What kind of focusing problem is this?

benhai_zhang1 · May 8, 2009

<p>Hello Friends:</p>

<p>My old P&S sony dsc-s85 tent to give me more and more blured pictures. Here are 2 bad pictures. Can you tell if this is caused by hand shaking or something else. I noticed that the outer lens group of this S85 is loose. I checked my Nikon DSLR and don't see moving parts on the lens.</p>

If it is likely to be caused by the loose outer lens then what can I do?</p>

<p>Thanks,<br>

Benhai</p><div></div>

benhai_zhang1 · May 8, 2009

<p>Another bad picture</p><div>

00TImS-132959684.JPG.8be4b09a54c95ad2a18a881efa84ce38.JPG

</div>

lex_jenkins · May 8, 2009

<p>It will help if you can post the EXIF data or tell us the exposure settings. JPEGs uploaded to the internet don't always contain complete EXIF data and some folks don't have software to read the data.</p>

benhai_zhang1 · May 8, 2009

<p>I lost original EXIF info cause I overwrite the original. Here is another blured picture.<br>

I don't see the focus distance information.<br>

Here's the full data:<br>

<strong><big>EXIF</big> </strong> — this group of metadata is encoded in 4,747 bytes (4.6k )</p>

<tbody>

<td>Color Space</td>

</tr>

<td>Components Configuration</td>

<td>YCbCr</td>

</tr>

<td>Compressed Bits Per Pixel</td>

</tr>

<td>Compression</td>

<td>JPEG (old-style)</td>

</tr>

<td>Create Date</td>

<td><small>2009:04:30 06:59:37<br /> 8 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes, 12 seconds ago</small></td>

</tr>

<td>Date/Time Original</td>

<td><small>2009:04:30 06:59:37<br /> 8 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes, 12 seconds ago</small></td>

</tr>

<td>Exif Image Size</td>

</tr>

<td>Exif Version</td>

</tr>

<td>Exposure Compensation</td>

</tr>

<td>Exposure Program</td>

<td>Program AE</td>

</tr>

<td>Exposure Time</td>

</tr>

<td>F Number</td>

</tr>

<td>File Source</td>

<td>Digital Camera</td>

</tr>

<td>Flash</td>

<td>No Flash</td>

</tr>

<td>Flashpix Version</td>

</tr>

<td>Focal Length</td>

</tr>

</tr>

<td>Image Description</td>

</tr>

<td>Interoperability Index</td>

<td>R98 - DCF basic file (sRGB)</td>

</tr>

<td>Interoperability Version</td>

</tr>

<td>Light Source</td>

<td>Unknown</td>

</tr>

</tr>

<td>Max Aperture Value</td>

</tr>

<td>Metering Mode</td>

<td>Center-weighted average</td>

</tr>

<td>Camera Model Name</td>

<td>CYBERSHOT</td>

</tr>

<td>Modify Date</td>

<td><small>2009:04:30 06:59:37<br /> 8 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes, 12 seconds ago</small></td>

</tr>

<td>Orientation</td>

<td>Horizontal (normal)</td>

</tr>

<td>Resolution</td>

<td>72 pixels/inch</td>

</tr>

<td>Scene Type</td>

<td>Directly photographed</td>

</tr>

<td>Thumbnail Length</td>

</tr>

<td>Y Cb Cr Positioning</td>

<td>Co-sited</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

<p><strong><big>PrintIM</big> </strong></p>

<tbody>

<td>Print IM 0x0002</td>

</tr>

<td>Print IM 0x0101</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

<p><strong><big>File</big> </strong> — basic information derived from the file.</p>

<tbody>

<td>Bits Per Sample</td>

</tr>

<td>Color Components</td>

</tr>

<td>Encoding Process</td>

<td>Baseline DCT, Huffman coding</td>

</tr>

<td>Exif Byte Order</td>

<td>Little-endian (Intel, II)</td>

</tr>

</tr>

</tr>

<td>Image Size</td>

</tr>

<td>image/jpeg</td>

</tr>

<td>Y Cb Cr Sub Sampling</td>

<td>YCbCr4:2:2 (2 1)</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

<p><strong><big>Composite</big> </strong> <br /> This block of data is computed based upon other items. Some of it may be wildly incorrect if the image has been resized.</p>

<tbody>

<td>Aperture</td>

</tr>

<td>Flash</td>

</tr>

<td>Focal Length</td>

</tr>

<td>Light Value</td>

</tr>

<td>Shutter Speed</td>

</tr>

<td>Thumbnail Image</td>

<td>(3,895 bytes binary data)</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

benhai_zhang1 · May 8, 2009

<p>Note the AF area is in the center for this old camera.</p>

benhai_zhang1 · May 8, 2009

<p>No focus info. Too bad! I did focus at the center.</p>

<p>Basic Image Information</p>

<tbody>

<td>Camera:</td>

</tr>

<td>21 mm<br /> <small>(Max aperture f/2)</small></td>

</tr>

<td>Exposure:</td>

<td>Program AE, <sup>1</sup> <big>/</big> 125 sec, f/2.8, ISO 100</td>

</tr>

<td>Flash:</td>

</tr>

<td><strong>April 30, 2009</strong> 6:59<small>:37</small> AM <small>(timezone not specified)</small> <br /> <small>(8 days, 9 hours, 18 minutes, 12 seconds ago, assuming an image timezone of US Pacific)<br /> </small></td>

</tr>

<td><strong>1,704 × 2,272</strong> JPEG (<strong>3.9</strong> megapixels) <br /> <small>1,747,540 bytes (1.7 megabytes) Image compression: 85%</small></td>

</tr>

<td>Color Encoding:</td>

<td>

<strong>WARNING:</strong> Color space tagged as sRGB, without an embedded color profile. <strong>Windows and Mac web browsers will treat the colors randomly</strong> .<br />

Images for the web are most widly viewable when in the sRGB color space and with an embedded color profile. See my <a href="http://regex.info/blog/photo-tech/color-spaces-page1/">Introduction to Digital-Image Color Spaces</a> for more information.

</td>

</tr>

</tbody>

</table>

lex_jenkins · May 8, 2009

<p>Can't say whether it's camera shake, focus error or something else. Even at 1/125th sec sometimes my hands shake too much for a steady photo.</p>

<p>I'd suggest putting the camera on a tripod or stable platform and using the self timer or remote to take a sample photo. Check the AF against a measured distance as well. Start by eliminating the possible variables.</p>

robbie_robertson · May 11, 2009

<p>These are all landscapes, and the EXIF data you did provide shows aperture at f2.8. For landscapes you want to shoot between f8 and f11 to get as much DOF as possible. That may be impacting your photos as well, depending on focus point.</p>

benhai_zhang1 · May 11, 2009

<p>Thanks All!</p>

<p>I tried all of above and seems that the reasons for blury are:<br>

1. Slow focusing that I'm not used to it anymore (^_^) since I'm shooting with D70 for several years already and not used to a slow focus camera anymore.<br>

2. No continuous focusing capability so it can not focus correctly from shutter pressed to picture taken.<br>

3. It seems to have some focusing difficulty in some certain lighting condition which I didb't do enough experiment.<br>

4. Hands shaken though I don't have these many blurred pictures on D70 (very few on D70 vs 1/4 on this PS).</p>

<p>Not sure what to do. Maybe time for an updated P&S for the coming vacation.</p>

stsva · May 11, 2009

<p>I don't think your P&S is at fault. For one thing, parts of the pictures you posted look pretty sharp, so I don't think you really have a focus problem at all (except maybe focusing in a place different from the place you want to be sharp). Do you know how to use a shooting mode that lets you select the aperture setting? If so, try some shots at f/8 (in bright light, so that the shutter speed will remain high to eliminate shake), as suggested by Robbie, and see how those look.</p>

benhai_zhang1 · May 11, 2009

<p>For the last picture you saw the close part is quite sharp. I took several shots at the same location and only 1/4 of them blured. Smaller apeture doesn't help much here.</p>

<p>I think the problem is mainly due to the AF speed of this older camera. This is a single area, center area AF camera, so when the left corner leafs are sharp (no hands shake) in Auto mode which indicatres that center AF system has some trouble to focus at the center objects.</p>

<p>Benhai</p>

penwaggener · May 12, 2009

<p>Have you cleaned the lens recently? On a lot of small cameras, a fingerprint or a smudge can noticeably affect focus and contrast, but not actually show up in the photo...</p>

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