Help with my new camera?

hello i have just bought a fujifilm finepix s1600. my old point and shoot camera has broken and i want to take more quality pictures. i felt that this fuji film was the next step up instead of going all out and buying an expensive dslr that i don't fully understand.
what i really want to do is take pictures with an out of focus background and the subject to be in focus. i can manage to do this on my fuji when taking pics of small things and also using the super macro feature of small things. but when i take pics of my dog or people it never seems to work and i get the tinyest blur if i'm lucky. i would really like to be be able to get a dramatic blur sometimes. the maximum aperture is f.3 , which i have set it to because i know you need it wide to make a shallow depth of field but it just doesnt seem to work. Do you think i am doing it wrong or is this camera not capable of 'blurring' and i need to get a better one? (sorry if this is in the wrong section)
thank you very much

Well you understand the principles that you need a wide aperture to get an out of focus background, but on a camera like that you don't have much control. Further the lens won't perform taht well at wide apertures like the professional DSLR lenses. Wide apertures also give you a shallow depth of field, i.e. not much room for focussing errors on moving subjects.

Best I could suggest would be to zoom your lens to near maximum (telephoto), be reasonably close to your subject, say just a few feet for a close up on the dogs head. Set your ISO to around 100/200, if you can control aperture in any way, set it close to widest (lowest number). That will be a start.

If you really want to play with a cheap DSLR and get better pictures, go and buy a secondhand Nikon D40 (less than £200) with an 18-55mm lens or consider a new D3000 or D5000. The quality and versatility will leave your compact standing. (Canon, Pentax, Sony all do DSLR's) but I don't know their ranges in detail. HTH.

The main issue you will have with that Fuji is the Sensor Size. It is tiny (6mm x 4mm approx) and this drastically affects the Depth of Field you can get. Smaller sensors get a greater DoF from the lens due to their massive crop factor, great for Landscapes, not so great for portraits.

If you compare the sensor size of your Fuji 6mm x 4mm with the entry level Canon 1000D 22mm x 14mm you can see that your sensor is a quarter of the size of an entry level DSLR, of course the price reflects that.

The reality is, you will not get the shots you want with that camera unless, as BlackCloud has stated you get really close to your subject, as distance affects DoF (the closer you are, the shallower the DoF) which is why you get a nice DoF when you use your Macro mode.

Alan.

Its a common error people make, getting a relatively cheapy compact camera and expecting it to perform the same as a medium/high end DSLR. Good though they are one cannot in reality expect to get the same versality and range of features.
This is why I ALWAYS recommend getting a decent DSLR in preference to a compact.It can still initially be used on Auto setting, BUT with a little hands on experience one can start to use some of the other settings in a very short time. Another huge drawback is you are strictly limited with just the lens a compact comes with, whereas a Dslr with a "kit" lens is a good starting off point with the oppertunity to add other lenses at a later date.

Don't get me wrong I am not knocking compacts they are now very good at what they do, but they have to be treated more or less as just a point and shoot camera and not expect to much more.

Bazza

Agree with many of the technical points already made.

As BC said, your best chance on a compact is to either use the macro mode and get really close to your subject, or zoom as much as you can and experiment with positions (of both distance to subject and distance from subject to background) and see how you get on.

I would also recommend the D40 - it is a great started DSLR

thanks everyone for answers, i should have done more research when i got my camera, will deffo look into nikon d40. i think i thought i didnt know enough or have enough experience in photography to get a dslr.

The d40 has an 'auto' mode which basically makes it like a very very good compact... does all the hard work for you

it sounds really good. what about it only having 6mp? does that make much of a difference?
thanks again,

DD
.
Its the person behind the camera that makes the difference !!

Bazza

Get the Canon 1000D, has usable ISO 1600, is 10.1 Mpixels, the kit lens 18-55 is a great starter lens and you can get the body and kit lens for about £330-350.

The user interface is ace too.

Alan.