Z740 cannot focus on long-distance indoor shots

Appears that the f stop on your camera is not working properly with the result that your outdoor shots are overexposed. Could be the f stop motor, the photo cell reading lite level, etc. Definitely a job for a pro.

Might cost a fortune to repair so might be advisable to cut losses and get new camera since parts and labor on those devices are costly.

if you are doing flash photography you will have to limit the shots to a distance of 10-15 feet to get nicely lit pics. also try setting the exposure compensation to +2 to brighten up the pic. Also are you shooting on manual ???

OHH - I can met this problem before , the camera is trying to auto focus and in the time it does the focus the action has passed.
Take a light & speed setting - then switch to manual mode OR manual focus , this will eliminate the AUTO focus looking for best light reading distance etc.
Some cameras also have a "fast" setting which is usually a 'running man' icon - click this button and the picture will drop back to 5mpixels but it will take a quick shot instead of saving then scanning at a slower speed.

Ray

I wonder if your autofocus is having problems. It may never get a distance number and is just sitting there waiting for it to figure out how far things are.

There is no other real difference when taking close or far just the focus. If you take the camera and set it to manual focus to try and take some distance shots. If that works then that is the problem.

As far as fixing it that depends on the value of the camera. Unless it is one of the higher end cameras the cost of repairs will be more than a new replacement camera. If you have warrenty this is covered. So check out your warrenty, check out the repair cost estimate, and check out what a new camera will cost. If you don't want to spend the money then your only option will be to learn how to do a manual focus for distance shots. It isn't hard just take a little practice. Unlike close photo's distance ones are not that picky for focus.

That happened to my sister and it ended up saying that the photo's on the card were contaminated and they had been deleted. I used a program I have to recover them.
I got all the photos back. 196 from graduation
I tried to repair the card, took some more pics, but they had lines in them.
I figured it wasn't worth losing photos and told her to buy a new card.

Your auto-focus mechanism needs light to see the detail. Most flash units have a pre-flash(usually red) or if your not using flash, the camera has  a kind of red flash light that turns on to provide some light. And even that only reaches out so far.  in a darkened room, try pressing the shutter button down to see if it has this "focus illuminator" (you can usually figure out where it should be on the front of the camera). if it doesn't light in a darkened room, it's probably broken, which means 1 of three things: get it fixed, focus manually, turn on some lights

blurry pictures often comes from the slightest movement when the pictures is snapped.
Don;t know if that is your problem or not try a photo tripod and see if that helps or check your trouble shooting area of your amnual. if you don't have the manual go to this site for any type of manual::::
http://tv.manualsonline.com/search.html?q=vr+5940&submit.x=35&submit.y=14

Built in flash units on digital cameras are only meant to be used out to a distance of 6-12 feet. When taking photos of events ie graduations, sporting events, concerts you need to do two things. 1). Change the ISO setting on your camera. This is the same as the old film speed ratings the higher the number the more sensitive the camera becomes. try ISO 1600 or above in low light. 2) You have a mode setting, set it for the type of lighting that is in the space you are in, incandescent, flourescent or whatever, it's easy to do. and finally 3) Turn off your flash! When your flash is on your camera closes up the aperature and takes the picture at a higher rate of speed in anticipation of reflected light off of nearby objects, so your pictures will be darker and blurrier with the flash on.
Even high grade professional flashes only work out to 20-30 feet so they won't help you. Read your cameras manual on taking pictures in low light conditions. It will give you all of the above in great detail. You have a great camera but you need to learn how it works, don't give up on it.

Check to see that the camera is not in "macro" mode, which would only allow focusing at a close range, but not allow focusing at beyond about 2 meters (look for the "flower" symbol to tell you that macro is activated). Could also be an out of adjustment lens, due to impact or force. Also check to make sure it's not as simple as a dirty lens. Digital cameras are more succeptable to blurry pictures from a smudged lens than film cameras were. Of course, that wouldn't explain why close shots are OK but distant ones aren't. Probably the first two suggestions.

try to adjust the mode in which you are taking the snaps....like NORMAL,DYNAMIC,USER,ETC

thanks