Shaky Pictures with Canon A550.?

Question

There has to be something I'm missing -- I researched this camera SO diligently before purchasing it, but I am so afraid to take it to any event of which I want pictures! Every picture I take comes out so shaky and blurry -- is there an internal stabilizer setting that I'm missing? Every user review that I read expressed nothing but good things, and I am so dissatisfied.. What memo did I not receive?

Answer 1

Wally, she is not going to spend that kind of money to modify a brand new $150 camera...

"IMAGE STABILIZATION" WITHOUT "IS"

This is what you have to know about image blur if you decide to buy a camera that does not have optical image stabilization.

Image stabilization is the real deal and it DOES help your pictures, but it's not essential. In the case of Canon's, it's about a hundred dollar upgrade in the SD (Elph) series. I'll add my stock answer on "IS" (image stabilization) after I'm done talking about some other things here and you can check it out if you want to.

When it was my turn to buy a "pocket" camera to take with me when I didn't want to drag out the SLR, I chose a Canon SD900. One major difference between this and the A550 is the sensor size, but I won't go into that now, since it's not your question. The key point is that the lens has nearly the identical zoom range as the A550. There are times when "IS" might help, but overall, I don't really miss it in this camera. If you have longer zoom lenses, any degree of shaking will be magnified and "IS" will cut down or eliminate the blur caused by that shaking. There are a few tricks and techniques that you can use if your camera doesn't have it.

First of all, like the old days, just make a conscious effort to hold still. Try to use the optical viewfinder so you can hold the camera up to your face and not at arm's length. You can turn off the LCD preview if you do this and it will save batteries anyhow. Take a breath and hold your breath while you gently s-q-u-e-e-z-e the shutter, trying to avoid shaking the camera as you push the button.

In any mode, you will see a "shake warning" if the shutter speed is going to be slow enough that there is more risk of your shaking. There are a few things you can do in this situation to minimize the potential for a blurred image.

You can always force the camera to use a faster shutter speed by selecting a higher ISO (sensitivity) setting. You have a few options with the A550 to accomplish this. First, in the manual mode, you can simply select a higher ISO when the light is low and you are more likely to have trouble holding still for a longer exposure. This will force a faster shutter speed. In any mode, you can use "AUTO ISO," but you can also use "HI ISO." This will force the camera to go to the next higher ISO than the normal program would select under the existing lighting conditions. If the normal program would use ISO 100, "HI ISO" will bump it up to ISO 200. By doing this, it will make the shutter speed twice as fast so there is less likelihood of blurring due to camera shake.

The down side of increasing the ISO is that higher ISO settings will introduce a roughness to the image called "digital noise." Until you get up to ISO 800, it's not really much of a concern,

You can also use the flash, which would usually eliminate blur, if the subject is within your flash range.

You can also steady the camera on something or use a tripod and then use the self-timer so the shutter will go by itself without you touching the camera, eliminating the possibility for shaking the camera.

Answer 2

Well the A550 doesn't have an image stabilization mechanism so you can't rely yourself on that. Even an IS camera have its own limitation and at that point you're gonna have to rely on your steady hand or a tripod if you want to produce a shake-free picture.

The best thing you can do at the moment is to know the weakness and strength of your camera so you can avoid shaky and blurry picture in the future. Good luck!

Answer 3

I don't know but I read a recent Popular Science where some one invented a chip for cameras that eliminates shaky, blurred pictures. You might want to check out either Popsci.com or Scifi.com. It was on one of those two sites that I saw the article.

Answer 4

Are you trying to use it indoors without flash? If so, you're going to need to review your Owner's Manual for the correct settings.

From your description of the problem its either slow shutter speed or camera shake.

In fact, you need to sit down and read and study the Manual. Maybe take a feature or setting a day and learn it. Practice with it.

Answer 5

I have the same camera, and I encountered this problem only when indoors... Try turning flash off, it helps. And also, hold the half click a little longer to allow it to focus properly...