First off, congratulations on your new camera. It seems to have good color, and the photo is sharp especially if you shot through glass which I have no way of knowing.

That is a tough shot with the cat in the shade. What I can't understand is that you say you zoomed, but your exif shows, among other things, focal length 29.5 mm. That camera has 12X zoom out to 432 mm. 29.5 is at the short end, so I don't understand? Specs say 36 to 432mm. But sometimes the exif reads out odd focal lengths, maybe it's some kind of equivalency, I don't know the answer to that one.

How close in do you think you zoomed for that shot? I guess I'm curious because the cat doesn't show up bigger, but then I don't know how far away you were from the cat.

That camera has some nice features, didn't read through them all, but goes up to ISO 1000 which is pretty darn good for a camera in that price range. I don't know how noisy photos will be if you use that in low light. Hope I'm not talking over your head. I'm always interested in what the different cameras can do. If it doesn't have too much noise at higher ISO's, you should be able to get some decent indoor photos without a flash, depending on the available light.

I was pretty far away, but I think I may have been able to zoom in on the cat closer, but that was just the first photo. I just took some more and I was able to frame a cat so all you could see was the cat, but I was closer in those photos. I have not tired a photo without the flash indoors yet, but the flash indoors seems to work great. I am not sure how far away I was but it was like a short city block or less. The sliding glass door was open. With my old camera it would have been completely out of focus if I used the zoom. The macro can get pretty close also.

It did not do so well, indoors with low lighting. The photo don't have noise, but they are not well in focus. If one has some light coming from windows or a bright light on it does ok, but not a "Low light no flash camera". Still, I am very pleased.

Thanks for your explanation, as for me, I need to get immersed in some of the finer points of camerology I've been procrastinating about because they are complicated.

Auto focus in low light is probably the problem; it is a problem with lots of models, or it could be something else. And you can always try to manually focus, but it's tricky if you don't have a special ring, tricky anyway, but some people have a great eye for it.

Before you give up on the wonders of being able to take some shots without a flash (sometimes it's just better to use it), you might try holding a flashlight or laser pen just long enough to focus but turn it off before you press the shutter. Maybe also check your manual to see if the camera has a focus assist beam, probably not.

Yesterday of all things I photographed an amateur (customer-participation) fashion show with mixed results. But one of the neat things was it was well lit in there, my flash failed and I didn't know it right away. Some shots I did not want to use the flash on anyway because it would not reach far enough to do any good. I got a few really nice shots even if some were duds, think I used ISO 800 but then bumped it up to 1600 which was bad because that's when noise kicks in on mine. But maybe I needed the 1600 for a couple of them, can't remember.

The bottom line is that if you can crank up the ISO and can manage to focus, you can get a photo you could never get otherwise, even if it's a little noisy, it's better than no photo unless you can't achieve focus.

It works great at dusk, too. Another trick to focus is to point at something brighter and half press, but it should be the same distance or you may get what you want in focus blurred. While you are half pressing, reframe the shot and press all the way. I do that all the time in normal light even to get just what I want in focus. Somebody suggested to focus on the eyes so I do.

I'm just sharing some things I learned the hard way and by reading a lot, and if you knew some of this, please forgive me.

I can't zoom up as close as you can with what I'm now using nor can I get good macro shots, so if you can get the hang of it, you will be able to get some great photos. I'll bet that camera takes nice macros. Watch for camera shake, if you get too close, you may need a tripod.

My old camera was bought in 2001, it was also a cyber shot, but the zoom always had noise, and I never zoomed in on anything, they all looked terrible.

When I jumped to the new camera, I got shots I could never get. I have not tired the manual features, but there is a free class series from Ritz cameras, so I am going to take the free classes, and they will probably teach about that. The old camera had a manual focus, but it looked horrible, and so I gave up on that. I always used the auto setting for almost all photos, except in bright sun, the outdoor was better. The indoors made everything look blue, it was horrible. But, this one had both auto settings and a full array of manual ones I have to take some time to learn them. I saved your posting so I can refer back to it. Thanks for the tips.

Bug Girl, Sony had some cams with only digital zoom, they were awful when you zoomed. This one has x12 optical zoom, so zoom away!
I think there is an AF illuminator in your camera, check the manual. It will shoot alight out to help the camera focus in dark rooms.
JoanMN

Yes, my old camera also had an AF illuminator, and I used it mainly for photographying small objects indoors such as my doll collection.

There is small button that looks like a hand for shaking, but when pressed no hand appears on the LCD, so I don't know. I have to read the manual today.

My first camera had no optical zoom, and I always deleted the photos I zoomed in on because they looked bad. But, this will be great for my cats especially the shy ones. I can shoot them from afar and they won't get nervous. I had to be very close before to make the photos come out.

I plan to also get more tourist photos, and more photos of freinds.