Olympus C-740 UZ

[Keleigh]

Hello,
I love pictures and taking them!! I have only used this camera in auto, but I get MANY blurry pics. In some pics I can have one blurry person and the rest of the shot is not blurry. Other times I take pics of moving things and they aren't blurry at all.
What could I be doing wrong, once they start out blurry it is hard to get a good shot after that. I have missed many good shots of birthdya parties and other events my kids are in b/c so many turn out blurry.
Thanks for nay help or feedback about what I can try!
Keleigh

[Matt_C]

I have a C750 myself which I think is pretty similar. I found the C750 to struggle with focusing on low light shots. I found it better to change the focus to spot focus. This is different to spot metering and can only be accessed through the menu. Once you are using spot focus mode you know the camera will only try to focus on what is in the centre of the screen. I would always half depress the shutter release button aiming at the point in the picture I wanted to focus on. When it has focused check it on the screen to make sure it's correct if not try again, then with the button still half depressed reframe your subject to where you want it to appear in the picture and then fully depress the button to take the picture.

It sounds complicated but it's pretty quick once you get the hang of it. Remember high contrast subjects are easier for the camera to focus on so if you are struggling to focus on the intended subject then try focusing on something else an equal distance away.

To turn on spot focus go to the menu, select CAMERA, then scroll up the screen until you see AF MODE. Once there just select SPOT. I leave mine on spot all the time.

The C740 is an excellent camera and is capable of superb images.

Hope this helps. Let me know if you need more info.

Matt

[Keleigh]

I found it, and it wasn't on spot, but now it is. I didn't knwo what that meant there is so much I don't know and wish I did!

Thank you, I will give it a try, it does sound complicated, but if I try it a few times I'm sure it will get easier. : )

Maybe you wouldn't mind answering a few other questions for me?
Like... in the menu, under Camera should I have "noise reduction" ON, "Digital Zoom", ON, "Fulltime AF", ON, "Function" has "white board", "black board", I know what bl&wt and sepia means, but I have this function OFF.

And what about under the "Picture" menu I have SHQ set, and I used to have HQ for a setting and changed this trying to reduce the blur.

Now I can't get into the DRIVE, which means nothing to me, but is that b/c of the SPOT function being on? If not what should I try to set my drive at?

Thanks so much in advance!! I'm really starting to like my camera more now. : ) I hadn't even seen the Sepia feature before!
Keleigh

[Matt_C]

This should answer some of your questions.

Turn the noise reduction off. Only turn this on for long exposures and shots using High ISO ratings. For the moment I would set the ISO in the menu to 50 for best quality. You tend to use the higher ISOs when shooting in low light or if you need a faster shutter speed for an action shot for example. Also the reason your drive function is not working is because the noise reduction was on.

DRIVE function. With this you can choose various settings. The usual mode is just take one shot and use auto focus. One setting takes five shots very quickly one after another but only uses auto focus on the first shot. Another takes five shots not quite as quickly because the camera refocuses before each shot. The best one is the Braket drive which enables you to take a few shots quickly of the same scene at different exposures. Like I said earlier the reason I think this is not working is because your noise reduction was set to ON.

I always have the digital Zoom set to OFF. Digital zoom seriously reduces the quality of your pictures so stick to your standard optical zoom. You have an excellent 10x optical zoom lense so you probably won't need the digital anyway.

Set full time Af to off. When on the camera will be continually trying to focus every time you move the camera and can drain the batteries much quicker. I've never found it very useful.

White board and black board are just effects the camera can apply to your pictures. Take some shots with each and see what you think. I haven't found them very useful.

SHQ and HQ refer to the ammount of JPEG compression the camera uses. SHQ produces better quality pictures than HQ but also uses up much more space per picture on the memory card. If shooting in JPEG I always use SHQ to give me the maximum quality. If you are just taking snap shots then HQ is fine.

Finaly you might also want to goto the menu and select SETUP. Then scroll up to the ALL RESET and select OFF. This will make sure all your settings stay the same when you turn the camera off to save you having to set them all up again.

Hope this helps. Sorry for the long winded answer. Good luck and be sure to post some pics in your gallery.

Matt

[Matt_C]

Heres a link to one of the best C750 gallerys I know. You might have to goto about page 3 as she recently upgraded to a Nikon D70.

Not a C740 I know but very similar in image quality.

http://www.bytephoto.com/photopost/s...ser=696&stype=

Matt

[Keleigh]

Thank you!!! I think I've got it set up now!

I'll check out that site and look into the photo gallery.

I really appreciate your time spent in sharing that information. Do you have a photo album so I can see some of your shots? Is this a hobby for you or more serious??

Keleigh