to use or not to use indoor flash?

[ken212]

I have heard that sometimes when using a digital camera it is better to turn off the flash. My camera is an Olympus C 770 ultra zoom. When I take indoor pictures of my daughter on stage or playing basketball lots of times the pictures are dark, especially the ones on stage. I can't get that close to get pictures. So since the flash only reaches about 10 feet more or less and she is probably over 20 feet away. I will use the zoom, but someone told me to turn of the flash since this should help me take better pictures and they will not be as dark and will be clearer? Is this true?

[John_Reed]

I have heard that sometimes when using a digital camera it is better to turn off the flash. My camera is an Olympus C 770 ultra zoom. When I take indoor pictures of my daughter on stage or playing basketball lots of times the pictures are dark, especially the ones on stage. I can't get that close to get pictures. So since the flash only reaches about 10 feet more or less and she is probably over 20 feet away. I will use the zoom, but someone told me to turn of the flash since this should help me take better pictures and they will not be as dark and will be clearer? Is this true?Your distance shots of your daughter are dark because there's not enough light available where she's playing or standing to properly illuminate the shot. Yes, flash is useless for that, so it should be turned off, but in order to get enough light on her, you'll have to be able to either slow down the shutter speed, which will make her blurrier, or raise the ISO, which will speed up the shutter, but probably introduce noise. For the C770, you're limited to an ISO max of 400, so you don't have much latitude in that direction.

If you can afford to try a new camera to help you with this issue, I think the one that most applies to your needs would be the Fuji s6000fd, a camera with a maximum of 300mm zoom reach (less than your 380mm), but the capability of shooting up to ISO 1600, at least two f-stops faster than your Oly can shoot.

[David Metsky]

When the flash is on, the camera often chooses to use 1/60th of a sec for a shutter speed. Since the flash isn't really illuminating the subject at all, you end up with not enough light and a very dark image.

Follow John's advice about the rest.