s45 low light focus...

Am using my s45 for few days now, I find its hard to focus under low light condition. I have used P and night scene Mode but I can't get a sharp clear picture. If I use ISO 400 the pics is noisy but if I set to 50, the pics comes out too blur, maybe cause I didn't use a tripod to shoot?
S45 is a very solid dc, I like it very much!

I know this little dc can do better job, can anyone give me some tips for shooting under low lights and hand hold shooting methods?
Thanks!

Heres are some s45 samples:
http://www.pbase.com/samxu

Hi Sam,

I have bought an S45 for my wife and I have no problems with low light AF.

Looking at your gallery (Prawnsss) Image you are shooting @ 1/6 sec that is why the image is blurred camera shake. you want to be above 1/60 sec

Do you use full auto mode (Green Auto)? Do you use flash?

Here is an indoor image I took hand held @ 1/60 sec in AV mode as you can see the image is sharp.

It is a great cam, don’t give up on it, look at your technique and watch those shutter speeds.

This is a typical problem. Two potential problems; slow-shutter speed or OOF. Your light conditions are too low for normal focus and the subject is too far for the focus assist to work as well as no-flash thus slow shutter speed.. Only workaround I've found is a few extra steps with Manual Focus. Turn LCD on, hold MF button down and hit the omni-switch up to 10 ft or higher and snap your pic. You will typically not have any problems with subject less than 7 ft away even in all dark conditions. Of course, if you want flash to be off, you'd better situate the s45 on something solid to minimize handshake.

BTW, there are diverse reports of low-light focusing capabilities with the same digicams. I believe the reason is in how one defines low-light. Some, such as I consider low-light to be pitch black, candle light through light barely sufficient for reading. Also, the focusing capabilities are compromised by distance and where the light metering is directed at, such taking a pic of a large room with a 150w halogen pointing up. My s45 will not focus lock in this 'room' shot but does fine when I go in closer to the lighted areas.

...R

Sam X said:

Am using my s45 for few days now, I find its hard to focus under
low light condition. I have used P and night scene Mode but I can't
get a sharp clear picture. If I use ISO 400 the pics is noisy but
if I set to 50, the pics comes out too blur, maybe cause I didn't
use a tripod to shoot?
S45 is a very solid dc, I like it very much!
I know this little dc can do better job, can anyone give me some
tips for shooting under low lights and hand hold shooting methods?
Thanks!

Heres are some s45 samples:
http://www.pbase.com/samxu

Click to expand...

Thank you guys so much!

I tryed to shoot pics using 1/60 secs hand hold, the image comes out sharp & clear heres an example
http://www.pbase.com/image/7005773

I have find if shoot indoor pics, you need to have flash on or a tripod, if not the pic will go blur... hope am right here.

I dont really like to use flash indoor, it turns the image too bright and makes yellow/orange light condition to white light just like the image above. I guess am gonna have to get myself a tripod to shoot natural room light colors, really hard to shoot sharp pics if hand hold s45. s45 sure has a strong flash

Today I try to take a pic of a bug, I have taken 20+ shoots but each one of them are little blur, I used TV mode (also others), macro, 1/60, flash
http://www.pbase.com/image/7005690
Why the image of the bug is blur?
Is there a way to improve the shooting method?
Thanks Again!

HI Sam... Your focusing problems look alot like a-lack-of-contrast problem. Your keys are great but your food is fuzzy due to the lack of contrast.

If you had put your keys near your soup... focused on the keys (button 1/2 way down)... knocked the keys out of the way.. and shot the pic... the food shots would probably have been sharp ! Remember the camera needs well defined lines to focus on. People are always wondering why their close-ups of their kids faces are always fuzzy.... I have people hold a ruler or something next to their faces while I do that 1/2 way down pre-focusing.

Sam X said:

Am using my s45 for few days now, I find its hard to focus under
low light condition. I have used P and night scene Mode but I can't
get a sharp clear picture. If I use ISO 400 the pics is noisy but
if I set to 50, the pics comes out too blur, maybe cause I didn't
use a tripod to shoot?
S45 is a very solid dc, I like it very much!
I know this little dc can do better job, can anyone give me some
tips for shooting under low lights and hand hold shooting methods?
Thanks!

Heres are some s45 samples:
http://www.pbase.com/samxu

Click to expand...

colin walker117736 said:

I have bought an S45 for my wife and I have no problems with low
light AF.

Click to expand...

so is it for your wife or for you?

Sam X said:

Thank you guys so much!
......
http://www.pbase.com/image/7005690
Why the image of the bug is blur?
Is there a way to improve the shooting method?
Thanks Again!

Click to expand...

Sam, have you had any more luck with the macro shooting? Or any answers? This is the one area that I am waiting to find out more before I buy an S45 or G2.

thanks

Aaron