need help, to buy or not to buy

[cuzzx]

I went on a cruise this past week and used my Kodak DX7630.

I took around 800 pictures, after viewing them on my computer I ended up with 625 pictures.
The others were either bad, fuzy, etc.

What I found out was, outside shots were very good but most inside shots were bad/fuzy to different extents.

I tried taking these inside shots in many different modes and with flash and no flash.

Can anyone help me or tell me of another camera that I might check into.

[Rex914]

2 words: camera shake

Since you probalby aren't familiar with photographic terms, I'll try and keep this as non-technical as possible.

Camera shake is what's causing your indoor photos to be blurry and fuzzy. This is happening because the picture isn't being taken quickly enough. When you hear the term "shutter speed" this refers to how quickly the camera takes the picture. So what's happening is that your camera isn't giving a high enough shutter speed. Because of this, even tiny movements in your hand can introduce shake into the picture. If you are getting shutter speeds slower than 1/30 s, this is what's happening.

So how do you make it faster? One way is to use a larger aperture. For the sake of argument (other people plese don't pounce on me!), the aperture could be equated to making the lens gather more light by enlarging the "hole" in which light enters the camera. You will have to use manual controls to control the aperture. Automatic won't let you do this. All you have to do is go into aperture priority mode and set the f-stop number as LOW as possible. Low f-stop numbers (f/2.8) correspond to larger apertures while high f-stop numbers (f/8) correspond to smaller apertures.

If you still don't get satisfactory results, you will need a camera with Image Stabilization (IS). Image stabilization allows you to take crisp shots at slower shutter speeds without having to use a larger aperture. How does it work? When you move the camera even the slightest bit, parts of the camera's lens will actually move to compensate for the shaking. If you are interested in a camera like this, look at the Canon PowerShot S2 IS, Sony CyberShot H1, Panasonic FZ5, and the Kodak P850.

- Rex914

[coldrain]

Or if you are interested in making non blurry pics of MOVING subjects in lesser light conditions, consider the Fuji S5200. It has no IS but it has less noise, making the use of higher ISO settings possible, allowing you to make faster photos.