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I have a Canon SX420 IS camera. And I've looked everywhere on what this symbol might mean, but can't seem to find it. It blinks when I hold the button half way to focus before taking the picture.Can someone tell me what this means and if and how I need to fix it? enter image description here

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The Canon PowerShot SX420 IS User Guide (page 30) says that it's a camera shake warning. It shows up when you use a shutter speed that's slower than some minimum. In this case, your shutter speed is set for 1 second, which is considered too slow to hand hold. You'd need to use a tripod or other support to take a motion-blur free photograph.

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  • It's also on page 132 - "On-Screen Information" - which I think is the sensible place for a user to start their search for the meaning of on-screen icons.
    – osullic
    Feb 7, 2022 at 9:36
  • @osullic I did a search for 'Shake' and this was the first explanation I came across. Screen icons are usually explained at the front of the manual, not the end. Go figure...
    – BobT
    Feb 7, 2022 at 15:45
  • Oh I don't find any fault in your answer. It was just my 2 cents as to how a user might go about finding the answer to this problem.
    – osullic
    Feb 7, 2022 at 16:45
  • @osullic I didn't take it as criticism- I was explaining my lazy methodology and my slight surprise not to find the Icons explained at the beginning of the manual.
    – BobT
    Feb 7, 2022 at 19:36
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For me this looks like warning indicator about camera shake. As it is visible on the screen your shutter speed is 1 second which is long time for handheld.

You can avoid it by:

  • increasing ISO
  • add artificial light (of applicable)
  • set your camera on tripod (in such case you can ignore it)

But in any case shutter speed of 1 second for nonstatic objects is risky and you can get camera or object movement.

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