Digital cameras 101

[BJ Hardy]

My ole Olympus 380 developed a blur problem last night for the first time.

Shooting freehand, inside a large lighted building at an outdoors show using flash, some photos came out great while most came out blurry....some just the background (some of the backgrounds were stationary, some were the moving crowd) and ) and some the whole picture! On the blurred photos  background blur started out around 8 feet or so and all photos over that distance were completely blurry.

Never had this problem in all the time I've used this camera and haven't changed any camera setting (at least on purpose  ) I've even used it at this same show before and always with great results. Still using the same media card I started out with.

I remember when I got a little age on me I developed a slight blur problem and I sure hope that's not what's happening to my little 380!  

Any advise will be deeply appreciated.

Thanks a bunch!  

[ShutterbugGail]

Hi BJ,

Welcome to the Q&A Board!

If you've never had this problem before taking photos in the same situation, there may be a malfunction with your camera. However, I'd test it in bright, natural, outside light before assuming the camera is malfunctioning.  Also, if you can read the exif data, check if the shutter speed was slow for the ones that came out blurred. If the aperture was wide, you could have shallow depth of field so background blur would start in back of the main subject.

Do you have any of the images posted online so we can take a look? If so, post the link to your gallery. It's difficult to say what the problem is without looking at the images.


Related reading:

Depth of field
http://www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-depth-of-field/index.htm

EXIF data
http://www.digicamhelp.com/what-is-exif/index.htm

[BJ]

Unfortunately I had already deleted all those blurry pics and as yet haven't taken anymore.

Thanks,
BJ

[ShutterbugGail]

BJ

Do some tests as suggested above and let us know how it goes. If you can't post a sample online, email me one or two.