PowerShot SX530 HS Poor Focus and Exposure

[MartyandJarty]

I am worse then a boomer with technology, help!

Help I don’t know what to do!

Background: I have a Power Shot SX530 HS Canon Camera and no photography background. 

Issue: I will get the camera to focus on the image I want. It’s perfect, it’s detailed, it’s amazing. Everything is set up the way I wanted; all the colors and everything. However, once I go to take the photo the camera “refocuses?” Whatever it does it over brightens my work. It blurs everything it makes it into a just a ball. 
 Ex: went to take a picture of the full moon- get set up, get the perfect photo, take, camera goes berserk and blurs everything, final result: an ugly blurred circle. 

🥺Help!🥺

[Tronhard]

Hi:

I would be one of those boomers who apparently don't know anything about technology... 🤔  Most of us on this site would come under that category.

What would help us is to know the settings and mode you are using to take photos when this occurs.   In terms of mode I refer to P, A, Av, Tv, or M. What kind focusing are you using - I assume you are using autofocus, but are you using the default for the camera or some other like single point focus?

Without this information it is a bit challenging to be absolutely definitive, but the likely scenario is that the camera is trying to autofocus on (in this case) the moon, at the same time, the sensor is trying to make sense of a very bright moon against a pitch black background.  When the camera is using the default metering for exposure settings, it tries to even out the exposure across the image and leave the average at a mid grey.  In this case the dominant element, in terms of exposure area, is the black, so it massively over-exposes the moon and, in doing so, it causes the camera to lose focus because the moon now is so bright it cannot find a clear point of contrast on it.

In such cases the best thing to do is to shoot in full manual, in which case you under-expose the image ( this may take a few tries) until the moon shows some texture or detail - e.g. craters, and at that point your focus system will have something to grab onto.

This image was taken with the Canon PowerShot SX50HS, @ 215mm, f/6.5, 1/320sec, ISO-500

As the biggest challenge is the massive contrast between the bright moon and the essentially black universe.  One way to mitigate this is to shoot the moon when the sun is up: the following image was taken under these conditions:

Sony RX-10 MkIV, 600mm, f/7.1, 1/500sec, ISO-100

The following article, from Nikon is still applicable for your camera and should offer a good starting point.
How to Photograph a Full Moon or Supermoon | Nikon | Nikon (nikonusa.com)

Check out this video by Gordon Laing: Moon Photography TUTORIAL Guide and Tips - YouTube

[jrhoffman75]

Many  cameras will not fire the shutter if focus cannot be achieved. Are you sure the camera is not focusing when you go to take the image, or are you just getting a severely overexposed image of the moon?

The moon is illuminated by the sun, so when you see a bright full moon it is basically high noon on the moon.

Try setting the camera to Manual mode and start with the Loony 11 settings of f/11, 1/100 second shutter speed and ISO 100. If your camera doesn't have 1/100 second shutter speed pick something close, maybe 1/125.

[Tronhard]

BTW, as you admit you know little about photography, I would suggest you invest a couple of hours and watch this basic tutorial from National Geographic Photographer Chris Bray HERE