What would cause this

[scott1120]

I don't think I will ever get this camera figured out. I am assuming that shooting too wide open caused this.

[Daniel Bates]

Well, the picture's soft - is that what you mean?


There might be a bit of lens flare going on too.

[scott1120]

There looks like a purple circle in the middle. would the softness cause this?

[Daniel Bates]

I'd guess lens flare. It is usually circular and often purple-ish.

[KdLaneJr]

The softness looks like motion blur to me.

[RaymondShay]

No doubt, the circle is lens flare. Shade your lens somehow.

[kenw]

you probably had it wide open (aperture) and it selected a too slow shutter so things are blurry from hand shake.

I will assume you shot this in auto or Program mode.

[Patti Edens]

EXIF:

Nikon D50
SS = 1/50"
f4
Av
0 EV
18mm

[Cybastean]

You shot this at 18mm? Were you right on top of your subject? I wonder if you were inside the effective focusing distance, in addition to getting some flare. If not, really bright light close to your subject can cause the autofocus not to work and maybe that caused the poor focus. But the exposure data looks off to me for the image I'm looking at. It looks badly overexposed, which I wouldn't expect from a D50 in any program mode. Are you having exposure problems when you shoot other subjects with this camera?

[amadjuster]

You were shooting at f4 and 1/50. This is camera moving and there's some flare. I don't think Smart Sharpen will help this one. Were you at a weird angle? Sometimes I can get in a bind and kink up and shimmy a lot. As close as this was, a little fill flash would have helped brighten it up and freeze the shakes.

[scott1120]

Thanks all. I think my main problem is I am trying to the D50 to take candid snapshot type photos. I am not taking enough time to properly set-up the shot. I think from now-on when we take these family day trips I am just going to take my canon p&s, which can produce a better snapshot type of photo.

[kenw]

it's not the camera, it's the fact that you selected Av. Selecting Av meant the camera could only select the shutter, and it chose a shutter way to slow to hand-hold.

Had you selected full auto it may very well have come out fine like it would with the point-n-shoot on auto. I sometimes use my d10 on full auto when candid shots are all I want. But I am more likely to use Tv on candid shots, merely to ensure a frozen subject. Depth of field (Av) is much less important in candid shots than getting the subject frozen (Tv) and avoiding hand-shake.

[venchka]

Originally Posted by kenw

it's not the camera, it's the fact that you selected Av. Selecting Av meant the camera could only select the shutter, and it chose a shutter way to slow to hand-hold.

Had you selected full auto it may very well have come out fine like it would with the point-n-shoot on auto. I sometimes use my d10 on full auto when candid shots are all I want. But I am more likely to use Tv on candid shots, merely to ensure a frozen subject. Depth of field (Av) is much less important in candid shots than getting the subject frozen (Tv) and avoiding hand-shake.

Keep practicing. 1/50 sec. is very hand holdable. Or should be. If you use Tv and set 1/60 or faster you should be ok. Until you run out of aperture. Then you have to increase the iso. It's a juggling act.

[Joe_Lorenzini]

Looking at the camera settings it would seem that this area was probably dark with shadows and thus the slow shutter speed (that the camera picked out for you).

Had you had it in P mode the flash probably would have popped up during this shot. Also the OOF (Out Of Focus) area lends me to believe that you either didn't allow the camera time enough to focus (shutter half way down) or that it was too dark to find something to focus on (little flashing green light in the lower left of the eyepiece view). This is something you'll have to practice with.

A great way to learn your camera (and it is a great camera) is to shoot in P (Program) mode and then look at the settings it used, specifically Aperture and Shutter Speed. Set your white balance to AUTO or at least Daytime - Cloudy and that should cover many of your situations. Eventually, you'll get an idea of what settings are best for you.

That camera will do well for candid shots, it just takes time (at least more than a P&S would) to learn what works best.

Good luck!!

_/oe

[scott1120]

Ken - I have not even put my camera in "Auto", I am going to do that and see what I get.
Joe - If it will stop raining for a day or 2 I am going to take the camera out at lunch and shoot a bunch of shots of whatever, so I can learn the settings.