Did I just waste $400 on a Camera? Panasonic GF3 help please

[p0rtal]

So, I bought a GF3 a while back and used it mostly for indoor well light situations on a tripod. I took it outside for the first time and attempted to snap pictures of animals and trees, flowers ect. Couldn't get a single decent picture due to the wind and everything blured. If it moves slightly, it blurs. I tried to use it in low light conditions inside a church for a really important event and the camera performed insanely poorly. REALLY BAD. People walking slowly couldn't be photographed, nor people talking or moving their arms or mouths or anything, it was dinty dirty and so bad i wanted to toss the camera into the wall. I spend hours fiddling with each setting possible and nothing, no iso setting, no priority settings were able to capture a single decent photo. Once the event was over and we went outside, it took great photos of still life, but once again couldnt take pics of anyone moving.

The problem is that everyone keeps telling me the settings for avoiding this are in my camera. I do not see them. I see Ap and Shutter priority, manual exposure and a bunch of scenes to select from but no matter what settings I toggle via expert advice, photos still blur. Did I buy the wrong camera for this type of thing? It seems excellent for still life, but really bad for anything even slightly moving. Watching and reading up on so many guides and reviews and its funny that not a single one of them told anyone what the optimal settings were for outdoor shooting. Everyone took still life pictures. What am I doing wrong?

 

[ksham]

There aren't many mirrorless cameras around. So judging it is a tad difficult. The Panasonic GF3 does have very low overall image quality along with a low res screen and little focal points. It does not carry an image stabilizer technology so it is very susceptible to blurring.

And compared to cheaper cameras, it's definitely not worth the $400 price or the $500+ on amazon right now. Surprisingly, given that it's like 2 years old, it's still pretty expensive.

 

[kenrivers]

I don't know about that camera but from experience shooting in low light a slow shutter speed will definitely cause blurring if someone moves during the shot. Just out of curiosity are you using a flash when shooting indoor, low light, photos? What settings have you used with manual exposure?

 

[p0rtal]

Whoa, thats news to me. What bridge cam is better than the GF3?

I originally had the cam set to Shutter priority with a user designated ISO setting and 1/400. The problem was that I could not get a moving object on film without motion blur. It seems the problem was the ISO setting, AUTO was needed. Once I set it to auto, it started taking wonderful pictures. The first two flowers in my gallery were swaying in the wind, so I am really happy with that outcome. However, indoor activities is the problem. I know the camera is not so good with low light, but it should really be better than this for the price of this camera. No flash indoor, Flash makes the pictures look like point and shoot pictures. I was hoping the 14-42mm or the Pancake were good enough in midlight ( not dark, but not quite daylight, more like near a window or door )
would turn out better. If it isn't set to manual and the photos are not of stationary things, it looks nasty. There must be something I am doing wrong, just not sure. I really can't complain at this point since the ourdoor pics are just shockingly good. But, I wasn't sure if I wanted to sell the zoom and the pancake H014 lens for the H-020 which is the lens Panasonic says is ideal for low light.

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