s230 focus!

[Yongy]

i've been using my s230 for quite a while now, althoguh when i use the flash the color is really bright in the front and dark in the back...should i shoot auto, or manual. When shooting manual i turn of the flash for more realistic color but the picture goes blurry. Should i be shooting with ISO set to auto or 50? i'm just so confused. all my people pictures turn out blurry...please help!

[khs8]

I use the manual mode to turn off AiAF. Everything else is on, including flash. To shoot a sharp focus, your subject has to be inside the centre box on the screen. If you want to shoot where the subject is off centre, you need to pre-focus by holding the shoot button half way down to allow the camera to focus on the subject that you want, and then move your camera (still holding half way down the shoot button) to the scene you desire and then press the button to complete the shot. Another way of doing it is to lock the focus after you pre-focus and then move the camera and shoot as normal. The AiAf is good for most situation if you do not want to go through the pre-focus routine, also, AiAF is ok if your subject is centred or close to centre. You can actually see from the AiAF screen to see if your subject is within the boxes, if it is then it is in focus. I prefer to use manual pre-focus, as the file size is much smaller than AiAF, but I do not understand why the AiAF file size is so much larger.