When in A priority mode shutter speed is sometimes slow and laboured causing blurred shots...why?

Blurred images are caused by several reasons: motion due to camera shake, use of slow shutter speeds and failure of the camera to focus correctly.

Slow shutter speeds

When light is low, wide apertures and slow shutter speeds will be selected automatically by the camera. Most people can't take blur-free, hand-held shots when the shutter speed is under 1/60th of a second.

Cameras that have optical Image Stabilization help but even IS has its limits. Increase room lighting, increase the ISO setting or use a tripod, or use a combination of all three.

Blurred images or misfocus

If an image is blurred due to camera shake, the blur will appear throughout the entire image. If parts of an image are in focus, and others are not, you've misfocused.

if you are shooting in manual mode or with aperture or shutter priority, be sure your shutter speed is fast enough to avoid blur. hand-held shots are typically safe at 1/250 or faster.

The D40 will not take great photos of an indoor event without blurring or noise. You need a fast lens and a high ISO using the popup flash or on camera flash would be ideal but some of these events you can not use flash. All these images I shot with a Nikon D40. http://www.facebook.com/home.php?src=fftb#/pages/Keller-TX/Raving-Design/78762448229?v=photos&ref=ts Learn to use the camera for ur events. Experiment it's all about trial and error. Ray

Check to see if your camera is in Macro mode. This may cause blur. Also hit your function/set button to see if it is in digital macro mode.

Make sure your lens is clean.

Make sure you are set to automatic mode and zoomed all the way out. There are several things that may cause blur, the most of which is camera shake. Make sure your Image Stabilization is turned on. If it is, you will see a little hand in the bottom right corner of the LCD screen.

If it's not on, turn it on in the setup (tools) menu.

If your shutter speed is slow, this will cause image blur, but in auto mode, you won't have to worry about the shutter speed, it will be set automatically.

Hope this helps.

from the manual: Using Shutter-Priority Mode 1. Set the mode dial to S (shutter-priority) and a yellow arrowhead on the screen points to the current shutter speed. Press the jog dial and the current shutter speed turns yellow. 2. With the current shutter speed displayed in yellow, rotate the jog dial to select the speed you want to use. 3. Take the picture. If a workable aperture isn?t available for the shutter speed you?ve selected, the shutter speed indicator on the screen flashes when you press the shutter button halfway down. You can use the setting as is, or press the jog dial down to select the shutter speed again and rotate it to select a new shutter speed.

Try the PROGRAM MODE-SPORTS setting. this will keep the shutter speed reletively high unless there is little light. Or use APERTURE PRIORITY MODE with an f2.0 to f2.8 to keep shutter speed high. If pictures were blurry when it went to AUTO then the light had to be low for the camera to select a low shutter speed. If using flash use forced or auto flash not slow sync. Also set ISO to 400 which is >>>. If inside use a larger external flash as the one on-camera is only good for about 10ft. if more than 10ft. away set focus to manual infinity so you don't have to wait for the camera to focus. Hope this helps.

re you sure the out of focus condition is due to the actually focus or do to motion blur? I think the 3100Z in auto and flash on will set the shutter speed fairly low like 1/30th of a second for wide angle and 1/90th for full telephoto. This may not be fast enough to avoid motion blur. I would suggest using manual mode and shutter priority and set the shutter speed to 1/100th of a second. This won't effect the flash output but will reduce the amount of ambient light being captured which could cause long range shots to become darker in the distance. Name of the game, don't be afraid to take it off auto mode and experiment with manual setting.

First, try to get more light, particularly natural light (window); second, try using shutter priority (S mode), setting the shutter speed at not less than 1/50, faster if you are shooting motion/action (check the Properties of the blurred pictures that you've been getting in Camedia software - the shutter speeds are probably too slow because of the low light), and experiment with higher ISO settings (either 200 or Auto, not 400) though there's a trade-off in noise levels.

With the camera you have, noise isn't much of an issue when pushing the ISO to 400, 800 or even 1600. Try setting at ISO 400 and change it to manual mode or shutter priority and then choose a faster shutter speed. Take some test shots. If it's still blurred, increase the shutter speed and ISO to 800 and try again.