Canon A40 users in here! Advice needed...

[brigden]

I've had my A40 for nearly eight months now. I've noticed the images often appear washed out, or a little bleached. I haven't had a lot of time to play around with the camera's settings, but with the long weekend approaching I knew I would be using it heavily, so, this afternoon I decided to try a few different settings to see if I can achieve the desired result.

Below are four images taken using four different settings under Program Mode:

Auto White Balance / No Photo Effect

Cloudy White Balance / No Photo Effect

Auto White Balance / Vivid Photo Effect

Cloudy White Balance / Vivid Photo Effect

All previous use with this camera has been made without the Vivid Photo Effect on, but after seeing the results I see it adds needed colour to the image. However, the Cloudy White Balance seems to make the images a little too warm, especially with the Vivid Effect on.

What do you guys think? What settings do you use?

Cheers.

 

[UNCjigga]

I use auto everything when I'm lazy, and auto-white/vivid when in program-AE...

 

[Sid59]

i think it depends if it was a cloudy day.
so 1 /3 and 2/4 are the comparable ones.

"However, the Cloudy White Balance seems to make the images a little too warm" .. well it does have to compensate for the light imbalance.

 

[waylman]

can u make a pic where these are side by side, b/c I dont see any difference.......

 

[Wallydraigle]

The Vivid Effect thing is just bumping up the saturation. You can do the same thing in your graphics editor. Remember that making the colors more saturated might make the photo "pop" more, but it doesn't make it better or more natural. If you like the effect then by all means use it. It's like choosing a film that give you the colors you want. Only you can decide what you like.

It's always better to get white balance as close as you can, but you have some wiggle room to fix that too later on if you feel you need to. The "Cloudy" white balance setting is usually close enough for most things outside. I don't have anything to back it up, but I think this is what the camera reverts to when it can't make up its mind in auto mode.

Some tips to conserve saturation and contrast before you ever click the shutter are to use the lens hood if you have one, and to avoid shooting into bright lights if you can avoid it. I don't know if the A40 comes with a hood or not though.

 

[kermalou]

we dont miss you Rossman...


btw, AUTO doesn't mess with anyhting...