Shutter speed on my ELPH powershot is "SHOT"

[Donald - my hero]

We bought a new Canon Powershot ELPH 150 just before our trip in October and were so happy with it's performance. It responded with amazing speed and the pictures we got were awesome! We had a FP+ for Wishes and i just sat on the grass with the camera against my chest and just kept hitting the shutter button. I ended up with over 150 terrific shots.

Fast forward to January 2nd when i was attending our daughter's shower and had the only camera there ... the majority of the pictures look like everyone was running through the shot ... i could NOT get the shutter to respond fast enough to capture any candid shots. I'm open to any suggestions that could help me solve this.
this is one of my favourite shots of the fireworks ... no special "features" used just a simple push of the button.

 

[hakepb]

If that shower was indoors...in photography, indoors = bad light.
Turning on the flash would improve indoor pictures.
Good pictures in low light becomes a more expensive hobby. Bigger sensors and "faster" lenses cost more but capture more of the light.

The problem with an Auto mode, the camera has to guess what type of picture you are taking. Sometimes that guess is amazingly great (your fireworks). Sometimes it's not so good. Without a Sports mode, it's tough to recommend an easy setting that may help indoor portraits (without flash)

 

[mom2rtk]

Did it previously take good photos indoors?

Can I assume you weren't using a flash? When you say you couldn't get the shutter to go any faster, what were you trying to do to accomplish that?

Do you shoot in automatic mode?

 

[Donald - my hero]

WOW thanks for the quick responses! To answer your questions, YES it took awesome pictures indoor and outdoor both with & without flash. We were able to take pictures inside the rides (no flash obviously) even while the car was moving without any blur. I DID have the flash on for the shower. We did use some of the other features on the camera (OK it doesn't have many but i did flip back & forth between things like the silly "fisheye" miniature models) i also used the "low light" feature at home before we left to see how that looked.

When i said I was trying to make the shutter work faster i guess that is my silly attempt to explain the LAG between pushing the button & it actually taking the picture. URGH, I'm starting to think that it was just fluke that it worked in Disney and I've got a dud now I wish i could show you some of the shots from the shower but my girls would kill me if they knew i was putting them out in the here :O

 

[havoc315]

WOW thanks for the quick responses! To answer your questions, YES it took awesome pictures indoor and outdoor both with & without flash. We were able to take pictures inside the rides (no flash obviously) even while the car was moving without any blur. I DID have the flash on for the shower. We did use some of the other features on the camera (OK it doesn't have many but i did flip back & forth between things like the silly "fisheye" miniature models) i also used the "low light" feature at home before we left to see how that looked.

When i said I was trying to make the shutter work faster i guess that is my silly attempt to explain the LAG between pushing the button & it actually taking the picture. URGH, I'm starting to think that it was just fluke that it worked in Disney and I've got a dud now I wish i could show you some of the shots from the shower but my girls would kill me if they knew i was putting them out in the here :O

So you're pushing the button, and then there is a delay before it takes the picture?
Sounds like the timer is on.

Or are you clicking the button, and the shutter immediately opens but it's a slow shutter speed?

 

[Donald - my hero]

Ok, so i double checked and nope the timer is NOT on. And yup, you've got it, the shutter is open (i have the "power saver mode" turned off so it stays "on" until i power it off - i would rather re-charge the battery every night than miss a shot?) but i push the button and it just takes F O R E V E R to actually take the shot. I seem to have made it a "tad bit" better with all the fiddling around I've done in the last hour and i'm beginning to wonder if one of our kids got a hold of it at Christmas and thought they were doing this old bird a favour and made it work "better" Our 26 yr old is always trying to make our lives easier.
Thanks ever so much for helping me out

 

[havoc315]

Ok, so i double checked and nope the timer is NOT on. And yup, you've got it, the shutter is open (i have the "power saver mode" turned off so it stays "on" until i power it off - i would rather re-charge the battery every night than miss a shot?) but i push the button and it just takes F O R E V E R to actually take the shot. I seem to have made it a "tad bit" better with all the fiddling around I've done in the last hour and i'm beginning to wonder if one of our kids got a hold of it at Christmas and thought they were doing this old bird a favour and made it work "better" Our 26 yr old is always trying to make our lives easier.
Thanks ever so much for helping me out

Still confused. So you push down the button and release it, and then wait how long before it takes the shot?

Or are you holding down the button?

Is it beeping to confirm focus when you push down the button?

 

[Donald - my hero]

if i release the button as soon as i press it it doesn't take the picture at all. (even though that is how it DID function) I turned the sound back on (just now to answer that question) and yup, it beeps to let me know it's focused. SO i need to hold the button for a tad bit longer and then "most times" it does in fact take the shot.

Ok let's add to the weirdness factor here shall we? If i turn off the flash it functions just like i remember (you know, push the button & it takes the shot) but if the flash is on (either AUTO or set to flash always) it gives me the lag again and at times doesn't even take a picture at all?? I'm about ready to chuck it in the garbage can but with this wedding fast approaching i am determined to make it work (my mom told my hubby just before we got married that i have a wicked stubborn streak that she never figured out how to tame) It seems I'm just going to have to spend some time and "re-learn" how to use the camera the way it is NOW functioning not the way it DID.

 

[boBQuincy]

Most cameras have a "reset to defaults" menu pick to set it back to "as delivered" settings. If you are thinking someone may have "improved" it that would be a good place to start.

 

[Gianna'sPapa]

I know you're not happy with the photos but if there was a way to post one with the EXIF information, that could help diagnose the problem.

 

[hakepb]

Still confused. So you push down the button and release it, and then wait how long before it takes the shot?

Or are you holding down the button?

Is it beeping to confirm focus when you push down the button?

if i release the button as soon as i press it it doesn't take the picture at all. (even though that is how it DID function) I turned the sound back on (just now to answer that question) and yup, it beeps to let me know it's focused. SO i need to hold the button for a tad bit longer and then "most times" it does in fact take the shot.

Ok let's add to the weirdness factor here shall we? If i turn off the flash it functions just like i remember (you know, push the button & it takes the shot) but if the flash is on (either AUTO or set to flash always) it gives me the lag again and at times doesn't even take a picture at all?? I'm about ready to chuck it in the garbage can but with this wedding fast approaching i am determined to make it work (my mom told my hubby just before we got married that i have a wicked stubborn streak that she never figured out how to tame) It seems I'm just going to have to spend some time and "re-learn" how to use the camera the way it is NOW functioning not the way it DID.

there appears to be a "reset settings" mentioned in the Elph130 manual, so I would start there.

If it is still really slow with flash (only) after that, I might suspect the battery pack in the camera, it might only have enough to power the camera but not enough extra to power the flash?

 

[havoc315]

You could have the flash set on slow sync.