Help me take better photos

[bct15]

I am by far a noob when it comes to taking photos and I need a little help with my camera settings. The camera is a canon sx210is. The problem I am having is when I zoom in on a frag or mini colony and press the button to take a picture down half way the camera starts zooming in an out a little and takes blurry photos. If I zoom out a little the problem goes away. The camera has an amazing zoom on it and can take a detailed picture of a gnats butt, but or some reason it has started acting crazy. How can I fix the issue. If I just press the "take a picture" button quickly it just takes a very blurt picture.

It does it whether the camera is in my hands or mounted on a tripod.

 

[returnofsid]

Typically, pressing the shutter button half way, sets focus. It sounds like your camera is failing to set a focus. Are you shooting through the glass at an angle? Sometimes, the glass, when shot through at an angle, distorts the focus so much that the camera is unable to set a focus point. Have you tried this, at different distances? It could be that what you're attempting to focus on is too close to the camera sensor.

 

[gparr]

Agree with Return. I wouldn't be surprised is you're closer than your lens' minimum focusing distance.

 

[swannyson7]

+1 on what was said above, but based on the symptoms you're describing, you may be utilizing the digital zoom of the camera. An optical zoom will provide a nice clear picture, but once you get past the 14x zoom provided by the lens, the camera enters a digital zoom mode which will leave you with very pixelated images. Also, be sure to put the camera in macro focusing mode if you're taking photos at a close distance to the subject. On most Canon P&S cameras, you'll have to hit the left button on the bottom dial to cycle between infinity, normal, and macro focusing modes.

 

[bct15]

I'll answer the questions first..

I am trying to shoot through glass both at angles and straight

I have not tried changing the distance and will do that tomorrow.

When I put the camera in macro mode everything just gets really blurry.

I appreciate the suggestions and will try them out tomorrow and let you know how it works out. It is frustrating when the camera looks like (on the screen) it is ready to take a good pic and when I push the button it goes haywire and takes crappy photos.

 

[mainereefer]

could it just be you pressing the button? have you tried putting it on the timer

I use a cheep cannon 100is and it takes great pics. but 90% of the time I need to use the timer because just the little movement created by pressing the button can blur the pic