Trying to understand camera

[BraenDead]

I am trying to understand something with my camera related to the flash setting. Before I begin, I have a Nikon Coolpix 3100 which is a couple years old but still works well. When I turn flash off for taking pictures of the tank the camera displays a flashing red hand and always takes blurry pictures unless I set the camera on a stable object (tripod, table, etc). Even then, the picture is sometimes blurry if I press the snap button too hard and the camera moves a bit. The thing I don't understand is if the flash is on 'Auto' and it decides that it doesn't need to use flash then the pictures are always crystal clear and I don't get the annoying flashing red hand in the corner. I have tried lowering the exposure time which helps with the blurriness but it reduces the colors and the picture is still a bit blurry.

Keep in mind that the blurryness is not a result of bad focus but a result of tiny movements in my hand from holding the camera.

Is there anything I can do to take a picture of the tank without flash and without the picture being blurry? It seems as though as soon as flash is turned off it turns off the automatic stabilization or whatever it is that keeps the picture crisp. Is this a problem on newer cameras?

Thanks,

Bob

 

[scothew]

One trick you can try, if you are having a problem with you pushing the button on the camera and thats what is causing the blur, set the timer on your camera as if you were going to take a pic of your self. Basically what that is going to do is start the timer and that will give you enough time to completely remove your hand from the camera before it snaps.

 

[Frisco]

The camera is doing this because there's not enough light to get a proper exposure using just the ambient lighting, and the camera is trying to add a light source to compensate and keep the exposure time low. There is a sensor inside the camera that analyzes the amount of available light and turns on the flash when there is not enough light. You should try to either improve the ambient lighting somehow or put the camera on a tripod or something else stable and use the timer like scothew said. HTH

 

[BraenDead]

Thanks a lot for the advice, that definately explains it and I think the timer is a great idea. Hopefully my next camera will be a bit more forgiving!

Bob

 

[gregr]

One more piece of info- when you put the camera in Auto it's choosing a very high iso and that's why the pictures were turning out ok that way. Each doubling of the iso [film speed] doubles the shutter speed (or halves the aperture if you want more depth of field instead of a faster shutter speed).