DSC 717 Photos Not As Good As I Hoped

[orrink]

I just bought a DSC 717. I have a DSC S75 which takes great pictures. Some of the photos from the 717 are less than great. A close up of my cat reveal sharp face and blurred body using flash. I took a photo of a group of 9 kids at a dinner table in low lighting and the end of the table about 10 feet away was nearly black. What gives? This thing is not better than my S75 or Im screwing up. HELP

[jlandaue]

Send me your samples. I have taken great pictures with the F717.

Check this:

www.laplazita.net/metrozoo

[JimC]

orrink wrote:

I just bought a DSC 717. I have a DSC S75 which takes great pictures. Some of the photos from the 717 are less than great. A close up of my cat reveal sharp face and blurred body using flash.

This is known a as shallow Depth of Field (the amount of the image that is in focus, as you get further away from your focus point), and was caused by you being so close to your subject.

Depth of Field is based on Aperture, Focus Distance and Focal Length (actual, not 35mm Equivalent).

Indoors in low light, your Sony DSC-F717 was probably shooting at it's widest aperture setting (f/2.0). Most cameras will shoot at larger apertures indoors. For more depth of field, you can use a smaller aperture (represented by a larger f/stop number). This will reduce flash range. However, at closer ranges, it shouldn't be a problem.

To see how depth of field works, see this handy online calculator. Make sure you use the actual focal lengths for calculators (9.7 - 48.5mm on your DSC-F717):

http://www.dofmaster.com/dofjs.html

BTW,a camera like your Sony DSC-F717 has dramatically more depth of field (more of theimage in focus as you get further from your focus point) compared to a 35mm model, for any given 35mm equivalent focal length, aperture and focus distance.

I took a photo of a group of 9 kids at a dinner table in low lighting and the end of the table about 10 feet away was nearly black. What gives? This thing is not better than my S75 or Im screwing up. HELP

What were you focusing on? The camera will have to throttle down the flash strength to make sure it does not overexpose subjects closer to the camera. There is a HUGE difference in the amount of light you have from the flash, versus the background. As a result, subjects outside of the flash range (or much further away that the subject you are focused on) will usually be fairly dark with the majority of cameras when using flash. If you want more ambient light to impact the exposure, you can try increasing ISO speed (but this will add some noise to the image).

A slower shutter speed will usually accomplish this, too (but you have to make sure notto use one that's too slow -- otherwise, you risk blur from subject movement if there is enough ambient light to expose them).