Ok the reason i did not post this on a forum or something is bec i
need the answer fast, and i need to make sure its right.

I have a canon s500 digital camera, when i am indoor and dont use the
flash the pic turn out blury, i need to use a tripod but i dont want
to use one. Is there a way to make a shutter speed faster so that i
whne the pics come out its not blury? I need as much info on this
since i will be travling ona trip soon and would like to take lots of
pics, i have had a bad experiance last trip since i had a low MP
camera and i had it on VGA and most pics turned blury and i lost like
70 pic, only 30 were good :(

I need help tips anything, but the main thing is the shutter speed.

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Request for Question Clarification by pafalafa-ga on 16 Apr 2004 12:58 PDT

sulafa-ga,

There's really no good substitute for a stable tripod.  But the
instructions for the s500 do indicate (pg 85 of the manual) that you
can adjust the ISO speed to a higher setting in low-light situations. 
This would be like buying "faster" film, and it may produce better
results for you.

But don't wait until your traveling to give it a try...check it out at home. 

Let me know if this works out, or if you have any questions about
adjusting ISO speeds.

pafalafa-ga

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Clarification of Question by sulafa-ga on 20 Apr 2004 03:25 PDT

pafalafa-ga - Yes i will accepte that as an answer.

Thanks for the comments guys, i tryed the camera with the tips you
gave me and its been working great :) thanks again.

sulafa-ga,

Glad to hear our advice is working out for you.  

Just to summarize:

--manually set the ISO speed to the fastest setting

--keep the camera as steady as possible by bracing it against a fixed
object, or by leaning your body against a wall or similar object.

--use the optical viewfinder, which allows the camera to be braced
against your head

--smooth, steady pressure on the shutter when taking the shot

--in low-light situations, try to focus on the brightest spot in the
scene, when possible

--practice ahead of time to perfect your techniques

--and most important of all....have a great trip

By the way, the online manual for the S500 (in case you're missing
your own, can be found at:

http://www.powershot.com/powershot2/customer/pdf/S500_S410_CUG_E.pdf

Happy Trails.

pafalafa-ga



search strategy:  Google search on:  [ canon s500 manual ]

Happy trails.

Very good answer thank you.

The camera's shutter speed is determined automatically depending on
the available light and ranges from 15 seconds to 1/2000 of a second
the only way you will be able to reduce the shutter time is increasing
the available light (e.g. use flash or turn on a halogene lamp in the
back ground)

Your best bet to get decent pictures under low light conditions is use
the highest pixel ratio possible and make sure your white balance is
set correctly

as far as i could find out there is no way to set the shutter time manually

Hi, sulafa,

A friend has this camera, but I've never used it. If I remember right,
though, it has both an optical viewfinder and the LCD screen. Either
can be used to compose your photograph. Which do you use? If it's the
LCD screen, switch to using the optical viewfinder. That way the
camera will be braced against your head, providing more stability than
when it's waving in front of your face as you look at the LCD screen.

Bastian's tips are good ones. You might also check your owner's manual
to see if your camera has a shutter-priority mode. If so, you'd be
able to use that mode to set a shutter speed that you think would do a
good job, assuming that there's enough light to let you stay within
the limits of your lens's maximum aperture.

G'luck,
dtc

Great Question; Great Comments

I am entering [P-dig] here as a finding aid.

(Aren't I cheeky?)

Many thanks!

I agree the only way to reduce the blurriness is to increase available
light or stabalize the camera. The camera is automatically adjusting
its exposure time to make up for low light situations, and this makes
any camera movements many times more apparent (in the form of
blurring)

I agree with all the comments posted here. Your solution, if you don't
want to use the flash when shooting indoors, is to increase the ISO to
200 or 400 or decrease the aperture setting to 2.8. You can also just
stick with ISO 200 and a 2.8 aperture. However, lower aperture means
lower depth of field. This means that the immediate background objects
in the picture will appear less defined than shots taken at the same
point and distance with a higher aperture. Always remember that if you
don't want to use the flash, make sure that your indoor subjects have
sufficient lighting. Try to experiment first so you can have a "feel"
of what is sufficient lighting and correct camera setting so you can
correctly apply these to your actual photo subjects.

I use a Canon S410.  It's the 4 megapixel little brother to your s500.
 They are great cameras.

Here's what you do.

- Set your camera to "Manual" Mode.
- Then press the "function" button. 
- Proceed down to "ISO" and take it off of "Auto" and put it on "400"

That's going to be the best you can get out of the camera.  The rest
is technique (assuming that you aren't going to add more light to the
room).

For technique, lean your shoulder against a wall to make your hands
steady.  Also, assuming you hold the camera the way most hold compact
cameras, your LEFT THUMB should be under the bottom-right corner of
the camera.  When you get ready to shoot, press UP with your left
thumb as you press DOWN with your right index finger on the shutter
release.

Happy shooting!