Where to go from Canon A85

[Countcussy]

As above really. Had this camera a couple of yeras. I am no serious photographer, but i am starting to look for something a bit better. Should i go Slr? Or have the digital compacts improved much in the last couple of years. As a golfer, I find a lot of course pics to be slightly dull (subject? ). I find it very difficult to take a good, sharp picture of a large area. Is it me or the camera? Example below.

This was a test shot and although it was a slightly cloudy day, you can see how its not a crisp as I would like. The flowers a blurry and the colours a bit washed out. Because of the way the autofocus works, it always picks out certain areas to focus, whilst leaving other areas softer and in some cases blurry. Its not so bad when you have an object to point at(see below), but on a landscape shot i just can`t seem to get it right. I have messed with auto focus settings to see if it helped (evaluate, spot, etc) but to no avail. I also think that having to press half way to focus and then shoot is causing a little camara shake, which is not helping. My camera does have a manual mode, but its a bit daunting and i really don`t know where to start. I used to use my dads SLR in my younger years, so I know what can be achieved, but at the same time, I also remember how much eqpt we used to carry round, which for holiday and golf, is not that practical.

So, am I asking the impossible? Is there something better but similar to what I have, or if i truly want great photos, do I need to explore the SLR route. Alternatively, is there anybody/anywhere that can help me take better shots with my current camera

I know this is in the other thread, but i will put it here as well, as this is a photo i was particularly pleased with.

 

[Bubo]

I know when I had my Canaon A70 I was the same as you, a complete and utter noob who simply left it on auto all the time, never understood F numbers or anything. Since using a SLR the first thing you come to grips with is F numbers as you are kind of forced to anyway. Once I understood how they affect the depth of focus I always wondered what my A70 would have been like if I'd tried closing the apeture in daylight shots like the ones above, as this increases the extent of focus at the expense of shutter speed. If I were you I'd look into that aspect of photography and see what you can do with your A85. I don't regret getting an SLR but like I say, I bet I would have got more out of my A70 had I tried to fully explore its capabilities before it packed in.

 

[Countcussy]

Thanks Bubo