“We think our camera is broken and are wondering if we should take it back.” said a colleague at work, describing her family’s new camera. “What’s making you think it’s broken? I asked. “Almost all the pictures are blurry,” she said. I immediately suspect camera motion and ask a few diagnostic questions. “Are you using the camera indoors or outdoors? Are you zooming in for tight close-ups? Are you taking action photos or staged portraits” Basically, she answers, “Yes.” “It’s probably camera-shake.” I offer. “But it has image stabilization! Do you think you could take a look at it?” I’m no expert, but in this situation, given that we both flounder at the low end of the clueless scale, I figured two heads would be better than one. I agreed to take a look at the camera, the camera manual, and some examples of the problem photos. Figure 1 F3.2 Shutter Speed 1/4 ISO 200 A presumably stationary Christmas ornament. This is an example of motion blur caused by camera movement. The Panasonic Lum...
a photographer's take on ART, SCIENCE & THEOLOGY in the Pacific Northwest