Blurry pictures all the time

I have a canon S2 IS. i previously had a canon that didn't have much of a zoom and when it died i was heartbroken. i did a lot of research before buying this one and paid full retail price for it. however, i just hate it! i have had it almost a year now and it is okay for outside shots, and the 12x zoom seems to work fine. however, i cannot take anything inside or at fairly close range. i can't take pix of my dog for instance. everything i take at closer than say 30 or 40 feet comes out blurred. i have the stabilization thing turned on, but that does not work at all from what i can tell. if i take a picture inside my house, which has a lot of light, of my dog or cat at say 10 feet, whether i use any zoom or not, it is blurred. it is so bad that i don't even use it anymore and i am thinking about just giving it away. i tried manually changing the shutter speed but then i need to use the flash for everything and i should not have to do that. plus the red eye thing doesn't work from what i can tell. i am so totally frustrated. it may very well be some obscure setting i don't know about but i have tried everything! i have tried using the portrait setting as well as the macro setting and nothing seems to help. if anyone has any suggestions at all it will really be appreciated.

A photo with exif data will go a long way toward diagnosing your problem.
Your house may look like it has a lot of light but in reality it's pretty dark to film or a sensor in a camera. Your pictures are probably blurred due to your movement or your subjects movement. You will need to use flash quite a bit indoors.

If you've had it less than a year now you might want to send it in to Canon for them to check it out. My Dad went through 2 S3's before getting one that focused properly.
I've had my S2 well over a year now and have never had a blur problem that wasn't enviroment or user based.

i can relate to you ... my first experience with S3 was also like that until I learn the following:

for close distance u ccanot use zoom normally .. please use macro or super macro depending distance ... check manual ...

learn to use manual focus...

you may need higher ISO if you do not have good lighting ....

Slow shutter speed and insufficient light are the primary culprits of blurry pictures. And high ISO is not the answer, ISO 200 gets noisy, and ISO 400 gets REAL noisy - bitter experience with my S2 talking here. Indoors, you'll almost always need the flash. The IS will only give you around a 2 stop advantage indoors without flash, and that is probably not enough at low ISO.

You might want to read this ...

http://homepage.mac.co​m …3settings/s3set​tings.html

the best settings for S3.

All the best to you ...

Good luck

AL

Alexson that website is very helpful!!!!

Perhaps try using a tripod & set it on timer will help. This is provided that the camera is working properly.