Quote Originally Posted by twysted_prism
Hi there,
I am yet to take a photograph. I'm sticking with the fully automatic mode because I know that it *should* work but I can't get the shutter speed high enough to take a picture;
This is part of the problem. If you want a specific shutter speed you have to be able to set the shutter speed. Auto mode doesn't have a clue what you are looking for. Set the camera to Tv mode, set the shutter speed you are looking for, and see what aperture the camera is looking for.

Admittedly I got an ISO 100 film which is a little slow for light conditions at this time of year but even with manually setting the speed to 400/800 I still get this problem.
You can't set ISO film to higher ISOs unless you are willing to pay for special processing. Pushing 100 to 800 is very extreme for most films. Unlike digital, you are locked into one film speed.

On the two occassions that I got the speed up to 1/60 and even 1/125 (by pointing the camera at a blue sky with broken white clouds with the sun just out of frame!) it *still* refused to take a shot;
What is the aperture set to? Sunny 16 (pointing your camera at a blue sky) says that you should get an exposure of about 1/125 at f/16. Most lenses only go down to f/22, some f/32.

itdidn't even seem to want to focus. There is life there, the motors whirr and the frame goes into and then back out of focus but nothing else seems to happen. Certainly, nothing happens when I fully depress the button.
Only two reasons I can think of. There is not enough light for AF to work or the lens and/or camera has an AF problem.