take a picture! Diana

[Tom W]

One last thing to check, Diane. Rotate the auto/manual/stitch knob a couple of times and make sure its on either auto or manual. I occasionally bump mine when I place it into or pull it out of my case.

[platinumdoc]

I hope you got your camera to work since I just ordered the same thing from the same company.... :lol:

[Tom W]

I hope you got your camera to work since I just ordered the same thing from the same company.... :lol:

I think that she got a defective one - Amazon will exchange - they are reputable. I'm happy with mine. I hope that Diana's situation is rare.

[benson304]

Make sure you are pressing the button all the way down.

Never know. ;)