40D Images

[coldfish]

Was looking at the Bali pictures... thought they look fine to me. very natural. Perhaps it has got to do with your monitor calibration. I was having trouble with my camera colours before the calibration. Now much better...

If you want colours that 'jump out' at you, then you'll have to set the colour saturation and sharpness on the camera.

Hi,

Yes, the monitor is calibrated. I even use it to calibrate my office notebook. That way, I don't have any more excuses for lousy shots.

The picture styles were constantly changed because I was still working out my favourite configurations. So keen eyes will notice some inconsistencies. But most of the landscape shots were made with, erm, Landscape mode with some tweaking.

I also noticed that using Canon's own lens produce more 'accurate' (through my own judgement which can be subjective) colours work better with the external flash.
So more ways than not, the colour rendition of different camera/lens combinations will not fully satisfy any individual's likings without some tweaking.

And once you've chosen a system, you might as well spend some time finding out your favourite 'modes'.

 

[calebk]

i've overcome the "dullness".

Faithful
Contrast -4 to -2
Centre-weighted metering
Aperture mode
Sharpening 5+
50mm f1.4 (cold-shouldered my 17-85)

Setting the contrast lower really helps to bring out the natural colours. Somehow mine 40D tends to underexpose, so I increased the exp comp in RAW. Most important of all, turn high tone priority off.:vhappy:

Uh don't you think Sharpening at +5 is a little extreme? Haven't seen any oversharpening atrifacts yet?

 

[hehahe]

looks ok in RAW leh...:lovegrin:

 

[coldfish]

looks ok in RAW leh...:lovegrin:

They might look 'ok' on some monitors due to sub par resolutions but even with these monitors, looking carefully and you'll notice halo effects (http://www.dpreview.com/learn/?/key=sharpening).
Canon had always been very conservative with sharpening because if you can see on a good monitor your images as very sharp, the developed photos will look overly sharp.
I like to develop my photos and from the results, I do agree with Canon's claims.

But I suspect Canon, in reacting to public consensus, starts to bring cameras that are more aggressive in sharpening, especially with the mid range to entry level cameras.

I do notice that even setting at +2 (default is +3) on standard picture style, the image still looks significantly sharper than the same image taken with a 20D using default Parameter 1.

 

[doodah]

But I suspect Canon, in reacting to public consensus, starts to bring cameras that are more aggressive in sharpening, especially with the mid range to entry level cameras.

I think they are responding to reviewers' criticisms. In one issue of Amateur Photography, the reviewer (now chief-editor) criticized Canon for 'soft' images. He feels that the AA filters used in cameras prior to the 40D/400D era are far too strong. The strange thing is that even after Canon starts using weaker AA filters, there has been no praise or apologies from these reviewers. Instead, they'll rather extol the virtues of painterly soft but low-noise images from the N brand. Sigh...