How to get colors nice out the box with an EOS 10D?

[claude_batmanghelidj]

Hola companeros,

 

I jumped ship from Nikon, because I felt that Canon did autofocus better. I was

getting sick of the noise and hunting from my D70. I am very happy with the 10D

I picked up. Cost me less than my D70, and has sure and silent AF and operation.

However, getting the colors and contrast right is much harder than with my D70.

The D70, you dial in some settings and bingo, sharp saturated colors out of the

box, for JPGs. I like this kind of shooting without PP. How on earth do I do

this with the Canon. Also, the Canon images looks soft. Is this a hardware

issue, that I can have Canon fix, or is it part of how the camera processes images?

 

I am open to all kinds of advice, specifically about the 10D, and feel free to

give me any other pointers on how to get the most out of this camera.

 

Cheers,

 

Claude

[tommyleong]

ok, first we need to know what sort of lens are you using

and some examples of bad images. This will be a basis for getting which direction you need to go.

 

Basically for in-camera settings, try to reduce contrast and increase saturations. But dont change the tone. Keep it middle.

 

Try shooting +1/3 compensation.

 

cheers

[akajohndoe]

Shoot raw and you have complete control in post-processing.

[claude_batmanghelidj]

Shooting RAW is exactly what I do not want to do. That is why I am posting. I know I can shoot RAW and PP. I want to know what works for others in terms of using the camera as a point and shoot. The D70 was great like that. I dialed in the settings and it was like having a roll of Provia in there. I want to know how to do this with the 10D.

[claude_batmanghelidj]

I am using the standard issue 50mm 1.8 EOS lens, and I have sharpness, saturation and contrast set to plus 1. The images are nice, but still look much less vibrant and saturated than my Nikon. I'd like to know how to replicate that. Any hacks?

[asher]

<p><i>"I want to know what works for others in terms of using the camera as a point and shoot."</i><p>

 

You want "sharp saturated colors" without shooting RAW? Go into the menu, picture style (I think- on my 5D that's it) and dial up the contrast and saturation to your desired effect. But if you really just wanted a point and shoot, why get a 10D? A Canon G7 or G9 might have been a better choice. I never understood the rationale of paying for a flexible creative tool and not wanting to invest the time and effort to get desired results.

[claude_batmanghelidj]

I just got back from Turkey, where I spent a week on business. Lots of time to take photos in Istanbul on the way back to Japan. I took my D70 with me, set a bunch of settings to vivid, and auto contrast, etc. Perfectly predicatble results. Why do I have to open up each file (out of thousands) and edit it in photoshop to get these results, if I can program the camera to do it?

 

You speculating on why I don't things the way you think I should does not really answer my question. If you can't explain, why simply criticise?

[StuartMoxham]

Some of nikons silent wave motor lenses would have sorted out the af noise with the d70 and would of speeded up the af also. There should be a way to set up the 10d for great images from the camera without shooting RAW though.

[PuppyDigs]

Like others have said, if you want more sharpness and saturation, go to the parameter

settings and crank up saturation, contrast and sharpness to taste. They will work as you like

them in the "Creative Zone" (P, Av, Tv, M) until you change them or reset the camera. I

haven't used the "BAsic Zone" but I seem to recall it returns to the original parameter defaults

in Full Auto, Sports, etc.

[zigzag]

If you are willing to batch process your RAW files as you download them to your computer you can get any style you want - vivid, sepia, B&W, cross process by the time they hit the folder (you may have to open one file and tweak it the first time you do this) - but that would be cheating. So I guess it's 'what he said.'

[obakesan]

Claude

 

I guess that others are reacting to the apparent vacuum of information. dial in what settings?

 

I get perfect colour from my 10D and while its different to my Nikons colour renditions seems fine to me. Are you using AWB, setting white balance preset from a scene, using Kelvin ... what?

 

personally I do not get results I like from the AWB, but I do find that the Kelvin, cloudy, sunshine settings are good.

 

Lastly, what is your colour space setting? Are you using Adobe or sRGB? Look on the "Parameters" section of the Menu and see if you've got Standard or Adobe set. This might explain odd looking results

 

:-)

[carnagex_carnagex]

Here are some of the parameters I used to use when I had my 10D.

[asher]

<p><i>"You speculating on why I don't things the way you think I should does not really answer my question. If you can't explain, why simply criticise?"</i><p>

 

Actually Claude, I was not criticizing you. I think mine was a valid question: Why get a 10D if what you want is a P&S?<p>

 

I have a DSLR and a G7. I can tell you that if what you want is to point-and-shoot with no PP, the G7 (10 MP, and now G9 12 MP) are small, light, solidly made, responsive, accept pro-level flashes, have DIGIC II processors (newer than 10D) with great color rendition out of the camera, accept lens attachments giving you super wide to long tele capabilities, and shoot really nice digital video to boot. Sounds like a perfectly feasible solution to me...

[asher]

Also- my confusion (not criticism) about not understanding why you don't want to invest the time to get the desired results was directed at the fact that if you were to take the time to do your own experiments with the in-camera settings you will likely find <b>your</b> desired results more efficiently that asking others. Our eyes and visions differ. I was not suggesting that you are lazy for not wanting to do PP. I don't blame you! Just my 2 cents.

[asher]

G7 photo, with no PP, resized from 2736 x 3648.<div></div>

[Spearhead]

When people get super-religious, they lose their ability to separate what they believe is right from what other people want to do. It also makes them unable to answer a reasonable question with a response that answers the question.

 

There is no reason that wanting jpegs out of the camera means someone should be using a point-and-shoot. Many of the pros I shoots sports alongside have never shot RAW, and this doesn't mean they could do what they do with a point-and-shoot. And they are selling images, not posting happy snaps on photo.net.

 

To answer the original question, the 10D pre-dates Canon's "picture styles." There is a menu option for "processing parameters" which gives the ability to change the way the jpeg comes out. This is explained on page 56 of the 10D manual, which, if you don't have it, should still be available at the Canon web site. There are settings for contrast, saturation, sharpness and color tone. You will need to play with these to get the settings you like, but you can get something different than what you are getting with the camera.

[claude_batmanghelidj]

Cheers Jeff. I am actually fooling around with the settings right now. I was really delighted to

discover custom white balance, wow! Also, from reading the PDF manual online, I discovered

that Kelvin is only for use with natural light. The killer thing is that I can simply carry around

a white sheet of paper to get perfect white balance whenever, and wherever...wicked!

 

I am so stoked with this 10D.

[asher]

<p><i>"When people get super-religious, they lose their ability to separate what they believe is right from what other people want to do."</i><p>

 

Jeff, I am not "super-religious". Claude asked (and I quote) <i>"I want to know what works for others in terms of using the camera as a point and shoot."</i><p>

 

I posed a logical question, and gave a perfectly rational and reasonable answer. You might try actually reading the posts before knee-jerk flinging your usual brand of BS in my direction.

[asher]

I wrote <i>"dial up the contrast and saturation to your desired effect"</i> and <i>"do your own experiments with the in-camera settings you will likely find your desired results more efficiently"</i><p>

 

THEN, Jeff the all-knowing professional wrote <i>"There are settings for contrast, saturation, sharpness and color tone. You will need to play with these to get the settings you like.."</i><p>

 

So I guess I need to sell more photos in order for my words to actually have any weight to them?!

[phule]

[[i think mine was a valid question: Why get a 10D if what you want is a P&S?]]

 

There clearly are differences between a DSLR and a point and shoot in terms of functionality, noise, speed, handling, available DoF, and a host of other options. And I'm certain you very much understand these differences already, Asher. A DSLR is what was wanted and a DSLR is what was purchased. That really should not be up for debate here.

 

Shooting JPG with a specific set of values dialed in is just as valid as shooting RAW and doing post processing work. It's up to the individual photographer to determine the best workflow for themselves and their own images. You may not agree with the OP's approach to photography but that doesn't mean your method is any better for his needs.

 

There are tens of thousands of dslrs out there being used by people who never take the cameras off full auto mode. In my mind, that type of usage is far more "point and shoot" than wanting to change Contrast/Saturation/Sharpness/Tone/etc.

[asher]

<p><i>"There clearly are differences between a DSLR and a point and shoot in terms of functionality, noise, speed, handling, available DoF, and a host of other options."</i><p>

 

I agree Rob, but Claude asked <i>"I want to know what works for others in terms of using the camera as a point and shoot"</i>, implying that all those DSLR features will likely be extraneous for him, so I fail to see how my question is misplaced.

[eugene_scherba]

JPEG is a dumb format. I haven't shot a single JPEG for years.

[phule]

Asher,

 

I don't think that's the implication at all. Using a DSLR with preset image setting parameters is not the same as ignoring the host of differences previously mentioned.

[petemillis]

Xlaude, I'm a 10D fan as well. I bought a used one, liked it so much that I bought a second used one as well! They're such fantastic value for money now.

[claude_batmanghelidj]

Thanks everyone! Peter, I went to your site and read the entire review. So, in a pinch, I need

to expose for the highlights, right? Oh, and as for the batteries, I ordered a couple of 2000,

or 1800 mA generics from fleabay, not sure if they are Sterlingteck or not, but at 2 bucks a

pop, I'll be getting a couple of those too....

 

Back to the Nikon, I found that on the screen it looked great, but a lot of shots printed, and

taken outside did not look so nice. I can't wait to see how the Canon files print up.