Advice please

[operanut1972]

Hi Alan,

Glad you are having better luck with the shots. I'm just wondering if leaving the I-contrast off might not be a bad idea. I use a panasonic g2 sometimes and this has similar settings when I turned them off my images immediately became clearer. I think they have the same effect as in camera sharpening, to me I prefer to sharpen post capture as I think you get far too much noise when you use it.

I'm sure all that made sense to me..... At least I think it does! Lol

[Acipiter]

Thanks for the tip Steve, I will try it tomorrow and will let you know how I get on,

[operanut1972]

I'd also try one without the positive film setting as well. The less processing you have the camera do the more information you have left for when you get it to your PC. If I'm teaching Granny to suck eggs tell me and I'll creep back under the floor boards.

Have fun tomorrow, I'm hoping to get some birding in tomorrow. Remember the most important thing is to get shots that you are happy with, you are likely to be your harshest critic anyway.

[Acipiter]

Thanks Steve, I am very pleased with the positive film setting. I just had a look at the canon info, this is what it said about i- contrast, under some conditions the image may look coarse, but it does not say what conditions these might be, any idea what they may be?

[operanut1972]

I suspect that it was one of those catch all phrases that their legal team add to make sure you can't say their product sucks!

At a guess I would say White bird against dull sky, dark bird dark bg, and that sort of thing. It's something that most cameras find hard, just having a bigger sensor helps. Along with processing power. As for the positive film setting, if it ain't broke don't change it, but if you are still getting the problem it may be worth knocking it off shooting and then adding the effect on your PC google is full of settings for photoshop et al.

Enjoy your shoot.

[Tringa]

Agree with Steve about the in camera settings. Usually you have more flexibility in adjusting the look of a photo with PC software than in the camera. However, if the in camera settings work for you, then go with them.

If you don't have any editing software, try some of the free stuff. I find Photoscape one of the easiest to use. GIMP is also good, but more complicated.

There are lots of others too - just Google for "Free photo editors"

Can you post some of your photos on here?

Dave

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Acipiter

....These are the settings I found that was the best..... iso set to auto.....

Originally Posted by Acipiter

....I just had a look at the canon info, this is what it said about i- contrast, under some conditions the image may look coarse, but it does not say what conditions these might be, any idea what they may be?

I suspect that the statement about possible "coarseness" relates to when ISO is on auto.

If the camera sets a high-very high ISO speed, it follows that images will look more and more "grainy" as the ISO speeds increases.

OR - if it is specifically talking about contrast - images may look grainy if the contrast set/captured within a given image is very high.

Regards,
Mike.

[Acipiter]

Just back from the deep dark woods, I took the i contrast off, result- lighter and sharper, I am well pleased with that, thanks for the tip Steve. I played about with the iso Mike, 100 or 200 or auto no difference that I could see. I did read up quite a bit on that, and most of the advice was, set to auto. Mind you most of the advice that I read was, don't expect too much in a woodland setting. woodland photography, according to the experts is supposed to be a big challenged, so I am very happy with my results. Some people say that a good photo can not be taken inside a wood, or with out good sun light, well here's some one who is is very pleased with the results. Dave as soon as I can get some live birds to show you I will, I am afraid to say I used a sparrow hawk that had past away some time ago,- stuffed. Once again thank you all very much for your advice Alan.

[Lancashire Lad]

Originally Posted by Acipiter

....Some people say that a good photo can not be taken inside a wood, or with out good sun light....

I certainly wouldn't agree with that - virtually all of my photography is in woods of one sort or another, and some of them are very dark indeed.

My exposures are very often in the tens of seconds, so I always use a tripod. - But then again, my subjects are all static, so long exposures aren't a problem.

If you have found a way to get hand held results at long telephoto settings that you are satisfied with - and potentially of moving subjects, then who cares what informed opinion would suggest is "the right approach"

The end image is what it's all about - and if you can get images that are to your personal satisfaction, it doesn't really matter what camera is being used, or what the settings are.

Look forward to seeing some of your shots.

Good luck with it.

Regards,
Mike.

[operanut1972]

Hi Alan,

Glad to hear you got the results you were looking for. I agree with Mike about woodland Photo's. Most of us would never get anything if we all believed that.

Look forward to seeing some of your shots.

All the best