New--something is wrong--can you help?

I have had my G5 camera for 20 months now. In the last few months, I have been getting slightly blurry pictures. This wasn't a problem before and I am holding the camera still. This is true whether the subject is moving (like my 18 month old twins) or not (like a test picture of a lamp!). I am discouraged and confused. Any thoughts or help (please)?
Rachelle

Is there any chance that you may have smeared something on the lens? If that isn't it, what shutterspeed are you shooting at?

clean your lens and make sure that the sharpness setting (if your camera has one) is set correctly

Dear sbgrace,

You must examine the blurry pictures for the characteristics of the blurring.

There are at least three different types of blurring - determination of which type will directly disclose the cause, as follows:

1) Motion blur. This shows up as a noticeable streaking along a particular line, rather than random. It will appear as if the camera or the scene is moving in a particular direction. Cause is motion of camera coupled with too slow shutter.

2) Focus blur. This shows up as everything is blurry (fuzzy) without any streaking. Some areas may be more blurred than others. Cause is a focus error. Perhaps due to faulty auto-focussing mechanism or possibly due to focussing manually in error, or not enough light for the auto-focussing mechanism to work. Also possibly due to lens elements becoming separated from one another due to severe shock.

3) Blur from foreign material stuck on lens. This shows up more as a distortion rather than blur when caused by significant amounts of viscous material on lens. Very unlikely that this would be present without noticing. Large particles on the lens surface might also cause this, but again, unlikely that the operator would not be aware of it.

Ok, I think I figured out two possibilities. First, I turned the flash off because I didn't like how it washed things out. The camera compensated with a lower shutter speed...blurry pictures. I guess I will look into getting a flash attachment and maybe a diffuser. Then the autofucus was/is having issues with focusing on one or the other of the boys. I guess I'll mess with the AV value so I get a better depth of field. Maybe first try just taking off the autofocus. Finally, I think this camera just can't take motion in the subjects. I am going to try messing with the TV setting for that maybe??
Rachelle

When I take pictures of people that are not sitting very still for me (candids), I try to never use a shutterspeed less than 1/250s. If they are posed pictures where the subject is being cooperative I can go much lower.

I would think that you wouldn't want to use manual focus for 99% of your shots. If you are having problems with the autofocus it is most likely a technique problem and not a problem with the camera.

With the G5 (and most digital cams) you have to be aware of where the AF point is. So if you selected the middle point and wanted to focus on something that wasn't in the center you need to:

a. Place the subject in the middle of the viewfinder
b. Half press the shutter to focus
c. Recompose the picture with the shutter still half pressed
d. Press the shutter the rest of the way to take the image

Example:

If you have your two boys in the frame side by side, and you were taking a picture of them with the center of the frame (with center AF point) covering something in the background ... then the background would be what is in focus, not the boys. Instead you would have to first focus on one of your boys, then recompose to get both of them in the frame before releasing the shutter.

You also need to press the shutter smoothly, not jab it with your finger, or else the camera will shake and you will get a blurry picture.

I also wonder if by turning off your flash you turned off the AF assist beam which would make it more difficuslt for the camera to focus in low light situations.

Dear Rachelle,

Please forgive me if I misinterpret what you are saying about Tv and Av. You should realize that these two modes are mutually exclusive - i.e., you cannot set values in Av and then set values in Tv and expect both of your settings to be maintained. You must pick one of the modes and do everything within that mode. That being the case, you must decide upon having the greater depth of field OR the faster shutter speed - the two parameters work against one another. That is, greater depth of field requires stopping down the lens more while a faster shutter speed will require opening up the lens more. You can't have your cake and eat it, too!

In my opinion you should probably use mode Tv, set the shutter speed for 1/125 or 1/250 (whatever it takes to stop the motion) and live with the fact that the lens will automatically go to f/2.0 (wide open) AND the auto ISO setting will probably go right to ISO 400, which will cause some degradation of the image in the shadows due to noise.

Good luck!