Blurry photos with Sony CyberShot?

I have a Sony CyberShot DSC-W5 digital camera that I purchased a year or so ago on Ebay. Browsing around on-line, it seems to be an expensive, well-rated camera. However, I can't seem to warm up to it. (I seriously miss my Pentax Optio!) I am always ending up with VERY blurry photos. It's not me, as I usually take great photos. After my baby shower this weekend, I was extremely dissapointed to find out that almost every single one of the photos taken with the camera (shot by someone other than myself) was blurry. Wondering what might be causing this. Do I have the settings wrong? Can battery life affect camera performance (camera seems to suck the life out of batteries VERY quickly)? Any tips would be greatly appreciated. If you can provide a website for reference, that would be great. Thanks!

Flash is functioning properly. Lighting is adequate in the photos. Just seems that if there is even the SLIGHTEST bit of movement from the photo subject, the picture turns out blurry. This happens indoors and outdoors.

You need to READ & STUDY the section in your Manual on "using flash". You have something set wrong since a flash usually "stops action" fairly well. A too-slow shutter speed sounds like the problem to me. Of course, it could be camera motion if you have to hold it at arms-length and it doesn't have image stabilization.

make sure its on the right thing eg. sunny or night time settings

plz help http://answers.yahoo.com/question/index;...

Is your flash functioning properly?

try changing the settings on ur camera according to the environment. like less bright during the day time and more bright during the night. clean ur camera lens and tryto stay steady while taking a picture. good luck!

Is everything in the picture blurry? Or is something in really sharp focus? It could be the camera is picking something other then what you want to focus on.

Have you tried manual focus? If you have and the pictures are still blurry, it could be you have a bad camera. or something might be out of alignment in the camera. It happen to me once. I let my mother in law borrow one of my cameras and she dropped or something, after that you have to manually focus it.

Is there a firmware update that needs to be installed?

If subject movement is the culprit, as you mention, then I would have to assume that the camera is choosing a shutter speed that is too slow. If the camera has a manual mode, try using it, at a faster shutter speed to see if you still have the problem.

You sound like a knowledgeable photographer. If you have already tried everything, and the photos still come out bad, I'd have to assume that the camera is faulty.

I agree with the earlier answerers, an electronic flash will normally always freeze the motion.

If you want to verify that it is your camera, use a tripod. The tripod will pretty much eliminate any camera shake that maybe blurring your images. Also, make sure your lens is clean and that someone hasn't accidentally placed a fingerprint on the lens. Be very careful when cleaning the lens as they can be scratched quite easily. A camera store should have the proper tools for cleaning the lens properly. With the tripod, play with the various camera setting and see on what settings the camera images are blurry. If the images are blurry on all settings, you may need to have the camera repaired.