Help!

[pool100]

Hi people,

This is my first time posting on this forum. Actually I'm a newbie who's really new to photography so hope you guys could guide me along here.

I just bought a Canon A80 and I've been shooting and playing around with the camera.

The problem arose when I found out that some of the images I took are blurred. I suppose the camera has those Auto focus frames that selects the subject and blurs the background to make the object stand out.

But what if the camera "selects" the subject I do not want? Can I change it? Or what if the subject I want is much bigger than what the camera selects? If I'm not wrong, only the objects within the auto focus frames would be sharp... and the others would be blurred so as to make the object stand out. Is that right?

To give an example, I wanted to take a group photo of many people. The group takes up most of the image size... yet the camera focuses only on a few people. When I printed the image out, only the faces of a few people are sharp... the rest are blurred. Do you all know how I can alter the auto focusing mechanism of the camera?

Sorry for this long post... but I've tried reading the instructions manual and tried switching off the AF mode, but still didn't work... I'm exasperated.

Please help if you could. I'll really appreciate it!

cheers!

 

[nickmak]

Hi people,

This is my first time posting on this forum. Actually I'm a newbie who's really new to photography so hope you guys could guide me along here.

I just bought a Canon A80 and I've been shooting and playing around with the camera.

The problem arose when I found out that some of the images I took are blurred. I suppose the camera has those Auto focus frames that selects the subject and blurs the background to make the object stand out.

But what if the camera "selects" the subject I do not want? Can I change it? Or what if the subject I want is much bigger than what the camera selects? If I'm not wrong, only the objects within the auto focus frames would be sharp... and the others would be blurred so as to make the object stand out. Is that right?

To give an example, I wanted to take a group photo of many people. The group takes up most of the image size... yet the camera focuses only on a few people. When I printed the image out, only the faces of a few people are sharp... the rest are blurred. Do you all know how I can alter the auto focusing mechanism of the camera?

Sorry for this long post... but I've tried reading the instructions manual and tried switching off the AF mode, but still didn't work... I'm exasperated.

Please help if you could. I'll really appreciate it!

cheers!

i do not know much about the p&s cams but based on my old panasonic lumix p&s cam it may be that u have it on a different setting... i dunno... just trying to be helpful here.. much to no avail... maybe someone else will explain it better... btw... i'm a newbie too...

 

[OzOn3]

OK, welcome to the wonderful world of light, holes and film

Firstly, what you are experiencing is called Depth of Field, or DOF for short.

DOF is determined by your aperture size. An aperture is like.. er... semi-transparent blades? My A70 has 6 or 8 blades.. can't rem.. Anyway, for the group photo that you took, you used a small depth of field, meaning large aperture. Ok, large aperture means that the aperture blades are wide open. A small aperture is when the aperture blades come together, to allow lesser light to go through.. Because of this lack of light, usually when you increase your aperture value (note, aperture value is conversely related to aperture size), say f8.0, you would require a longer exposure time as compared to a f2.8 aperture value.

So, for group photos, you would want everyone to be in right, so you should take photos at your smallest aperture, meaing the largest aperture value, i think it's f8.0 for A80. Try it

I think i missed out DOF.. Ok, DOF is correlated with aperture. a Small aperture gives a large DOF. A large aperture gives a small DOF.

check out dpreview.com for more technical defination

 

[nickmak]

i didn't no u could change aperture and stuff like that on the A80...

 

[OzOn3]

-.- ... Hahahaha.. you too pro already larrr ahaahahha

 

[Virgo]

Hi people,

This is my first time posting on this forum. Actually I'm a newbie who's really new to photography so hope you guys could guide me along here.

I just bought a Canon A80 and I've been shooting and playing around with the camera.

The problem arose when I found out that some of the images I took are blurred. I suppose the camera has those Auto focus frames that selects the subject and blurs the background to make the object stand out.

But what if the camera "selects" the subject I do not want? Can I change it? Or what if the subject I want is much bigger than what the camera selects? If I'm not wrong, only the objects within the auto focus frames would be sharp... and the others would be blurred so as to make the object stand out. Is that right?

To give an example, I wanted to take a group photo of many people. The group takes up most of the image size... yet the camera focuses only on a few people. When I printed the image out, only the faces of a few people are sharp... the rest are blurred. Do you all know how I can alter the auto focusing mechanism of the camera?

Sorry for this long post... but I've tried reading the instructions manual and tried switching off the AF mode, but still didn't work... I'm exasperated.

Please help if you could. I'll really appreciate it!

cheers!

Try posting some pics so that others can comment. A picture speaks a thousand words!

 

[evozero]

But what if the camera "selects" the subject I do not want? Can I change it? Or what if the subject I want is much bigger than what the camera selects? If I'm not wrong, only the objects within the auto focus frames would be sharp... and the others would be blurred so as to make the object stand out. Is that right?

To give an example, I wanted to take a group photo of many people. The group takes up most of the image size... yet the camera focuses only on a few people. When I printed the image out, only the faces of a few people are sharp... the rest are blurred. Do you all know how I can alter the auto focusing mechanism of the camera?

turn off AiAF on ur cam

go to MENU then switch AiAF to OFF

half press shutter on target that u want focused, then recompose, then press fully

for group photo, P mode should suffice, arrange your grp roughly in a line with roughly similar distance to the camera

if still not sharp, then go to Av mode, select smaller aperture [bigger F number] which will give u greater depth of field, more of the picture in focus

this is assuming there is enough light, cos a smaller aperture would mean a slower shutter speed [camera will tell u if it is too slow with a camera shake symbol]

 

[pool100]

Hey thanks guys... I learnt quite a bit from your respective comments. I'll go try my A80 later and let you know if it works.

By the way, it seems to me that using A80 is no longer a point-and-shoot camera... as I'll even have to manually adjust the aperture value just to take a simple group photo. Is that true? Most of the time in functions I just want to take pictures quickly and don't spend time meddling with the manual controls. :dunno:

Is there a way I can make A80 a simple point-and-shoot camera but with satisfactory results? :think:

I'll appreciate any opinions on this... thanks a lot!