Blurry Photos with Olympus E-500

I took some photos last weekend using my Olympus E-500. The lighting was fine-

above 1/30, focal length 28mm, and I have a very steady hand. I am unsure why

the photos are blurry-everything was out of focus, not just parts and not

extremely out of focus-just enough to make you think there is something wrong

with your eyesight! I was also under the impression that this camera would not

take the photo without the object in focus when set to auto focus but I had the

camera set to auto focus and there was no indication that it did not want to

take the photo. I have been taking photos for many years and have never had a

situation like this-am not sure what to do. Could there be a problem with the

auto focus? Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

Thanks

Were your subjects moving?

 

Can you upload a sample image complete with EXIF data?

No-they were stationary.

AF is just a machine and sometimes decides to focus on something we were not looking at.

Are you certain you had the lens set to AF? Have you tried replicating the situation? Have you tried manual focusing to ensure everything is functioning properly?

 

There's a ton more testing you can do to determine where, if anywhere, the problem may be.

I have not tried to reproduce the situation.

 

If the AF is functioning properly wouldn't there be one item in focus? There doesn't appear to be anything clear in the photo. The entire photo is fuzzy.

<<If the AF is functioning properly wouldn't there be one item in focus? There doesn't appear to be anything clear in the photo. The entire photo is fuzzy.>>

 

I'd say that's a poor assumption to make without futher testing. There are a lot of reasons for "blurry" or "fuzzy" photos.

What other testing should I do to find out if the AF is the problem? I did not try the manual focus but definitely can...and in response to your question the camera was set to AF. Please let me know what else I can do to ensure that the camera is functioning properly.

 

Thanks.

You should try to replicate the situation and you should note how the camera behaves in the situation. Light that gives you 1/30th at a particular ISO (I'm assuming low ISO values) and subjects with similar levels of contrast.

 

And if you could point to sample images with complete EXIF data, it might be possible to determine additional courses of action.

I will try these ideas and let you know what I find out...thanks for the help!

Disclaimer: I don't have an E-500. However, Wrotniak's site describes the E-500 AF/shutter release as being "focus priority" in single shot AF and "release priority" in continuous AF. The latter will fire the shutter regardless of whether the image is in focus or not.... did you have the camera set in this mode?

I had this problem once when I changed the lens on the camera. I went from the 14-45 to the 40-150 and no matter what i took the pictures were always out of focus. Had me scared i had damaged the lens somehow. I swapped lens again and it went away. Was a very odd problem to occur. Apart from that.. Mastering Manual focus is tiring. I can never quite get the focus right.. But practise makes perfect.

It is important to wait for the AOK signal before completely pressing the trigger after firstly taking half trigger. Not doing that means that the lens could be focused at some point in space where there was no subject = fuzzy photo of subjects at other distances from the camera.

Are you sure it's not motion blur? Does the camera do the same thing when it's on a tripod?

I don't want to be gratuitous but have you taken a good look at your lens. A couple of weeks ago I photographed a party that had lots of kids and as I was reviewing a couple on the lcd noticed they were blurry. Alas, discovered that the lens on one had been visited at some point by a little finger covered with goo. Cleaned the lens and voila, no more blur! Otherwise, I would try some manual focusing. But without seeing a photo it is hard to come to any conclusion.

Thanks everyone for the responses. I have actually looked into some of the suggestions. The camera WAS set to S-AF not C-AF but I hadn't really experimented at all with the ASA. I haven't had a chance to actually go out and shoot again so this weekend I will do that. The lens was cleaned prior to using so fairly certain it is not that. I will definitely check on the comment from JC-thought that I had waited but possibly not, and will also play with the ASA. Just want to say that this has really helped me a lot already and that I have done a lot of research on the camera and its abilities, which I probably should have done before, but getting the ideas helped me know what I should be looking for.

i have the same problem with my E-500. The problem occurred sometimes with the 40-150

lens. I dont seem to experience a problem with the other lenses. First I thought that

something is wrong with the camera, but it turn out to be that all i have to do is get the lens

out and put it back in the camera all the way in till i hear the click.

I don't know if this is your situation but I was shooting musicians on stage with varied colored lighting. I had forgotton to remove a polarizing filter. The auto focus shots were all blurry. As soon as I removed the filter there was no problem.