Originally Posted by
~tc~
The lenses on compacts are usually variable aperture and choke down fast. My guess is that you are seeing the effects of heavy handed noise reduction smearing away all the detail as the amount of light from the flash drops off more than it being technically out of focus, but in any regard, I can see how that would lead to an unsatisfactory image.
I can force the focus onto the more distant targets and they will be clear but the near stuff will have problems.
When we are out for some sort of celebration my wife likes pictures that include the food.