Slow And Blurry Pictures In Low Light Rooms (E-510)

[contactadam2002]

When it’s reasonably dark and I zoom in (even slightly and despite the camera showing before, during and after that the shutter speed is about 1/4 or 1/8 seconds) the camera seems to leave the shutter open for almost or about 1 second whilst making a mechanical noise and the resulting picture is thus slightly unclear. The odd thing is that it doesn’t always do this even though the camera and lighting positions are the same. So as a result there is uncertainty as to when I’ll get clear pictures and when I won’t. I am using the Olympus e-510 primarily with the standard 14-42mm lens but sometimes the 40-150mm and viewfinder and rarely the live view. This also happens whether I use the internal or an external flash. The only mode that this problem never happens with (only using the internal flash) is scene mode set as portrait. What I want to know is whether it’s a design flaw or just my camera or a minor setting change?

[Greg McCary]

It would help if you showed a picture along with the EXIF data. It sounds as if you might have a problem if the camera does it sometimes and sometimes not. You might try recreating the problem shooting in manual at all shutter speeds. The mechanical noise you are hearing could be the image stabilization working.

[xwingkiller]

the other thing too, at 1/4 or 1/8, even with IS you cant really get a handheld shot or a shot of something moving even slightly to not blur. the option for you in that situation is to set the iso to a higher level, like maybe 400 and see if that can get your shutter speed up enough.

[dannn]

For low light focusing you could try this: Turn the flash off on the control LCD screen. Turn off the "Auto Flash Pop Up". Now..... when trying to focus in low light, manually pop up the flash and depress the shutter button. The flash will light up and allow the camera to focus. Hope this helps.

[T-M]

Set the AF Frame selection from AUTO to the center frame. The camera is probably hunting for something to focus on and if you select the center frame it will come to an autofocus decision much quicker. Also, if you are zoomed out at 1/4 or 1/8 second, that's pretty hard for most people to hand hold and it might also be subject motion. Of course, IS should help. As suggested above--use higher ISOs in low light.

[dannn]

That's a good idea to set the focus to the center .