Sony New RX100M2 taking blurry pics

michibahn

Rookie
Hi guys,

I just bought a rx100m2 and I don't know if it has a problem. I took this picture using auto with timer. The camera is placed on a stable table. I was surprised that it was not sharp but blurred. Do you think my camera is defective?

11386061895_63a6c83b58.jpg


Here is the link to my flickr account - DSC00511

Thanks!
 
The girl in the glasses looks quite sharp and is likely the focus point. Everything else looks "sharp enough". Not as sharp as she is, but more than sharp enough (and obviously that is subjective). If you shot this in Auto mode, I can't offer any help. If you want sharp photos in dim lighting, you will need to use a different setting. I think your camera is working correctly.
 
Like Luke notes, it's not a blurry picture as you can see that the woman in the glasses is sharp...or at least sharp, relative to people at different depths. They don't seem spread so far apart (depth-wise) for it to be a depth-of-field issue, but that's what it appears to be. Looking at the EXIF info, you shot at f/1.8 at the 28mm wide end...so it seems that the camera was close enough and the DOF shallow enough that it couldn't possibly have gotten the whole group in focus at the same time.

It looks like, for this situation, you should have stopped down to a smaller aperture to get a deeper DOF.
 
Photo looks good for 1/30sec 28mm f/1.8 shot. DOF might be the issue as Luke said... I see also lots of motion blur when I took photos w/ 1/30sec shutter speed. That is min shutter speed for RX100 which sometimes ending in motion blur or vibration from hand holding it... Try different settings and maybe tripod to see if you see any problems...
 
Hi guys thanks for your inputs. So even if the camera is not handheld, it will still be blurred? The reason why I'm worried is because this picture was taken also with a different camera and that picture was sharp. The other camera was in a tripod and my rx100m2 is on a table which I made sure it ia stable.

What should be my setting in this type of scenario?

Sorry I'm new to photography.

Thanks!
 
It's a shame we can't see what the camera chose to focus on, as it seems to me that it has favoured the foreground in this shot. The red cracker and the green present in the box in the foreground are in much better focus than most of the faces of the subjects. Could the RX100 have picked up the edge of that cracker and the glasses of the lady behind as focus points, and focussed somewhere in the middle? That general area seems to be in focus.

Can you remember the focus mode the camera was set to ? Do you have face recognition turned on ?

(I'm interested myself in the answer to this as I have an RX100 and this is the sort of thing which happens to me on occasion)

It's a shame about the faces being slightly out of focus because otherwise this is a really good group portrait.

-R
 
Hi Richard, yes the face detection is on in this picture. I was hoping to get all faces that's why I turned it on but looks like it didn't :( I used Auto mode hoping that the camera will automatically use yhe best settings but it didn't :(
 
By the way the focus mode is single shot AF.

Also, as you will notice in all of the pics in my flickr account, it doesn't seem to have any sharp pictures in the set not only this group picture. I just don't know if I'm just being paranoid about the camera being defective. I was just expecting more for its price tag.
 
Face detection may have worked, because the lady in glasses is in focus. The part I don't understand is that things in front of her are generally in focus, but things behind her are generally out of focus. Not sure why that should be.

iAuto mode has probably worked for you, as the shutter speed, aperture and ISO are all appropriate to the shot. It's just the focus which is disappointing.

To answer your other point, placing the camera on a table will generally be fine for a photo like this (I'm assuming that it was taken with a self-timer so you wouldn't have vibrated the camera yourself by pressing the shutter). A sturdy tripod would be better still as that holds the camera rigidly in place, but unless you're pressing the shutter with your finger, or the camera is an SLR with a mirror clattering up and down at the vital moment, that shouldn't make much difference.

Just seen your second post above - I'm asking which autofocus area you have selected - is it Multi, Centre or Flexi Spot ? I will have a look at the other pictures on Flickr.

-R
 
Hi guys thanks for your inputs. So even if the camera is not handheld, it will still be blurred?

It depends on the circumstances.

The reason why I'm worried is because this picture was taken also with a different camera and that picture was sharp. The other camera was in a tripod and my rx100m2 is on a table which I made sure it ia stable.

Which camera was the other one? If the other camera has a smaller sensor, it would be able to produce deeper depth of field, and therefore more things in the photo will be in focus.


What should be my setting in this type of scenario?

What were you settings on the current photo? That will help gauging what 'better' settings might be.

Hi Richard, yes the face detection is on in this picture. I was hoping to get all faces that's why I turned it on but looks like it didn't :( I used Auto mode hoping that the camera will automatically use yhe best settings but it didn't :(

Face detection will not always get all faces in the photo in focus. In this case it looks like it focused on the girl with the glasses because the other settings (ie. aperture and shutter speed) didn't allow it to get every other face in focus.
 
I had a look at the other photos in your Flickr, it looks like the camera did a good job focusing, quite a few of the photos are in good focus. I can see where some of the faces aren't in focus but depending on the level of light in that house, it would be a perfectly normal result for a good camera.

This is why in difficult lighting circumstances, a more experienced photographer might want to take full control of the camera by taking control of the aperture and shutter speed manually. After setting the aperture and shutter speed. The only setting the camera needs to decide is the ISO.
 
Hi TraamisVOS, the settings that were used was Auto, self-timer, single shot AF, Multi focus. I think that all I can remember since I mostly set everything to Auto to snap quick pics.
 
I just took a look at the other pictures on Flickr. The next one along (DSC00510) is better for focus, don't you think?

I tend to agree with TraamisVOS that the camera is doing a reasonable job in the circumstances. I think when you're shooting in low light and the camera has its aperture fully open and shutter speed set to 1/30 you're going to lose a few shots to motion blur and things being slightly out of focus. Particularly when you're shooting a group of people.

You might improve things by manually setting a higher ISO, but experiment with that to see how you feel about the resulting images. At some point they will become more grainy and noisy than you will like.

-R
 
Ah yes, a shutter speed of 1/30 will absolutely lead to motion blur if the people in your photos are not staying completely still.

At an aperture of f/1.8, it also means that the lighting conditions were quite low too. Especially when taking into consideration that the shutter speed (exposure) was 1/30.
 
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