Which Picture Style?

[GerryNick2]

On the Canon range of DSLR,s there is the facility to select a picture style from the menu, i.e. Standard, Faithful, Neutral etc. It is also possible to change the parameters within each setting for Sharpness, Contrast, Tone etc or create a user defined picture styles. Canon claim that 48,816 combinations are possible. Some such as neutral are restricted to Raw shooting and require post editing.

I must admit I have not experimented with these settings and have tended to leave the style on the 'Standard' default setting.

Looking at the bird images in the Gallery would suggest that posters are using an assortment of picture styles, some images are sharper, some have vivid tones where others have a softer look.

I would certainly like to hear from posters which is their prefered style whether it be one of the presets or their own creation.

Gerry

[glsammy]

Mine are 0,0,0,0,0, or whatever the settings are!
I prefer to make the adjustments myself rather than leave it to the camera. About the only thing I have not at neutral is usually a spot of exposure compensation, which I vary according to the conditions.

[John D]

Most of my shots are taken in STANDARD, with SHARPNESS usually set at 3 with all others at 0. I shoot in RAW for most shots
John D

[matt_xyz]

Originally Posted by glsammy

Mine are 0,0,0,0,0, or whatever the settings are!
I prefer to make the adjustments myself rather than leave it to the camera. About the only thing I have not at neutral is usually a spot of exposure compensation, which I vary according to the conditions.

yes, same here. I believe this is the 'faithful' setting.

Matt

[Jon]

On my 20D I shoot RAW for wildlife, I set the parameters to mid point except sharpening which is zero. I'm not entirely sure but I think I am correct in saying if you shoot RAW it doesn't really matter, in fact I think in effect the parameters are zero for RAW - I maybe wrong. As previously mentioned you will be adjusting anyway on the PC.
I also have a parameter set for JPEG which I use for shooting rugby, here I put all on mid point. I shoot JPEG for convenience, I am not looking for such detail as in wildlife.
JPEG or RAW I always leave the white balance on auto. For wildlife shots I open the RAW files and I always check to see if there is something white to check the white balance. Quite often however, I prefer the auto setting in any event.
Jon

[genuinita]

i think you are correct that 'picture style' settings are only applied to pictures taken as JPEG and are not applied to those saved as RAW.

[JeffH]

I'm with Graham and Matt on this.

Soon after buying my 30D some 15 months ago I attended two day-long training seminars with Canon's official 'trainers' - 'Experience Seminars' - a basic introductory course on 'Understanding your digital EOS' and another specifically aimed at making the most of the 30D.

Apart from running their training business the tutors are Pro photographers and are also ex-employees of Canon's Technical Dept and their recommendation was to use the Faithful setting for people and Neutral for most other things, with all in-camera settings at 0.

Jeff

[RichBrew]

Originally Posted by genuinita

i think you are correct that 'picture style' settings are only applied to pictures taken as JPEG and are not applied to those saved as RAW.

He is correct in his thinking. RAW files don't even have a colour space assigned until the file is converted using appropriate software. Any in-camera settings will therefore be pointless when shooting in this format.

RichBrew

[cybershot]

For JPEG, where setting the in-camera processing parameters can effect contrast, sharpness, saturation and colour tone, I generally found in the past that a standard setting of 0 gave a more natural result, which for wildlife subjects made a lot of sense.

Now shooting in RAW, which is unaffected by the in-camera settings and where some degree of post processing is required, the final picture style becomes totally adjustable to personal preference.

David

[GerryNick2]

Conducted a few tests today and can cofirm what has already been said i.e.that picture style does not impact on Raw images, therefore any settings only apply to jpeg.
It was interesting to note that when reviewing images on the LCD screen and bringing up the info it showed the file format as Raw but also showed the picture style as neutral or portrait etc. A bit confusing but I suppose it is because the image on the review screen is actually a jpeg compiled by the in camera processor.

Gerry