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Help with blurry pics from exz750

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wendy1

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I recently took my Ex Z750 to St.Croix in the Caribbean and got some beautiful shots. I also got a large number of blurry shots, and I'd like to learn why. Most of the pictures were taken in either snapshot or a best shot mode. I have Quick Shutter turned off. Some of the blurry shots had 1/400 or 1/320 shutter speed (like the ones below), which should be plenty fast enough. I also have some beautiful, sharp images, so I'm not sure what could have gone wrong with the blurry ones. Any ideas?



 
well, unless you switched focus modes by accident (i.e. you went into "Manual Focus" mode and, basically, were not in focus...), then i'd say there might be something wrong with the autofocus on your camera. did this happen in many instances? is it still happening? which bestshots were you using?

as an aside, i've always found it's a good idea to zoom in on previews to check focus after taking a shot or two... the lcd on this camera can be misleading sometimes.

cheers,

t.
 
I did notice that I sometimes changed the focus mode by accident, but I thought I caught it right away and I always switched it right back to auto. Is there a way I can check the exif info to see what focus mode was used?

If there was something wrong with the focusing, would I have gotten so many clear pictures? Out of almost 200 photos, I'd say maybe 10% were very blurry. But I didn't take all of them, so I'm not sure if the other person taking pictures was holding the camera steady or not.

Maybe I should go out and do some tests trying to get a blurry picture to see if it's reproduceable.
 
i don't think EXIF data stores the focus mode setting, unfortunately.

my hunch is that your camera is fine--you'd probably have a much higher percentage of blurry photos if your AF system was messed up. definitely use the camera some more--look a bit more closely at your previews and see if you can spot the focus errors as they happen.

the two examples you posted just look like either the AF failed, it was in the wrong focus mode, or the shot was taken too quickly before the focus had a chance to lock. these cameras, as smart as they seem to be, are still no match for an overzealous relative with a nervous shutter finger...

good luck,

t.
wendy1 said:
I did notice that I sometimes changed the focus mode by accident,
but I thought I caught it right away and I always switched it right
back to auto. Is there a way I can check the exif info to see what
focus mode was used?

If there was something wrong with the focusing, would I have gotten
so many clear pictures? Out of almost 200 photos, I'd say maybe
10% were very blurry. But I didn't take all of them, so I'm not
sure if the other person taking pictures was holding the camera
steady or not.

Maybe I should go out and do some tests trying to get a blurry
picture to see if it's reproduceable.
Click to expand...
 
The EXIF information in the image will say whether auto focus was turned on. If you want, post a link to an original, untouched image from the camera and we can possibly get to the bottom of this. I don't see anything in those images that should have prevented autofocus from working correctly.

Bart
 
The people are pretty small in the pic to get focus on. I would set the focus mode to center spot only (I always leave it that way). The correct way to focus on the couple in that scene is center the camera on them, press halfway, then move the camera to show the whole tree like your example and press the shutter the rest of the way to take the shot. Then you're sure not to focus on something else besides your main subject. Even if done wrong, that photo looks blurrier than it should be.
 
Thanks. I'll post an original tonight, since they are on my home computer. I had intended to post another shot of a house taking up most of the frame, instead of posting the same shot twice. There is definitely nothing in that shot that should've prevented the camera from focusing, so if I can figure out what focus mode was used, that would be very helpful. In looking back at the pictures, it's probably closer to 15-20% blurry shots, but they did seem to happen in groups, rather than randomly, so hopefully it's as simple as accidentally changing the focus mode.
 
My money is on accidental focus mode change. People not familiar with the camera (ie. group shot, someone else taking the pic) might have hit it by accident. Since quick shutter is off, the camera had to have focused on something, even when subjects that small and the focus went to infinity, it would still be better focused than that.
 
I agree. There are plenty of textures everywhere--the contrast-based focus system would have no problem with anything in that scene. It shouldn't have mattered noticeably whether the camera focused on the people, water, sand, or sky--the DOF is so large, everything would be in focus anyway.

Bart
 
I downloaded an exif reader, and unfortunately it looks like the camera was in Auto Focus mode for the few blurry shots that I checked. I'm linking to the originals here. Any other ideas on what happened other than something wrong with the camera?

blurry1: http://i.pbase.com/o4/60/327360/1/56166108.CIMG0521.JPG
blurry2: http://i.pbase.com/o4/60/327360/1/56166176.CIMG0533.JPG
blurry3: http://i.pbase.com/o4/60/327360/1/56166247.CIMG0561.JPG

Here's one of the better, non-blurry, shots from the trip:

 
not the Casio, but my Panasonic FZ3. I never had a problem with focus before with it, but when he came back, almost every shot he took was blurry. It was set in auto - but after I asked him to show me what he was doing, it was apparent that he was clicking the shutter button in one movement, not allowing a moment after half depressing for the camera to lock on focus. Is it possible that this could have happened?
--



http://www.pbase.com/artshot
http://www.beatricedesignsinc.com
 
If the camera didn't have time to focus, and I have quick shutter turned off, it wouldn't have taken the picture, would it? Many of the blurry shots were not taken by me, so that's a definite possibility. But then I remember one situation where I took a picture, noticed it was blurry, took another (trying to be careful) and that one was blurry too. At the time I was more interested in my vacation than futzing with the camera too much but I did try to be very careful on the second shot.

I think I'm going to take the camera with me everywhere I go this weekend and just take random shots and see if I can reproduce it.
 
It sounds like an intermittent problem - the worst kind to have when you are trying to pin down what the issue is. Like when the car makes a funny noise , but not when it's at the shop.

If it keeps acting up, with no obvious solution, then send it back if it's under warranty. You don't want to miss something that's a once-in-a-lifetime shot due to this.
Sue
--



http://www.pbase.com/artshot
http://www.beatricedesignsinc.com
 
Did the focus lock light come on?

Bart
 
If you push the shutter release button, the camera will take a picture regardless of the quick shutter setting. In quick shutter it just doesn't try as hard or as carefully to get focus. In bright conditions like you shot in, there won't be any difference.

According to the EXIF info in your pictures, the camera was focused very close in (within a meter or so).

I notice you have firmware 1.01. Keep that until you can reliably reproduce the problem. Then upgrade to 1.02 to see if the problem goes away. If not, then I'd take it back to the store for an exchange.

Bart
 
Bart Hickman said:
If you push the shutter release button, the camera will take a
picture regardless of the quick shutter setting. In quick shutter
it just doesn't try as hard or as carefully to get focus. In
bright conditions like you shot in, there won't be any difference.
Click to expand...
I did not know that. That's most likely the problem then. Shutter release not held half way, instead pushed down too quickly. Even when held half way before releasing the shutter, the focus lock light have to be lit solid to indicate a successful focus.
 
Bart Hickman said:
According to the EXIF info in your pictures, the camera was focused
very close in (within a meter or so).
Click to expand...
Yep, that lack of focus everywhere could only mean the focus point was very close. Problem solved. Obviously a very large insect or bird flew across the view and the camera focused on it when the shutter button was pressed. Slow enough shutter speed to not get the scoundrel in the photos. hehe Just kidding.
 
Except that it should have successfully focused on those easy scenes. Even in quick-shutter, I think it should have done better than it did.

Bart
 
I don't have a exz750 so I can't check this myself, but your blurry1 pic is at F8 1/320sec and 38mm focal length, and it should be almost impossible to get a blurry picture with these settings as just about everything beyond a few feet should be in focus.

Playing around with the depth of field calculator at http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html using ex-z750 data, I would say your camera would have had to be focused at less than 4ft to be this bad. So I wonder if the camera had been accidentally set to macro mode? I've no idea if this would show up in the EXIF unfortunately, there's no sign of it in your blurry pics, so as I say I can't check it myself.
 
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