S230 and shutter speed

[bclarke]

I am new to digital photography and recently purchased a S230 camera. I had a question regarding the shutter speed on the camera. As far as I can tell, there is no way to adjust the shutter speed on the camera and it seems to automatically vary the speed. When I look at the properties of my photos in the browser, the shutter speed varies between 1/60 and 1/8 using full auto mode. A couple questions:
- what parameters does the auto mode use to determine the shutter speed to use.
- is there a way to force the camera to a faster shutter speed ( I have some speedy kids that I want to take pictures of without so much blur). I have tried playing around with manual mode, ISO etc. but can come up with a consistent formula
- my pictures in manual mode seem to be more blurry and out of focus than auto mode. I have tried all kinds of different settings, but nothing seems to make them better. Any suggestions. Thanks.

[JohnMN]

Read your posting about shutter speeds and wish to contribute the following. Shutter speeds are normally used for capturing fast action without any blur. A setting of 1/60 sec is fast enough for most everyday photography. Sports, racing cars, horses racing etc can all benefit from fast shutters ranging from 1/250 to 1/1000 sec. I own a Powershot A40 and the shutter speed can be adjusted in Manual mode. You will also notice that the image on the lcd will either get darker or brighter depending on whether you use a fast or slow shutter speed. A setting of 1/100 or 1/250 should get your kids captured sharply but make sure you have plenty of light as this is a problem when you get faster with the speeds. Leave the ISO settings as they are.

JohnMN

[mike49]

Hi,

there are 2 ways of forcing faster shutter speeds on your S230:

1. Higher Iso Speeds
2. Negative Exposure Compensation.

Both directly lead to faster shutter speeds, BUT:

1. gives you higher noise in your pictures
2. will lead to an underexposed picture.

But there are situations in which both settings can be quite useful, like with your kids for example. Just give it a try !