Expert: John Oliverio - 10/30/2003

Question
Hi,
I have Sony Cybershoot DSC-F717 digital camera.
I need to take pictures of basketball games, but it seems i am not able to get good quality pictures. Is set Shutter speet to 1/125 to get sharpness and ISO to 400 to get the pictures brighter, but i still can't get goog brightnes or pictures without noise. What should i do? i know that it not some kind of sport photography camera, but can't i get a bit of quality out of the camera? Should i use Flahs or no? What settings should i set to get pictures without grain and noise andwith normal brightness?

The other thing - is it possible to use my Sony DSC-F717 camera as a webcam with my computer?

Answer
Mikelis,

I don't mean this to sound flippant.....  but:  You can't.

That camera just isn't all that good at that.  You need the 400 ISO to get a decent shutter-speed.  There is no way around it because you really can't get away with the built-in flash in a gym.  And 400 is what is causing the noise.  If your pictures still aren't bright enough, you will need to set a lower shutter-speed.  You could try adding a more powerfull flash.  But it takes a bit of practice to use one, and it probably won't help much.