Canon 30d & 28-135 is usm lens combo issues?

tomwazza

tomwazza

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Hi All,

I was wondering if anyone can highlight what I'm doing wrong with my settings or kit combo.

I get really frustrated with the results my kit gives me (bad workman always blames his tools ;)). Most of my photos lack the depth of colour and saturation that some of my fellow photography buddy's get. This means that i'm spending a fairly lenghty amount of time processing them in photoshop, just to get a similar result that my friends get in camera.

I've tried tweaking the custom settings, altering my manual exposure settings & white balance with no major improvements.

Most annoying one at the moment is trying to capture an image which shows the nice blue skies (when it's not overcast). All I seem to get is a completely whited out sky.

I'm not sure whether it's just that the modern cameras have more sophisticated processing abilities or whether I'm being daft and missing something :)

If anybody could shed some light on this or have had similar experiences and would like to share that would be great.

Thanks,

Tom.
 
The white sky is caused by over exposure, too slow a shutter speed. Maybe you need to read up on exposure, ISO, aperture and shutter speed?

It sounds like you're shooting JPEG's? If that's the case I think they'll always look a bit flat compared to the JPEG's from a more modern camera as the 30D is quite an old model now and back in the days when it was new the thinking was that that sort of camera would attract enthusiasts who'd want to shoot RAW and process their own images, relatively little effort was therefore given to the cameras in camera JPEG processing.

I used a 20D for years and I was very happy with the image quality. Your camera is very similar and should be capable of identically good image quality but to get the best out of it I think you'll need to read up on the basics of exposure, ISO, shutter speed and aperture and learn how to shoot RAW and process your images to get the very best out of them. It'll be worth it.
 
Hi Guys,

Thanks for the feedback.

I shoot in RAW, so manipulation and correction is easy enough (if a little time consuming). I wouldn't say that my shots are particularly over exposed and I do have a basic understanding of my manual settings, although I'm not that practiced.

Me and my mates went to a water mill a few weeks ago and it was a beautiful day. My ones mates shots were brilliant with a really deep blue sky, mine were as I've described in my previous post. He didn't appear to be using any filters or using any in camera manipulation which I believe Nikons have.

These are shots from yesterday, it was a little overcast to say the least, but there were a few flecks of blue in there somewhere ;)

7751818106_4fe495849f_b.jpg


Hope the photo helps,

Tom.
 
Has he got a newer and more consumer targeted camera?

Remember that the 30D was not a low end consumer model, it was aimed at enthusiasts and the in camera setting applied to RAW (if they are actually applied) will not be as vibrant as the output of a more modern and more consumer orientated camera.

Here's a shot from my 20D. Your 30D would be trhe same. The first is just straight from camera through RAW and to JPEG with no changes and the second is the same RAW with a boost to contrast, saturation and vibrancy. This took about 10 seconds to do, just move three sliders, and as well as being much punchier is a much more realistic representation of what I saw when I too the picture.

C1.jpg


c2.jpg
 
Yeh he had a new entry level type Nikon, but the colour representation was spot on. I think he's since upgraded to a 7000d and getting good results.

I'm glad to see your images, but why is it that the colours aren't realistic on these mid-level cameras?

I don't mind post processing them, but it seems that I'm doing it on every shot and it can be quite time consuming. Is there a filter I can use or a setting I can change to alter the saturation and/or vibrance?

Or if I upgraded to a newer body would I get better results?
 
tomwazza said:
Yeh he had a new entry level type Nikon, but the colour representation was spot on. I think he's since upgraded to a 7000d and getting good results.

I'm glad to see your images, but why is it that the colours aren't realistic on these mid-level cameras?

I don't mind post processing them, but it seems that I'm doing it on every shot and it can be quite time consuming. Is there a filter I can use or a setting I can change to alter the saturation and/or vibrance?

Or if I upgraded to a newer body would I get better results?
Click to expand...

Looks like it's pretty much as I thought :D

Years ago when your 30D was spanking new it was the norm that higher end cameras such as yours produced a relatively flat output which would be suitable for post capture processing. AFAIK it's really only in more recent times that the in camera tweaks have become much more powerful and punchy and print ready especially at the entry level end of the market which is perhaps the point at which people are perhaps unlikely to want to process images and instead will want a print ready result.

I don't know what sort of output modern higher end cameras produce, someone else will have to chip in and say what the output of a 60D or 7D is like. They'd be the modern equivalents to your camera rather than the xxxD series which is possibly targeted more to the print ready market.

Personally I don't see this as a reason to buy a new body as I'm prepared to spend a few seconds processing my own images. I don't know what processing software you're using, I'm using CS5 and I can save my own preferred settings and process batches of images so really it only takes me literally seconds unless I want to work longer on a particular image to get the best out of it.

I think you should stick with your enthusiast/semi pro 30D as it really is capable of very good results and learn how to get the best out of it and streamline your processing workflow.
 
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Well I'm happy to know that it isn't just me and that there isn't anything wrong with the camera.

I think I'll take your advice and just get a few more lenses for the arsenal. I'll upgrade the body when the 30d eventually dies on me (which may never happen given they're reliability).

I'd still be interested to see some un-processed images from Canon 60D's or above though :)
 
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