Washed out images with new 350D Rebel XT

This is my first time on these forums and there is obviously an

amazing amount of expertise here. So, here goes:

 

I have a new 350D that I bought commercial work. I am not a great

photographer, but it seems to me the the 350D images are soft and

washed out compared to my aging Powershot A20. I'm worried that there

might be something wrong with it. Can you all a) recommend the best

way to take test shots that can best evaluate issues with the camera,

and b)comment on them once I've posted. I'd really appreciate the

input since I'm a little stressed that my $1200 investment is not

working properly. Thanks.

Hi Roger.The softness issue can be fixed with some post-production work on the computer (assuming they are sharp to begin with), there is software that came with your camera for this purpose. I just re-read your post and I noticed you bought the camera for commercial work, do you by chance have Photoshop at your disposal? I find it better to work with than the supplied software. As far as the washed out pics the best thing to do would be top post 1 or 2 of them and let us have a look, are they just overexposed?

Try not to forget that, depending on your settings, digital cameras provide a certain amount of image pre-processing. Even if you compare the same camera/lens models, the results will be dramatically different if the in-camera processing parameters are not identical.

 

You have a choice of processing the images by your camera vs. doing it manually with help of an imaging software (Adobe Photoshop, for example). Naturally, you can also combine the approaches. Both methods have their pluses and minuses, but you'll have a much greater control over images if you use your computer to post-process them. Some additional post-processing is, usually, required anyway.

 

Now, cheap cameras tend to heavily enhance images during in-camera processing: the images look sharper and the colors are very saturated. More sofisticated cameras allow you a greater control over the output. This is one of the reasons shots from point-and-shoots often appear more vivid and sharp right out of the camera.

I would venture to guess that since your A20 was a point-and-shoot, you could possibly have used the Auto mode most of the time where all the settings including aperture, shutter, and ISO were set for you. With your 350D, you could take some fantastic pictures, but as with any SLR, they give you enough rope to hang yourself if you're new to it. That's just my personal experience since I just moved from point-and-shoot to DSLR.

It would be helpful if you could post some reasized examples of what you mean along with the EXIF info.

Also might be worthwhile checking you have the latest version of the firmware (1.0.2 I believe).

 

Turn the Power Switch ON, and press the MENU button to display the menu. Press the Cross keys and display "Set-up 2 menu", you will see the "Firmware Ver.x.x.x" at the end of the settings, which is the currently installed firmware version number.

 

If it is not 1.0.2 - check out

 

http://web.canon.jp/Imaging/eosdigital2/e3kr2_firmware-e.html

the powershot is a consumer P&S, designed to give consumers the most 'wow!' per image with minimum post processing. this is why those images look sharper - it are probably set to sharpen the images more aggressively than the 350D.

 

check your parameters. when shooting JPG, the camera processes the images before saving to the memory card. the camera can do more sharpening if you ask it to, I believe (at least, the 20D can, and I think the 350D can as well). Shoot in RAW for maximum control. if you are doing commecial work, I would recommend staying away from shooting in JPGs.

Wow - this has already been an education. In putting together a sample, I discovered that the Photoshop display is more washed out on the monitor than than either Digital Photo Pro or ZoomBrowser.

 

My "commercial" work involves documenting vehicle damage for crash investigation and injury analysis. So basically I need an accurate record of what I see at a vehicle inspection. I typically shoot 100 to 200 images per inspection and I didn't think I would need to process them based on my experience with the A20. But if so, what is the best way to do that in bulk?

 

Here is an example shot with the EXIF info below. I'm using the stock lens that came with my Elan IIe kit (which the 350D is replacing). I took a number of survey shots in landscape mode to maximize depth of field. Most other were taken in P mode.

 

 

File Name

IMG_0322.JPG

Camera Model

Canon EOS DIGITAL REBEL XT

Shooting Date/Time

8/15/2005 10:30:41 PM

Shooting Mode

Landscape

Tv( Shutter Speed )

1/100

Av( Aperture Value )

5.6

Metering Mode

Evaluative Metering

Exposure Compensation

0

ISO Speed

100

Lens

28.0 - 80.0mm

Focal Length

35.0mm

Image Size

3456x2304

Image Quality

Fine

Flash

Off

White Balance Mode

Auto

AF Mode

One-Shot AF

Parameters Settings

Contrast Mid. High

Sharpness Mid. High

Color saturation Mid. High

Color tone 0

Color Space

sRGB

Noise Reduction

Off

File Size

2533KB

Custom Function

C.Fn:01-0

C.Fn:02-0

C.Fn:03-0

C.Fn:04-0

C.Fn:05-0

C.Fn:06-0

C.Fn:07-0

C.Fn:08-0

C.Fn:09-0

Drive Mode

Single-frame shooting

Owner's Name

unknown

Camera Body No.

0720529502<div></div>

try turning up contrast and saturation to the highest levels and see if that helps. Contrast is actually probably more important than saturation - when most images 'pop', it's b/c of contrast, not saturation.

 

obviously you don't want to have to do any post processing with these images. you shouldn't need to anyway, if it's for insurance.

 

conrad

Seems to me (which doesn't necessarily mean much) that this sample image is just overexposed.

Hit submit too soon. What I mean is that the exposure you chose allowed for a lot of detail to be seen in the shadow areas (engine compartment, wheel well, inside the car, etc.).

 

If you were exposing more for the highlights, you would lose the detail in the shadows as they would fall towards black.

Why are you shooting a wrecked car in LANDSCAPE mode?

I would also suggest you replace your lens. That 28-80 is a non-starter if you are doing pro work.

The 28-80 lens is about the worst lens Canon has ever made. Much worse than the 18-55 kit lens that you can get with the Canon 350D. A relatively cheap Canon 35 f2.0 or 28f2.8 would be a good alternative to getting an expensive zoom. Both permit fairly close focussing and would be near a "normal" focal length on a 350D.

 

I agree with most of what has been said above. In particular most P&Ss provide sharp, saturated photos straight out the camera. DSLRs are optimised to provide something to be worked on. However, tuning up the sharpness, contrast and saturation in the 350D should be able to yeild fairly pleasing results.

Contrast might be all that is needed. I increased just the contrast a bit in Photoshop, and this is how it turned out:

although contrast helps. You might want to play with the curves or levels first. I went into ps

with your image and just hit Image> adjustments> auto> levels, contrast, and color.<div></div>

How much kick do you want?

 

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