My camera shuts off immediately after I turn it on.

Most digital cameras have an auto focus function, to activate the auto focus press the shutter button half way down until the you get a green light or indicator then press the shutter button the rest of the way down.

"Turn the on knob"? You turn on the N2020 by lightly pressing the shutter release button. Do the meter indicator LEDs inside the viewfinder light up when you lightly press the shutter release button?

Besides the auto-flash mode, you can select fill flash, flash off, self-timer, and nighttime-view with or without flash.
Press the MODE-SELECTOR BUTTON until the desired indicator appears on the LCD PANEL.
Fill flash and flash off modes remain selected after you take the picture. To cancel the selection, press the mode-selection button or close and reopen the lens cover/flash to return to the auto-flash mode.
Fill flash
When bright light indoors or outdoors comes from behind the subject (backlighting), dark shadows (especially on faces) may occur. Use fill flash to lighten these shadows.

1. Open the LENS COVER/FLASH to raise the flash and to turn the camera ON.
2. Press the MODE-SELECTOR BUTTON repeatedly until the FILL-FLASH INDICATOR appears on the LCD PANEL.
3. Frame your subject within the VIEWFINDER EYEPIECE.
4. Partially depress the SHUTTER BUTTON. When the FLASH/CAMERA-READY LAMP turns off and the fill-flash indicator on the LCD panel stops blinking, fully depress the shutter button to take the picture.

Flash off
When you do not want to use the flash, especially indoors where flash is prohibited, such as in theaters and museums, or when you want to take twilight scenes or distant subjects that are beyond the flash range, or capture the ambiance of existing light, use the flash-off feature. Use a tripod or place the camera on another firm support, and use high-speed film because the shutter speed in these situations will most likely be slow.

1. Open the LENS COVER/FLASH to raise the flash and to turn the camera ON.
2. Press the MODE-SELECTOR BUTTON repeatedly until the FLASH-OFF INDICATOR appears on the LCD PANEL.
3. Frame your subject within the VIEWFINDER EYEPIECE.
4. Press the SHUTTER BUTTON to take the picture.

Self-timer with auto flash
Use this feature to include yourself in pictures.

1. Use the TRIPOD SOCKET to attach the camera to a tripod or place it on another firm support.
2. Open the LENS COVER/FLASH to raise the flash and to turn the camera ON.
3. Press the MODE-SELECTOR BUTTON repeatedly until the SELF-TIMER INDICATOR appears on the LCD PANEL.
4. Frame your subject within the VIEWFINDER EYEPIECE.
5. Press the SHUTTER BUTTON. The SELF-TIMER LAMP will glow and then blink during the last three seconds of countdown.
   • To cancel the self-timer selection before the shutter releases, close the flash.
   • The self-timer automatically turns off after the shutter releases.

Night-view with flash
In this mode, the camera balances the flash and existing light exposure so you can take beautiful pictures of people at sunset or at night. Use a tripod or place the camera on another firm support, and use high-speed film because the shutter speed at night will most likely be slow.

1. Open the LENS COVER/FLASH to raise the flash and to turn the camera ON.
2. Press the MODE-SELECTOR BUTTON repeatedly until the NIGHTTIME-VIEW INDICATOR with flash appears on the LCD PANEL.
3. Frame your picture in the VIEWFINDER EYEPIECE.
4. Press and hold the SHUTTER BUTTON for 12 seconds without lifting your finger. Note: If you remove your finger from the shutter button before 12 seconds, the shutter will time out immediately.
   
5. After 12 seconds, release the shutter button to take the picture.

Night-view without flas
In this mode, you can capture the natural existing light of city-night scenes or fireworks at night. Use a tripod or place the camera on another firm support, and use high-speed film because the shutter speed at night will most likely be slow.

1. Open the LENS COVER/FLASH to raise the flash and to turn the camera ON.
2. Press the MODE-SELECTOR BUTTON repeatedly until the NIGHTTIME-VIEW INDICATOR without flash appears on the LCD PANEL.
3. Frame your picture in the VIEWFINDER EYEPIECE.
4. Press and hold the SHUTTER BUTTON for 12 seconds without lifting your finger. Note: If you remove your finger from the shutter button before 12 seconds, the shutter will time out immediately.
   
5. After 12 seconds, release the shutter button to take the picture.

TTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTTITf correct focus cannot be obtained
When the subject to be focused is not on the AF target mark (not positioned
in the center of the composition), you can use the following steps to obtain the
correct focus on the subject. This operation is referred to as "focus lock".
Determine the position of the subject after focusing (Focus Lock)
1 Press the power switch.
• The camera turns on in the shooting
mode.
• The lens extends and the monitor turns
on.
• The orange lamp lights.
2 Turn the mode dial and select a
shooting mode.
"Shooting mode" (P.36)
3 Position the AF target mark on
the subject you want to focus on.
• When shooting a hard-to-focus
subject, point the camera at an object
about the same distance away as the
subject.
Press the shutter button halfway
until the green lamp lights.
• When the green lamp lights steadily,
the focus and the exposure are locked.
• When the green lamp blinks, the focus
and exposure are not locked. Release
your finger from the shutter button, reposition
your subject and press the
shutter button halfway again.
5 Keeping the shutter button
pressed halfway, recompose
your shot.
6 Press the shutter button fully.
Try the above, info from D-535, C-370 and X-450.
I can email you the complete manual if this works.
Regards
Phillip

If you check page 45 in the manual, you'll see that the orange light during the half press indicates that the flash is turned on. A single beep means that the camera is having difficulty getting a "focus lock" (usually when shooting in low light conditions). See page 100 of the manual for suggestions on how to improve the chances for getting a well-focused picture.

There are a couple issues related to "slow" that I have with my C-750, and this is how I get around them.

One is the write speed to the xD card. This can prevent you from taking sequential pictures quickly, as the camera displays the current picture it is writing until it finishes. You can make the image of the current picture go away and use your viewfinder again, while the camera is writing the picture, by pressing the shutter button halfway and releasing it. Then you can see your subject in the viewfinder again!

Second is the delay between the time the shutter button is pressed and the time the shutter actually opens (when the camera actually takes the picture). This can be fixed by lining up your shot and pressing the shutter button halfway and holding it for a few seconds. This will give the camera time to adjust and lock focus, shutter speed, etc. There is a small green dot on the display below the battery indicator which will blink a few times when the button is pressed halfway, then remain on steady. When the green dot is steady, the camera is ready. Press the shutter button, and the camera should immediately take the picture.

Auto Mode In this mode, all you have to do is press the shutter button and let the camera do everything else. 1. Turn the camera on.
2. Turn the shooting mode dial to .
3. Aim the camera at the subject.
4. Use the zoom lever to achieve the desired composition (relative subject size in the viewfinder).

• The angle of view can be adjusted within the 45 to 100 mm range, in 35mm film equivalent.
• When the LCD monitor is on, the combined use of the digital zoom and optical zoom enables magnified shooting up to approx. 7x.

5. Press the shutter button halfway.

• Two beeps will sound when the camera has finished metering, and the indicator will light green or orange. If the LCD monitor is on, the AF frame will appear green.
• The yellow indicator will blink and the beep will sound one time if the subject is difficult to focus on.

6. Press the shutter button all the way.

• You will hear the sound of the shutter when the shutter activates.
• The picture appears for two seconds on the LCD monitor, if it is on.
• The indicator next to the viewfinder blinks green while data is recorded onto the SD card.

I just discovered that the real problem is a STICKY SHUTTER BUTTON, staying down after taking a picture. This prevents the green ready light from coming on until I jiggle the shutter button. It has actually started to be hard to press, making a definite clicking sound as it goes down. I can even feel it catch on something. If I move it around a bit, it will eventually come up, allowing the ready light to reset. Can this be cleaned? How about adding a drop of WD40 or something? Anybody ever take one of these apart? Any tips as to how to do it safely??? Thanks.

Before a digital camera is ready to take a picture, the electronics inside the camera must get ready to capture the picture and save it to the memory card or the internal camera memory. Press the shutter button half-way (to its first detent) to set the exposure and focus. When the ready light is green, continue pressing the shutter button completely down to take the picture. The picture is taken almost immediately.

The cause and solution may include one of the following: The camera is not turned on. Turn on the camera. The camera is processing a picture; the camera Power ring light (on the Mode dial) blinks green. Wait until the light stops blinking before taking another picture. The card or internal memory is full. Transfer pictures to the computer, delete pictures from the camera, switch storage locations, or insert a memory card with available memory. The shutter button was not pressed. Depress the shutter button completely down. There was a failure in the focus and/or exposure. Press the shutter button halfway to set the Auto Focus (AF) and Auto Exposure (AE). When the AF/AE indicator turns green, press the shutter button completely down. The battery is exhausted. Replace or recharge the battery