Oly C-725 superzoom... HELP!

For my sins I recently purchased this cam in a sale BEFORE I read some
user's reports that it had a few flaws. It can take some beautiful
pics but too many have things wrong. I wanted the convenience of a
point and shoot but with some setting I could start to use myself,
having previously owned and been happy with a smaller but fully auto
c-220. I was also attracted by that 8X zoom!

So, I heard about the awful chromatic aberration, but wasn't prepared
for just how bad it can be sometimes. But it's those blurry shots. any
movement at all is likely to cause blurring and as I have quite bad
shakes the movement can often be me. Oh yeah, the flash is too damned
powerful too, which can be a real pain.

Anyway, what I have, basically, is a camera which doesn't like auto
settings, often causing over-exposure aswell as the blurring, so I am
trying hard to get the hang of using the manual settings. Sometimes i
get it spot on, but often I just don't have the time to experiment
and/or am just too tired and muddle headed.

What I would really like, if anyone can be so kind, are some pointers
of reasonable settings for certain conditions. I've tried books but
the few I have tried seem to assume some knowledge, or they point to
settings this camera just doesn't want to do. BTW, the focus is full
auto! :O(
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Cam has 1/2.5" CCD

Lens is 6.4mm to 51.22mm f2.8 to 3.4

ISO 100 200 & 400 (2 and 4 hundred VERY noisy)

Has esp or spot meter but the spot seems to be linked to the focus
lock... There is an AE lock, plus exposure compensation +/-2.0 in 1/3
steps

aperture W f2.8 to f7.1
T f3.4 to f7.1

shutter speed 1/2 to 1/1000 sex
M mode 8 to 1000 or when night flash is used 2 to 1/1000
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so, if someone could help with useful settings (I know they might not
be precise, I would just like a guide) for

Indoor family pics (kids playing etc)

outdoor family pics (sunny and gloomy, I live in England!)

outdoor lansdscape/buildings etc (has a lot of trouble focusing on
clouds, specially in low light)

and lastly low light or even night time photography. (Once again it
really doesn't seem to like this, focusing is hard)
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Apart from the bad shakes I recently bought a monopod only to find
that my body kind of jerks, or even judders. It might only be a small
movement but obviously isn't good if I can see it happening on the
monopod. I have a tripod but obviously that's not much good in
situations like kids at play, though it will come in useful for set
pieces or night shots.
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As you can see, I need a lot of help and if I could afford it I'd love
to dump the thing in the bin and buy something more friendly, but I
can't, so any small pointers people can give, I'd be most grateful...


thanks so much.
--
Paul (And I'm, like, "yeah, whatever!")
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Stop and Look
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