Camera Help...

[Nano]

So I have had my camera working quite well for a while, its a nikon P500. Taking some decent pics, but tonight for some reason I am trying to take some actinic shots, and I have the macro setting on, like always when shooting close, and I click the button, and its takes like 3-4 seconds to take the picture, and they are coming out blurry as if a "time lapse" kind of a shot. i dont get it, I haven't changed any of the settings, but its not working... ughhh

anyone know what I may be doing wrong?
Settings
Image quality -Fine
Image size -12m 4000x3000
Optimize image - More Vivid
white balance- auto/preset depending on what I'm shooting
ISO -400-600
Metering - Center weighted
Exposure Bracketing- Off
AF(auto focus) Area mode - Auto
Flash exp. Comp - 0.0
Long Exposure NR - Auto (no off setting..)
Active D-lighting-Off


Like I said it had been working fine until now.. not sure what the problem is.. I can't seem to change the shutter speed anymore, I can't find the setting..

[Nano]

its almost as if the exposure is set for a few seconds but its not

[Nano]

I've gone from Mediocre to suck..
before---Decent.. not great not terrible


Now.. Garbage.. I am lost.


...VOMIT!

[Nano]

now if I use my tripod and remote for taking the pictures I get these.
Mind you its not the most convenient way to take macros... I feel like its a shutter setting, but as said, i can for the life of me fix it.. these i just took with the tripod, and are decent, but i'd like to get closer, and i can't with the tripod. and with out it the pics are turning out like Shyte

[sphelps]

It's your shutter speed, it's too slow. Two best ways to increase it:
1. Increase aperture, in P&S type cameras not always an easy option, action settings usually do best or low light settings.
2. Increase ISO

[sphelps]

According to settings on before and after picture:

Before iso=3200
After iso=400

Before Exposure Reserved=0.033sec (Reserved is some kind of manual setting other than auto)
After Exposure Auto=0.600sec

So you're using different settings but mainly it's your iso

[Nano]

so whats a good ISO range? I know it depends on lighting, but for actinics? woud 600-800 be ok or still too low
EDIT
Tried 600-800 too slow-1600 to slow
3200 good, but grainy quality. lots of noise in the picture

ughh.. lol

[sphelps]

Originally Posted by Nano

so whats a good ISO range? I know it depends on lighting, but for actinics? woud 600-800 be ok or still too low
EDIT
Tried 600-800 too slow-1600 to slow
3200 good, but grainy quality. lots of noise in the picture

ughh.. lol

You pretty much summed it up there, lower is better for image quality and the higher you go the more grainy the picture becomes.

Like I mentioned before if you can increase the aperture you'll allow more light into the camera which will also speed things up. I see the P500 has an aperture priority (A) mode so use this setting, set aperture to min f number (3.5) and don't use any zoom otherwise min f number increases. Next you can change your exposure compensation a little to the neg side, maybe -1, the image will be darker but often this is better for lower light shots, this also speeds things up. Now you can try different iso values for best results.

Alternatively you can also shoot in Shutter priority (S) mode and set minimum shutter speed you need to prevent blur. Then simply increase iso until the image is bright enough.

With all that said though for best results use a tripod and turn off tank flow so everything sits perfectly still. This is best way to get good image quality, you can use lower iso and smaller aperture for better DOF in macro shots. The only sacrifice is shutter speed which doesn't matter provided the subject doesn't move. I would only pursue the other options if I can't get the subject to stay still enough.

[Nano]

thanks a ton Shelps. I will try this tonight

[sphelps]

No prob, you may also have a noise reduction setting to help with the grain effect from high ISO.