I hav the Canon A640... bad focus? Sony DSC-N2 instead?

my father recently bought this camera. Over the holidays, the pictures we took were preety bad.. the camera focused on the wrong thing everytime... for example.. if we took a picture of a house.. it focused on the tree to the side, and everything else is blur. this was all taken in AUTO mode. why is this?

Is this too complicated for someone who doesnt know much about cameras?.. should i get the DSC-N2 sony instead?

No, the A640 is an excellent camera. You just have to change the way that the camera is focusing.

I suggest that you turn off the AIAF (which I never use, and it's probably what your camera is set to). You should then use centre focus point instead. That way, you know exactly which area you are focusing on. You should have much better results.

You have to go into the menu to change it. (Page 47 of the user manual shows you how). Its not the camera, its the user. Autofocus cameras take a little getting used to, because as you're finding, the camera may not always be focusing on what you are looking at.

I would start by reading the manual, especially the section concerning the autofocus. Most cameras will have a way of holding a focus - usually by depressing the shuter halfway. You focus on your subject first and then by holding the shutter halfway you can then change the composition.

For example, you want a picture of your child standing beside their new car. The child stands off to the right. You focus on the child and hold the shutter halfway, then reframe the shot to include all of the car by turning to the left slightly.