Blurry indoor photos with IXUS 400 ?! :?

[Ewan P]

Hello there,

Well I'm very glad I came across this forum! Hopefully it will help out with a small issue my girlfirend has been having with her Canon IXUS 400.

Now neither of us are particularly adept wth digital cameras, so the solution to this may well be (in your eyes at least) obvious. Basically, when attempting to take photos indoors in low light conditions, we can never seem to get the focus right without using the flash. It always comes out very blurry, especially when shooting objects/people from a distance. Does this have something to do with exposure time? Can anyone offer any advice, solutions, links to tutorials etc?

Many thanks for all your help, looking forward to trying to sort this out!

Ewan :)

[S45_fornow...]

Is she using the Auto or Manual mode for taking pics? You might try disabling the AiAF focussing and make sure the the focus assist lamp on the camera is enabled as well. FYI, I always use the flash indoors since most of my indoor shots are of people and not static objects.

[stopbath]

Sounds like camera shake problem. Could also be poor focus due to low light levels too.

In low light without flash, support the camera on a table, back of chair, tripod, wall, or some other steady support as holding the camera alone will not be stable enough for a low light photograph to end up being as sharp as it could.

Since the camera needs a certain amount of light to focus, and it needs contrast in the subject, when shooting low light, try to put a pattern in the focus area of the camera. If it can't 'catch' a focus on one section, try another of the same distance... (If it won't focus on the eyes, try the mouth, if not try the collar.) If you just can't confirm focus, use manual focus if your camera supports it.

[Mac22]

Do you have your AF-assist Beam set to ON?

Might help -- couldn't hurt.

Another method to try is light subject with a flashlight, obtain focus lock holding the shutter @ halfway, shut off the flashlight and shoot the pic.

Good luck!

Mac22