Help with flash off

I have a canon a80 and really like it since I bought it last year. I would
like to know if someone can tell me why the camera takes unfocused shots
when I shut the flash off? In daylight and within range I am very happy,
but when I am shooting at a lighted stage, daughters play, the picture comes
out dark with the flash, obviously too far away, but it comes out blurry
with it off.

I get the camera shake icon and the pictures don't come out. I have tried
playing around with the other options and it seems whenever I shut the flash
off this happens.

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Wingman wrote:
I have a canon a80 and really like it since I bought it last year. I
would like to know if someone can tell me why the camera takes
unfocused shots when I shut the flash off? In daylight and within
range I am very happy, but when I am shooting at a lighted stage,
daughters play, the picture comes out dark with the flash, obviously
too far away, but it comes out blurry with it off.

I get the camera shake icon and the pictures don't come out. I have
tried playing around with the other options and it seems whenever I
shut the flash off this happens.

Any help would be great.

Thanks,

Without the flash the camera is sensing that there is not enough light
to give a proper exposure without using a slow shutter speed. The blurry
effect is caused by the camera movement. Likely you are using the zoom on
telephoto which just makes matters worse. The only answer is holding the
camera very steady (tripod?) and or spending some big dollars for some
special equipment that can handle those situations better.

--
Joseph Meehan

Dia duit

This depends on whether you are getting "blurred" shots or "unfocussed"
shots. Blurred shots are likely from camera shake resulting in the longer
exposure times required in low light, unfocussed shots are due to the
camera's inability to assess the correct focus range due to the low light.
Shooting with a wider angle on the zoom lens will help, as will (if
controllable) shooting with a smaller aperture as these will both increase
the depth of field and therefore give greater margin for error. Shooting
with a smaller aperture will require yet longer exposures and so wouldn't
gain anything, of course g. Image blur is solved by shorter exposure times
(not a solution here) or steadying the camera on a tripod, monopod or other
handy support (chair back, etc.).

Shooting with wider angle and then cropping the shot on the PC may give
acceptable results but I doubt they would print at better than 6" x 4".

I take it the camera doesn't have a low-light focussing lamp? Some do and
this would help in this case.

--
Paul ============}
o o

// Live fast, die old //
PaulsPages are at http://homepage.ntlworld.com/pcbradley/

In article ,
Pb wrote:

gain anything, of course g. Image blur is solved by shorter exposure times
(not a solution here)

It might be a possibility, if the OP isn't familiar with the ISO setting
or other features of the Powershot.

Are you pressing the button halfway down while framing your shot?

Do you have AiAF turned on in the options? Also the AF assist beam?
My A85 has given me some surprisingly fine natural light exposures.

Wingman wrote:
: I have a canon a80 and really like it since I bought it last year. I
: would like to know if someone can tell me why the camera takes
: unfocused shots when I shut the flash off? In daylight and within
: range I am very happy, but when I am shooting at a lighted stage,
: daughters play, the picture comes out dark with the flash, obviously
: too far away, but it comes out blurry with it off.

: I get the camera shake icon and the pictures don't come out. I have
: tried playing around with the other options and it seems whenever I
: shut the flash off this happens.

: Any help would be great.

: Thanks,

Many cameras lock the shutter speed to a set "flash" speed (like 1/125th)
when the flash is turned on. That speed will stop the motion of the
movement on the stage as well as the movement of your hands holding the
camera. But since a flash will only properly lluminate a subject up to
about 10' (some variation between camera/flash unit combinations will
modify this distance) so the "with flash" photos are assuming the flash
will light the subject and it doesn't (as you surmised). But with the
flash off the camera will read the light level and adjust the shutter
speed to compensate. When the shutter speed is slow enough that camera
shake will be likely the "shake alert" icon is shown. There are a few
things that may effect this. First a faster ISO number (larger number)
will allow the shutter speed to get faster. Also using a stable surface
(such as a tripod) will reduce the camera shake, tho it will still blur
any subject in motion. One other concideration. If you have the choice,
set your camera to "spot metering". In stage lighting, most of the time,
the actors will be adequately lit for ambient light photos, but with a
dark background, the camera will average the whole mess together and slow
the shutter even more to try to bring out the background. This will
aggrivate the movement issues and the brighter objects in the photo (such
as actors faces) will bloom with too much light.

If you will be taking lots of photos of stage shows (or similar lighting
conditions) you may want to look into a camera or lens combination that
will give you the best low light capabilities possible. In general the
lower the number of the lowest f-stop of the lens (on an SLR) will be a
good indication. Also the larger the front element of a lens the more
light it will gather. Small point and shoot cameras are not really
recommended for tricky lighting situations.

JMHO

Randy

==========
Randy Berbaum
Champaign, IL