Focus problem with a A710IS

[falco57]

Hello Everyone,
I have a focus problem with my A710IS. Often I get sharp images but many times images are not as sharp. Even when I use the Auto setting with flash on. I have problems specially when I try to zoom in. The quality of the digital zoom seems very poor. I am not very technical but I know that the little camera has great qualities. What am I doing wrong? I would appreciate any help from many of you experts!
Thank you.

[pridash]

First of all, try and avoid the AUTO mode as often the picture won't turn out the way you want it to turn out. I believe the camera takes an "average" of what it sees so it can appear quite bad. Having said that on many occasions it can take reasonably good pcictures and is handy if you haven't got the time to set up the camera properly to get an impromptu shot. Try using AV and TV mode and learn from experimenting.

Zooming and trying to focus can be problem, especially if you have shaky hands, so try to keep the cam as steady as poss or even use a tripod. That should help you to get better shots.

As regards digital zoom - avoid it like the plague! Image quality is seriously degraded when zooming digitally. Unless you're trying to capture a once-in-a-lifetime shot at a long distance and would be happy with "a picture" as opposed to "no picture" then stick with the optical zoom!

[falco57]

thank you very much for your recommendations and suggestions!!! I'll start working on practising right away ;)