Olympus SP-550UZ SP-550UZ Instruction Manual (English) - Page 63

Subjects that are difficult to focus on • Under certain types of conditions, it is difficult to focus using auto focus. The green lamp on the monitor lights, allowing you to check if the focus is locked. The green lamp blinks. The subject cannot be brought into focus. Subject with low contrast Subject with an Subject without extremely bright area in vertical lines the center of the frame Getting to know your camera better The green lamp lights, but the subject cannot be brought into focus. Subjects at different distances Fast-moving subject The subject is not in the center of the frame In these cases, focus (focus lock) on an object with high contrast at the same distance as the intended subject, recompose your shot and then take the picture. If the subject has no vertical lines, hold the camera vertically and focus the camera using the focus lock function by pressing the shutter button halfway, and then return the camera to the horizontal position while keeping the button pressed halfway and take the picture. Prevent blur by using image stabilization Be sure to hold the camera firmly with both hands and press the shutter button slowly so as to avoid moving the camera. To stabilize the digital image, take pictures with h pressed. Pictures are more likely to be blurry when: • images are shot at a high-magnification zoom setting, i.e. using both optical zoom and digital zoom functions, • the object is dark and the shutter speed is slow, or • the flash cannot be used or when a low shutter speed set s mode is selected. Taking stabilized pictures without the flash To take pictures in low light places without flash, set the following after setting the flash mode to [$] (Flash off). Set the camera to h mode g "h button Shooting with digital image stabilization" (P.14) Increase the [ISO] setting g "ISO Changing the ISO sensitivity" (P.24) The picture is too grainy There are several factors that can cause the picture to appear grainy. Using the digital zoom to take close-up pictures • With the digital zoom, part of the image is cropped and enlarged. The greater the magnification, the grainier the picture appears. g "DIGITAL ZOOM Zooming in on your subject" (P.26) Increasing the ISO sensitivity • When you increase the [ISO] setting, "noise", which appears as spots of unwanted color or unevenness in the color, can be introduced and give the picture a grainy appearance. This camera is equipped with a function to allow shooting at high sensitivity while suppressing noise; however, increasing the ISO sensitivity creates grainier pictures than when using a lower sensitivity. g "ISO Changing the ISO sensitivity" (P.24) EN 63