Help on Focus in Low Light

[MichaelY]

Help !  I have an Olympus C-8080 ..... for outdoor shooting no issues but indoors in low "ish" light if I do not use the flash ( and in many cases the light is not that low that I should need the flash ) the pics I take end up blurred and in some cases significantly blurred as if I had moved the camera when  taking the pic. If I use the flash no drama at all , pics are fine...... but i do not need the flash in many of these cases. It has been very noticable lately whereas it wasn't previously so i do not know if I have knocked something or what??? The settings are pretty much left alone , WB is auto , ISO is auto , Focus mode is AF.  Any advice would be much appreciated......

[LoisWakeman]

I may be pointing out the obvious: but are you sure it isn't camera shake? We can't tell anything without an example. Have you tried using a tripod, for instance?

Find out what shutter speed/aperture/ISO combination is causing the problem. Therein may lie a clue. Or if not, can you focus manually?

Only you can look at your camera settings and see if you have changed something accidentally! I think I'd do this before posting such unspecific questions here  

[MichaelY]

I may be pointing out the obvious: but are you sure it isn't camera shake? We can't tell anything without an example. Have you tried using a tripod, for instance?

Find out what shutter speed/aperture/ISO combination is causing the problem. Therein may lie a clue. Or if not, can you focus manually?

Only you can look at your camera settings and see if you have changed something accidentally! I think I'd do this before posting such unspecific questions here 
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No its not camera shake , same shot set up with flash is crisp , looked at the settings and no obvious change.

[situgrrl]

No its not camera shake , same shot set up with flash is crisp , looked at the settings and no obvious change.
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Exactly.  The burst of flash freezes the movement - no blur.  Maybe it's time to go investigate the knobs buttons and menus and find out what they do!  You need to use a faster shutter speed and correspondingly either a wider aperture or higher ISO - or probably, both.  

I've never shot in anger with a digicam, I know I can hand hold certainly 1/4th and often lower with a rangefinder and wide angle lens, with a DSLR, I can go to a 15th on a good day.  Using the LCD finder of a digicam, I'd guess you are less stable than bracing an optical VF, see if you can keep the shutter above 1/30, though even there you may stuggle, back when I used film SLRs with their big mirrors, I stuggled to hold a 30th.  When you are this slow though, motion blur becomes as much of an issue as shake.