Help with a Nikon CoolPix 5600

[Orrex]

We've had this camera for about 3 1/2 years, and it's generally served us quite well. We aren't trying to take any award-winning panoramic shots, but we shoot a lot of family photos and the like.

In the past few months, however, we've noticed that the camera has gotten more finicky in its demand to be held motionless during a shot. In the early days, we could basically point-and-click and get terrifically clear photos, but now it's like we have to brace against a tree or a building or the Rock of Gibraltar. What has changed?

For purposes of comparison, we're talking about basic outdoor shots in late afternoon light, because these are the ones that have shown the biggest apparent loss in image quality. Now, it seems, the camera gives us the "blurred image" warning more often than not, and even when it doesn't give the warning, the image isn't guaranteed to be sharp.

I performed the "reset all" function in the camera's setup mode. Is anyone familiar with this kind of problem? Is there anything else I can do?


Thanks for your insights!

[ConsAreLiars]

1. Can you post a small image of one of the problem photos.

There might be some helpful information in the EXIF data normally added into .jpg digital files.

[Orrex]

3. I'll see if I can come up with one

I've been taking pics in full-size mode, yielding files in the 1.2 meg range, but I'll try reducing the image size to see if the same problem occurs. If it does, then I'll post the results.

Thanks for the suggestion!

[ConsAreLiars]

5. Get the free program Irfanview.

http://www.irfanview.com/

Apart from the many other features that has made it top-rated freeware for many years on every relevant list (you will learn why as you use it), it makes it very easy to resize and otherwise modify your original file and save the resulting image under another name, like from DSC000079.jpg or whatever name your camera generates, as DSC000079-tiny.jpg .

Open the original into Irfanview, then use the Image-Resize/Resample menu option to set the dimensions and filesize of the output file. 600-800 pixels wide would give a good enough image to see if the image itself (apart from the EXIF data), and under 200kB is a good target in most cases.

Save/rename it, put it on the web somewhere and post that link (ending with .jpg) here, and we in this forum will try to provide more help.

[JeffR]

2. At a guess, it sounds like it might be an aperture problem.

As Cons noted, the EXIF data might provide some clues.

[BrightKnight]

4. Check the ISO sensitivity setting.

Set the ISO sensitivity to "auto" if you can. I believe that Nikon has that option on all of their digital cameras.

If that does not work try selecting the option to reset the camera to default settings.

As others have suggested we could probably find the problem by looking at the EXIF information in one of the pictures.