Hints for preventing blur

Hold the camera steady, keeping your arms at your side and support the lens with the palm of your left hand. Step out with one foot to stabilize your upper body, leaning against a wall or putting your elbow on a table will also provide support. Using a tripod, or using the Super SteadyShot function is also recommended.

In a dark location, using the flash allows you to take a bright picture even of a subject in dim light and it also helps to prevent camera shake.

If you want to make the most of the ambient light, or if the subject is out of flash range, you can increase the shutter speed to reduce the camera shake without firing the flash by increasing the ISO. (However, this tends to make the image grainy or subject to noise.)

When the subject is outside the focus frame (Focus-lock)

Normally, in auto focus mode, place the subject within the focus

frame and take the picture. If the subject is off-center and outside the focus frame, the background within the focus frame will be in focus and the subject will be out of focus. To prevent this, use the focus-lock function by following the steps below.

•The focus-lock function is also effective when shooting subjects with which autofocus is less effective (page 15).

1Place the subject within the focus frame and press the shutter button halfway down.

•The z indicator lights up in the viewfinder. A local focus frame is illuminated briefly to indicate the point of focus.

14