need help with focus on the sony dsc-p92

[iowabucks]

I have a Sony dsc-p92 that sometimes has problems focusing. Many pictures i have taken from my deerstand and indoors don't have the best focus. I know using the 400 asa setting could do this with a slow shutter. But even in the auto setting some pictures are good and some are way out of focus. I have also tried changing from multipoint AF to center AF with no change in picture. Is there another way to get better focused pictures?

 

[iowabucks]

and another.

 

[wildebeast]

I have several p 32's and 41's and they focus great, not sure about the 92.

Seems to me that both pictures should have been a lot better. 400 iso does add noise to the pic but not what I see in your pictures. Are you giving it enough time to focus before shuttering a picture?

You should see the picture focus through the view finder or the lcd before it shutters.

cliff

If the batteries are low it will take longer to focus or sometimes not focus at all.

 

[Lan-Lord]

Your primary problem is that your shutter speed is too slow, and you are causing the camera to move due to hand shake. I looked at the meta exif data from the 2 images that you posted and the shutter speed used is 1/5th sec and 1/8th sec. That is too slow for a hand held shot.

Here is what I'm talking about
cat pic (1/8thsec)

outdoor pic (1/5sec)

Im not that familair with the P92, do you have any other settings to force the shutter to be faster (eg shutter priority) I dont think that it does.

So what it all boils down to is that there is not enough light and that the camera has to slow down the shuter ALOT to gather enough light to properly expose the photo.

If you bump the ISO higher (eg 200,400) you will have a faster shutter, but bring on more noise. Unfortunately that might be your only option if you dont have any other manual controls.

1/100sec is about as slow as a shutter to shoot with hand held, anything slower and you will need a pod or a brace of some sort to prevent hand shake.

 

[wildebeast]

lan-lord..

How do you get the exif data to show, not sure if my program has it. Have tried everything and can't find it.

That's great info.

cliff

 

[Lan-Lord]

If you have windows XP (probably/maybe 2K and above too) you can right click on the image file ->Properties->Summary [-> Advanced]

If the exif does not show up under Summary, click the Advanced button on the bottom right. If you get the exif under Summary you are ready to go.

Now, sometimes when you use photo manipulation software to do enhancements, crops, adjustmetnts and such, the software will strip out this meta information to reduce the file size. I know that in Photoshop if you use the Save for Web option it removes the exif. I think the regular Save/Save As will preserve your exif data in the file though.

Of course, your original file that comes from the camera will always have it.

 

[wildebeast]

I can't believe that I missed that

Just clicked advanced on summary and there it was.

Thanks,

cliff