c-770 has problems im low light as S1? please help me

hi i saw lots of canon S1 owners complaining about problems to focus in low light, big shutter lag (looking for focus) and many times the photo doesnt look as sharp as it shoul be (focus not optimal)

well what i really want to know is if the olympus c-770 has this problems or if it focus fast and well in low light conditions. (it has assist lamp or something to help focus)

if any c-770 can help me fast i would appreciate, cause i may buy this camera probably today. and that was thw reason i didnt buy the s1

by the way yje c-770 doesnt has IS as the Canon, what about doing movies or even shoting at full lenght what about the "stabilization" is it ok

thanks you a lot

Hi there,

rirdis said:

hi i saw lots of canon S1 owners complaining about problems to
focus in low light, big shutter lag (looking for focus) and many
times the photo doesnt look as sharp as it shoul be (focus not
optimal)

well what i really want to know is if the olympus c-770 has this
problems or if it focus fast and well in low light conditions. (it
has assist lamp or something to help focus)

Click to expand...

No focus assist lamp, most consumer digicams suffer low light focus trouble, especially with long lenses. The 770 is not an exception. When it does find focus it is sharp, but then the shutter is so slow in low light that you get motion blur. I use external flash and shoot manual for faster shutter and low ISO. Nice sharp indoor pics. The hot shoe is a must have IMHO. You may want to have a look at the Panasonic FZ20. The lens is fast right across the zoom range, but it is big. Some shops here in australia won't sell it as backup is very poor.

rirdis said:

if any c-770 can help me fast i would appreciate, cause i may buy
this camera probably today. and that was thw reason i didnt buy the
s1

by the way yje c-770 doesnt has IS as the Canon, what about doing
movies or even shoting at full lenght what about the
"stabilization" is it ok

Click to expand...

No IS on 770. Movies good. Full zoom great in good light but low light and longer shutter again causes motion blur. The camera compensates by pushing ISO higher when sensing movement but then you get noise.
Using the external flash was the only way to get good indoors images for me.

Most of the time my 770 will find focus, it is the motion blur that people are mistaking for poor focus. IS will only help you a little from what I have read. If getting trouble with focus, you can turn camera to portrait position, get lock then turn back whilst holding lock, then shoot. The camera reads vertical contrast for focus lock.

If you will shoot indoors mostly, do not get a big zoom as it slows the camera down. I would likely look at the Richo Caplio Wide for this. 4x zoom and wide angle plus very fast power up and shoot time.
Hope this is helpfull : )

rirdis said:

thanks you a lot

Click to expand...

--
Rob, with Oly c770uz

rirdis said:

Experiment and learn, have fun with it.

Click to expand...

I dont know about the 770's focus problems, but have you considered a panasonic FZ-3 / FZ-15 / FZ-20, they are some very nice cameras and would be my recommendation for an UZ camera at this point in time

Ps. i own a c-750 1 generation down from the 770 and its not a fast focuser in low light, and nor is my friends c-765

Cheers, Nik

rirdis said:

hi i saw lots of canon S1 owners complaining about problems to
focus in low light, big shutter lag (looking for focus) and many
times the photo doesnt look as sharp as it shoul be (focus not
optimal)

well what i really want to know is if the olympus c-770 has this
problems or if it focus fast and well in low light conditions. (it
has assist lamp or something to help focus)

if any c-770 can help me fast i would appreciate, cause i may buy
this camera probably today. and that was thw reason i didnt buy the
s1

by the way yje c-770 doesnt has IS as the Canon, what about doing
movies or even shoting at full lenght what about the
"stabilization" is it ok

thanks you a lot

Click to expand...

--
And Trogdor smote The Kerrek, and all was laid to burnination

exylympus wrote:
No focus assist lamp, most consumer digicams suffer low light focus
trouble, especially with long lenses. The 770 is not an exception.
When it does find focus it is sharp, but then the shutter is so
slow in low light that you get motion blur. I use external flash
and shoot manual for faster shutter and low ISO. Nice sharp indoor
pics. The hot shoe is a must have IMHO.

Well i didnt explain very well, i will not use the zoom in low light, but as i have kids i often take pictures in parties, at home, i sometimes uses the A85 of my sister and i hate the shutter lag, on low light, no zoom just point and shoot, she uses to press once all the botton, then the red light begins to blink(i think finding focus) ant it takes 3, 4 or 5 seconds to take the picture, it annoys me a lot, my concern in low light is of people photo with flash, kids or small groups i dont want they to stay smiling for me for 5 seconds understand, no zoom at all, the c770 has this problem?.

No IS on 770. Movies good. Full zoom great in good light but low
light and longer shutter again causes motion blur. The camera
compensates by pushing ISO higher when sensing movement but then
you get noise.
Using the external flash was the only way to get good indoors
images for me.

indoors with zoom? or without zoom is not good also? by the way i have a sony ss-18 flash an very very old model i used toi have on a non digicam, can i use it?

Most of the time my 770 will find focus, it is the motion blur that
people are mistaking for poor focus. IS will only help you a little
from what I have read. If getting trouble with focus, you can turn
camera to portrait position, get lock then turn back whilst holding
lock, then shoot. The camera reads vertical contrast for focus lock.
If you will shoot indoors mostly, do not get a big zoom as it slows
the camera down.

but i can shoot indoors without zoom wouldnt help? bigger aperture, more speed? less shutter lag?

motion blur when you are taking portrait photos i think is very difficult only if the speed is very slow dont you think.

i am really looking of this camera cause i want to make small videos on it

by the way os sd cards they have ULTRA or EXTREME cards, on XD to shot movies theres somithing like that or any XD will do movies smoothly?

waw i am really doing TOO many questions, just one more i am planning in buyins a 512mb card, how long can i shoot a movie with that? i saw theres 640x480 30fps in mpeg4, the others lower resolutions are ok or the image feels worse
thanks very much you are helping me a lot

Hope this is helpfull : )

exylympus said:

exylympus said:

thanks you a lot

Click to expand...

--
Rob, with Oly c770uz

exylympus said:

Experiment and learn, have fun with it.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Niktron said:

I dont know about the 770's focus problems, but have you considered
a panasonic FZ-3 / FZ-15 / FZ-20, they are some very nice cameras
and would be my recommendation for an UZ camera at this point in
time

Ps. i own a c-750 1 generation down from the 770 and its not a fast
focuser in low light, and nor is my friends c-765

Cheers, Nik

Click to expand...

hi i have seen good things about panasonic but i need the C-770 cause i will shot some movies from my kids
thanks anyway

If your primary desire is to shoot movies I recommend a true camcorder. Digital cameras aren't designed to make the kind of movies you'd want to preserve on DVDs. But if you are determined to get a digital camera that takes acceptable movie clips, you might be better off with the Canon S1 IS. 3.2MP instead of the Oly's 4, but the video quality - while still not that of a camcorder - is much better.

rirdis said:

hi i have seen good things about panasonic but i need the C-770
cause i will shot some movies from my kids
thanks anyway

Click to expand...

--
2cats

I have a 770 and was just shooting pictures at my daughter's birthday party last night (17 yrs old I might note) I did shoot some mpeg 4 video with it and it is OK. (I didn't buy it for the video.) The shutter lag sometimes drives me nuts, although I am used to it.

My old point and shoot Fuji 2650 was a better camera in some ways for those candid party shots. Quality was not the same, but it was a bit faster. I missed a photo op last night of my nephew, 2yrs old hugging our dog, due to shutter lag. By the time I grabbed the camera and it focused, he was gone.

For video, I use my Sony TRV-19 DV cam. It was the lower end cam, with a black and white viewfinder (color LCD screen however) and not a lot of other bells and whistles. It shoots great video, even in low light. It can't be beat if video is your goal.

Pear

Like some have said, stick an external flash on a 770 (or 750 like mine) leave the camera set to manual focus set to about 7ft, set aperture to f4, zoom at full wideangle or just a slight zoom (up to about x1.5) dial in all your other favourite options, save it as your only My Mode so these settings are instantly available on the selector wheel and lo and behold you now have the fastest bestest point and shoot for mobile kids and parties ever made! Plus the photo quality will be head and shoulders above true point and shoot cameras if you bounce the flash off the ceiling or wall.

Re movies, some 770 movies I downloaded seemed fine to me, I think some people have had jerkiness problems but I thought that was a player codec problem.

pear52 said:

I have a 770 and was just shooting pictures at my daughter's
birthday party last night (17 yrs old I might note) I did shoot
some mpeg 4 video with it and it is OK. (I didn't buy it for the
video.) The shutter lag sometimes drives me nuts, although I am
used to it.

My old point and shoot Fuji 2650 was a better camera in some ways
for those candid party shots. Quality was not the same, but it was
a bit faster. I missed a photo op last night of my nephew, 2yrs old
hugging our dog, due to shutter lag. By the time I grabbed the
camera and it focused, he was gone.

For video, I use my Sony TRV-19 DV cam. It was the lower end cam,
with a black and white viewfinder (color LCD screen however) and
not a lot of other bells and whistles. It shoots great video, even
in low light. It can't be beat if video is your goal.

Pear

Click to expand...

--
C75OUZ

2cats said:

If your primary desire is to shoot movies I recommend a true
camcorder. Digital cameras aren't designed to make the kind of
movies you'd want to preserve on DVDs. But if you are determined to
get a digital camera that takes acceptable movie clips, you might
be better off with the Canon S1 IS. 3.2MP instead of the Oly's 4,
but the video quality - while still not that of a camcorder - is
much better.

2cats

Click to expand...

hi my primary desire is photo not movies, and movies can be in svcd only for memories of my kids just that not perfect image/sound

in the beggining i was thinking about the S1 but
1- i saw lots os people complaining about focusing in low light

2- i must use MS PRO , well MS is expensive, PRO more expensive and here in Brasil prices are even higher

3- in S1 1Gb card shots about 10 minutes, in Oly 1Gb shots more than an hour in Mpeg4

i saw a sample movie for the S1, excelente, but for the reasons above i think the oly would be a better idea, and i will do movie 1 time a month or less than that
thanks for your help

pear52 said:

pear52 said:

. I missed a photo op last night of my nephew, 2yrs old

Click to expand...

hugging our dog, due to shutter lag. By the time I grabbed the
camera and it focused, he was gone.
Pear

Click to expand...

the cam was off? on christmas my sister took her A85 and i played like "wally" do you know? well when i saw she was going to shoot a photo i wait to see her pressing the button full down, then the camera beggins to blink red (finding photo) wait more than ran and get in the photo, man i am sure this time is more than 5 seconds and it was 5 seconds after she pressed the button, i hate it i (wheres the wally?) was on every photo she takes even if i was 10 steps away from her, thats not shutter lag, thats "i cant shoot anything LAG" is oly like this?

pear52 said:

I have a 770 and was just shooting pictures at my daughter's
birthday party last night (17 yrs old I might note) I did shoot
some mpeg 4 video with it and it is OK. (I didn't buy it for the
video.) The shutter lag sometimes drives me nuts, although I am
used to it.

Click to expand...

if you dont mind or wont cause any problem could you send to my email a short part of this clip, about 15 or 30 seconds? cause over the net the movie samples you cant find from people ita always animals, cars, boats and i woul like to see the face of the people whats the quality, well my email is [email protected] i would be very glad if you could do this thanks anyway

the shutter lag do you think is a problem? i saw someone that puts a small aperture and the focus about 2-3 meters then when he shoots small groups at home is always on focus, lesser (wow is it a new word i invented in english? or its right?) shutter lags

For video, I use my Sony TRV-19 DV cam. It was the lower end cam,

pear52 said:

with a black and white viewfinder (color LCD screen however) and
not a lot of other bells and whistles. It shoots great video, even
in low light. It can't be beat if video is your goal.

Click to expand...

i have a JVC gr-d30 but i want a easier thing the same equip to shot photos and movies i do few movies, imagine me a digicam in one elbow or shoulder (i forgot) the mini-dv on the other one and a son in my arms thats only one word impossible, so i know the cam is better but i really want just ONE piece of equip

SteveB said:

Member said:

Re movies, some 770 movies I downloaded seemed fine to me, I think

Click to expand...

some people have had jerkiness problems but I thought that was a
player codec problem.

Member said:

C75OUZ

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

woudnt be better if i use an aperture above 4 (i dont know the maximum is 8?) to get more depth of field? zoom no necessary

what the hell does it means "Plus the photo quality will be head and shoulders above true point and shoot cameras" my english is not good enough but i understand that the flash MUST have a movable head , by the way can i find cheap flashes for this camera, here in Brasil everything is expensive

thanks a lot

Yes, you can use between f4 and f8, but there will be a reduction of light, this will reduce the maximum range the flash can reach. f4 or f5.6 is all you need for a good depth of field so that manual focus can be used.

Head and shoulders above just means that the quality will be much better.

rirdis said:

SteveB said:

rirdis said:

Re movies, some 770 movies I downloaded seemed fine to me, I think

Click to expand...

some people have had jerkiness problems but I thought that was a
player codec problem.

rirdis said:

C75OUZ

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

woudnt be better if i use an aperture above 4 (i dont know the
maximum is 8?) to get more depth of field? zoom no necessary

what the hell does it means "Plus the photo quality will be head
and shoulders above true point and shoot cameras" my english is not
good enough but i understand that the flash MUST have a
movable head , by the way can i find cheap flashes for this camera,
here in Brasil everything is expensive

thanks a lot

Click to expand...

--
C75OUZ

SteveB said:

Member said:

Head and shoulders above just means that the quality will be much

Click to expand...

better.

--
C75OUZ

Click to expand...

hi thanks

if i do what you said i will have to do manual focus? so ill will spend more time focusing or i have to do it only first time and the others photos just press it cause it will be already "focused?" like i am in a party you know photos are taken usually same distance so i focus first time than i can "lock" focus and in the folowing photos i just point and shoot, is that possible?

rirdis said:

or i have to do it only first time and the others photos just press it cause it will be already "focused?"

Click to expand...

Correct.

rirdis said:

like i am in a party you know photos are taken usually same distance so i focus first time than i can "lock" focus and in the folowing photos i just point and shoot, is that possible?

Click to expand...

That is possible as well. Although in Steve's method, the camera would already be focus locked at 7ft, and using f/4, you would have a very large DOF (see also http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=11589888 )

Cheers,

Wayne
http://www.pbase.com/wayne_n

Wayne N. said:

Wayne N. said:

like i am in a party you know photos are taken usually same distance so i focus first time than i can "lock" focus and in the folowing photos i just point and shoot, is that possible?

Click to expand...

That is possible as well. Although in Steve's method, the camera
would already be focus locked at 7ft, and using f/4, you would have
a very large DOF (see also
http://forums.dpreview.com/forums/read.asp?forum=1008&message=11589888 )

Cheers,

Wayne
http://www.pbase.com/wayne_n

Click to expand...

hi thanks it will help a lot i am going to see the thread

Hi again....

rirdis said:

exylympus wrote:
No focus assist lamp, most consumer digicams suffer low light focus
trouble, especially with long lenses. The 770 is not an exception.
When it does find focus it is sharp, but then the shutter is so
slow in low light that you get motion blur. I use external flash
and shoot manual for faster shutter and low ISO. Nice sharp indoor
pics. The hot shoe is a must have IMHO.

Well i didnt explain very well, i will not use the zoom in low
light, but as i have kids i often take pictures in parties, at
home, i sometimes uses the A85 of my sister and i hate the shutter
lag, on low light, no zoom just point and shoot, she uses to press
once all the botton, then the red light begins to blink(i think
finding focus) ant it takes 3, 4 or 5 seconds to take the picture,
it annoys me a lot, my concern in low light is of people photo with
flash, kids or small groups i dont want they to stay smiling for me
for 5 seconds understand, no zoom at all, the c770 has this
problem?.

Click to expand...

In this situation with external flash I get good pics, 770 is not the fastest at focusing but gets good sharp focus. If you can light it up to get shutter speed, all is good. If camera starts focus hunting, pull zoom back and try again, then usually ok.

rirdis said:

No IS on 770. Movies good. Full zoom great in good light but low
light and longer shutter again causes motion blur. The camera
compensates by pushing ISO higher when sensing movement but then
you get noise.
Using the external flash was the only way to get good indoors
images for me.
indoors with zoom? or without zoom is not good also? by the way i
have a sony ss-18 flash an very very old model i used toi have on a
non digicam, can i use it?

Click to expand...

Be carefull with flash, If sync volts high it will damage camera. Olympus and Canon both like low (6 v dc) voltage but there is a little tolerance. I have a Vivitar 283 with 9 v dc sync, this works well. With only low zoom indoors it works well. It is easy to forget you have the equivalent of 380mm in your hand in that tiny camera.

rirdis said:

Most of the time my 770 will find focus, it is the motion blur that
people are mistaking for poor focus. IS will only help you a little
from what I have read. If getting trouble with focus, you can turn
camera to portrait position, get lock then turn back whilst holding
lock, then shoot. The camera reads vertical contrast for focus lock.
If you will shoot indoors mostly, do not get a big zoom as it slows
the camera down.
but i can shoot indoors without zoom wouldnt help? bigger aperture,
more speed? less shutter lag?

Click to expand...

Yes, as long as you understand zoom limitations. At wide angle range, F 2.8 to 3.2 lens.

rirdis said:

motion blur when you are taking portrait photos i think is very
difficult only if the speed is very slow dont you think.

Click to expand...

Yes, if a bit slow you get blurred limbs or blinking eyes with inbuilt flash because pre flash causes blink. The external flash in manual mode has no pre flash and no blinking, much brighter and use fast shutter at low ISO and can use more DOF, anywhere up to F 6, although this will give well lit subject and dark background.

rirdis said:

i am really looking of this camera cause i want to make small
videos on it

Click to expand...

You can use an external microphone for a voice recorder and then use zoom whilst shooting movie.

rirdis said:

by the way os sd cards they have ULTRA or EXTREME cards, on XD to
shot movies theres somithing like that or any XD will do movies
smoothly?

Click to expand...

With movies the cameras internal memory buffer is used for processing and then saved to XD, so usually you can start shooting (in MPEG4) and keep going, but it will stop at approx 50% full. The bigger the XD the better. The only XD cards are Fuji and Olympus and all perform the same. The camera limits the speed not the card.

rirdis said:

waw i am really doing TOO many questions, just one more i am
planning in buyins a 512mb card, how long can i shoot a movie with
that? i saw theres 640x480 30fps in mpeg4, the others lower
resolutions are ok or the image feels worse
thanks very much you are helping me a lot

Click to expand...

MPEG 4 gets much longer sequence, but less quality, but I like the 30 fps, not jerky. You do notice compression artefacts. It is a still camera, do not expect to be as good as dedicated video camera. I think you may get 30 min video with 512 XD but don't quote me.

rirdis said:

Hope this is helpfull : )

rirdis said:

rirdis said:

thanks you a lot

Click to expand...

--
Rob, with Oly c770uz

rirdis said:

Experiment and learn, have fun with it.

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

Click to expand...

--
Rob, with Oly c770uz

rirdis said:

Experiment and learn, have fun with it.

Click to expand...

rirdis said:

the cam was off? on christmas my sister took her A85 and i played
like "wally" do you know? well when i saw she was going to shoot a
photo i wait to see her pressing the button full down, then the
camera beggins to blink red (finding photo) wait more than ran and
get in the photo, man i am sure this time is more than 5 seconds
and it was 5 seconds after she pressed the button, i hate it i
(wheres the wally?) was on every photo she takes even if i was 10
steps away from her, thats not shutter lag, thats "i cant shoot
anything LAG" is oly like this?

Click to expand...

That shutter lag is so bad that it makes me wonder if your sister had set the camera to the self-timer mode!! I had a Canon A60 and it wasn't slow!

Now I have an Olympus C-765 that has the same lens and sensor as the C-770. I admit that it's not very fast to get focus in low light and the best solution is the method suggested by SteveB, since there are 4 customizable settings on the C765/C-770. Experiment a bit.

Fab

The FZ's also have a movie mode as do my 4 year old dinosaurs... Not sure how the FZ movie mode compares with the rest though, since I couldn't care less about having any movie capability in a good Still Cam. Probably not as good as the S1IS movie mode. From what I've read that cam has one of the better movie modes as far as capacity, size & framerate.. Unfortunately I don't think the focus system was improved enough to pull it off in anything less than good light....

If movies is a top priority, IMHO your thinking is backwards... Get a dedicated DV cam that has a decent still single frame or frame capture feature... I've seen some that while layed out differently, are near the same size as the 770's or other still cams & the newer ones are even approaching decent still rez figures.... Hell, some might even be smaller than a 770... Besides, I'm pretty sure a real DV cam would be better designed to work & focus better in less than good light indoors plus come with better onboard continuous lighting....

Now excuse me while I try to cut this piece of meat with a single Swiss Army knife.... I can't seem to get the trick to holding the meat steady with it's fork while I cut it with it's knife blade.... Even in bright sunshine ;-}

rirdis said:

Niktron said:

I dont know about the 770's focus problems, but have you considered
a panasonic FZ-3 / FZ-15 / FZ-20, they are some very nice cameras
and would be my recommendation for an UZ camera at this point in
time

Ps. i own a c-750 1 generation down from the 770 and its not a fast
focuser in low light, and nor is my friends c-765

Cheers, Nik

Click to expand...

hi i have seen good things about panasonic but i need the C-770
cause i will shot some movies from my kids
thanks anyway

Click to expand...

--

'Happy Shootin' !!! http://www.pbase.com/rrawzz http://www.pbase.com/uzgroup/root http://www.pbase.com/otfgallery/uzpshooter

Me & My UZI, Strollin Down The Avenue. Me & My UZI, Focusin On Somethin New. To 'UZe' Or Not To 'UZe'? That 'IS' The Question. EoneHunderedArEss/SeeTwentyOneHunderedYouZee/BeeCCC/SeeCCX

What flash unit do you recommend for the C770 & why?
Thanks

SteveB said:

Re movies, some 770 movies I downloaded seemed fine to me, I think
some people have had jerkiness problems but I thought that was a
player codec problem.

pear52 said:

I have a 770 and was just shooting pictures at my daughter's
birthday party last night (17 yrs old I might note) I did shoot
some mpeg 4 video with it and it is OK. (I didn't buy it for the
video.) The shutter lag sometimes drives me nuts, although I am
used to it.

My old point and shoot Fuji 2650 was a better camera in some ways
for those candid party shots. Quality was not the same, but it was
a bit faster. I missed a photo op last night of my nephew, 2yrs old
hugging our dog, due to shutter lag. By the time I grabbed the
camera and it focused, he was gone.

For video, I use my Sony TRV-19 DV cam. It was the lower end cam,
with a black and white viewfinder (color LCD screen however) and
not a lot of other bells and whistles. It shoots great video, even
in low light. It can't be beat if video is your goal.

Pear

Click to expand...

--
C75OUZ

Click to expand...

'UZ'pShoot'ERS' said:

Now excuse me while I try to cut this piece of meat with a single
Swiss Army knife.... I can't seem to get the trick to holding the
meat steady with it's fork while I cut it with it's knife blade....
Even in bright sunshine ;-}

Click to expand...

LOL

I still use an old analogue 8mm tape canon camcorder. Better than still camera movie mode and plug in to my TV Tuner card then capture as it plays directly to DVD format. Easy as. 90 min on one reuseable $8 aus tape.
Has 20 x optical stabilised lens : )

--
Rob, with Oly c770uz

'UZ'pShoot'ERS' said:

Experiment and learn, have fun with it.

Click to expand...