Z2 problems

[canit]

Hello. I'm a newcomer and I have browsed through all the threads in the section to make sure that no one has tackled my problem. It seems that I am going to be the first one to post this problem.

Last summer I got the Dimage Z2 and it functioned perfectly. I managed to take really stunning pictures during daylight. But since the days are getting shorter (winter), much of the photos are being snapped during sunset and late at night. And here problems began. When there is medium or low light the pictures get blurry and out of focus. Too much for my tastes. For example last week I took a picture at a restaurant and I had to use the flash all the time. And we're talking in a restaurant! I even tried to put the camera on the table to avoid my hand shake and set the self-timer but still, there were some things in the far background which got unfocused.

I was quite surprised at this deficiency and I'm partly convinced that this problem can be solved. I have tried different modes (setting aperture and shutter speeds, browsing through the 'Auto' and 'Program' mode) but till now up to no avail.

Hope you can help me solve, or at least minimise as much as possible my problem. Thanks and regards.

[pmnapier]

I'm a newcomer to these forums but I'll take a stab at your Z2 problems, owning a Z2 myself. Along with you, I found daylight photos are generally terrific. However, hand-held in low light plus any significant zoom usually equals blurry photos since the Z2 has no image stabilization. Remember, at full zoom, you probably want around 1/400 second shutter speed with hand-held (and even then you need a steady hand). That's very tough in low light with the Z2. A possible (but partial) solution may be to check your ISO settings. Manually set to 200 or 400. This will buy you a little faster shutter speed. Shots will be noisy, particularly at 400, but noise reduction software can help with that immensely, potentially saving the photo.

As for your restaurant photo, if you set the camera on a table and used the timer, are you sure the auto focus set the appropriate focus point? Is it possible the camera focused on the near foreground thus leaving the distant background out of focus (despite a rather generous depth of field).

Just some thoughts.