Canon XSi: Color, saturation, focus, & sharpness seems off

[BehindEnemyLines]

I took a few photographs, and these pictures seem "underwhelming." I am not sure if they need some post-processing, but you can see a picture of a somewhat similar scene with my trusty ps Fuji F20.

You can find the settings from the JPEG EXIF data. The pictures are taken in Program Mode without changing anything. Only thing I can tell is that the pictures are f/9 and f/10 whereas the Fuji is f/5.6 that *might* cause the lack of sharpness.

It seems to me the photographs from the XSi are not well focused either, but I am new to DLSR. Before I start blaming the camera, let's examine what I might did wrong. It's taken with the kit lens 18-55mm; 3.5-5.6; IS.

NOTE: Right-click and choose "Save As". This works better. Total = 11.3 MB.

http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/219902/CanonXSi-1.JPG
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/219902/CanonXSi-2.JPG
http://dl.getdropbox.com/u/219902/FujiF20-1.JPG

 

[Deadtrees]

If you want P&S-like images, use Landscape picture style.

 

[twistedlogic]

The photos were shot at completely different times in the day. The Fuji was shot at noon where the sun is brightest and directly overhead, and on a summer day. The canon was shot in the evening (4:11PM) on a fall day, in the shade.

So your colors will not be the same as the source light (the sun) is at a different color temperature.

You can PP the canon photo and re-apply the white-balance to make it appear warmer like the Fuji.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

^^^^^ What he said.

I'm assuming that you shot JPG straight from the camera, as opposed to RAW. I'm not familiar with Canon DSLRs, but I would think that it has in-camera adjustments for sharpness, saturation, etc. The Fuji F20 has a highly tweaked JPG processing engine (lots of color-correction, sharpness, saturation, etc added), whereas most DSLRs are less "processed" straight out of the box.

 

[angry hampster]

There's nothing wrong with those photos. You're expecting your camera to make miracles out of boring scenes.

 

[Flipped Gazelle]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
There's nothing wrong with those photos. You're expecting your camera to make miracles out of boring scenes.

This addresses the OP in no way whatsoever.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: angry hampster
There's nothing wrong with those photos. You're expecting your camera to make miracles out of boring scenes.

So wrong...

 

[jpeyton]

There is definitely something off; those pics are VERY soft, with a ton of CA.

Do some AF tests at f/8 to test sharpness and accuracy. The focusing could be off (although that should affect landscape shots a lot less than portraits).

There were lots of posts about XSi focusing errors on DPReview.

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: Deadtrees

Originally posted by: angry hampster
There's nothing wrong with those photos. You're expecting your camera to make miracles out of boring scenes.

So wrong...

Why? The second is sharp but overexposed. The first one isn't as sharp but just as poorly exposed. You can't expect miracles from a starter lens and the green box mode. Perhaps I'm underestimating the 18-55, but I don't see anything terribly wrong with those photos. When someone buys a big camera with a big lens but uses it like a P&S, they won't get "overwhelming" results. Take a look at the quick edit I did. Just adjusting the color balance and dropping the highlights a bit makes it loo worlds better.

http://img.photobucket.com/alb...ster/AR/CanonXSi-2.jpg

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: angry hampster

Originally posted by: Deadtrees

Originally posted by: angry hampster
There's nothing wrong with those photos. You're expecting your camera to make miracles out of boring scenes.

So wrong...

Why? The second is sharp but overexposed. The first one isn't as sharp but just as poorly exposed. You can't expect miracles from a starter lens and the green box mode. Perhaps I'm underestimating the 18-55, but I don't see anything terribly wrong with those photos. When someone buys a big camera with a big lens but uses it like a P&S, they won't get "overwhelming" results. Take a look at the quick edit I did. Just adjusting the color balance and dropping the highlights a bit makes it loo worlds better.

http://img.photobucket.com/alb...ster/AR/CanonXSi-2.jpg

"There's nothing wrong with those photos." -> Agreed.
"You're expecting your camera to make miracles out of boring scenes." -> So wrong.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: jpeyton
There is definitely something off; those pics are VERY soft, with a ton of CA.

Do some AF tests at f/8 to test sharpness and accuracy. The focusing could be off (although that should affect landscape shots a lot less than portraits).

There were lots of posts about XSi focusing errors on DPReview.

But, AF testing on f/8 is quite meaningless and AF couldn't possibly be off in as they were shot in 18mm and maxium focal distance.

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

All I can see is that the pictures seem soft and some are noticeably blurred. I will try to shoot a few more and see what happens.

How do I go about determining if there's focusing problem with the lens and/or body?
Do I use the "Landscape" and "Portrait" settings from the Basic Zone?

Or better yet, what settings should I set it to so that we can see if there are in fact problems with the lens and/or body?
I am not excluding myself as a beginner.

 

[angry hampster]

Focus is not an issue. As deadtrees said, those shots are at large aperture and shot at hyperfocal/infinity focus, meaning everything from ~3ft-infinity will be in focus. Don't use anything in the "basic" zone. Read your camera's manual and use Av, Tv, or M.

Go walk around outside and shoot things at various distances to you. Shoot some within 3 ft, some 5-8 ft, some 10ft or further. Avoid midday shooting. It will exacerbate chromatic abberations and your highlights will blow easier.

If you're still skeptical, read this and shoot the focus chart at the bottom of the page:
http://focustestchart.com/chart.html

 

[BehindEnemyLines]

So we want to shoot these landscape shots at smaller aperture (larger f-number) to get sharper pictures? The pictures I took had f/9 and f/10.

 

[Deadtrees]

Originally posted by: BehindEnemyLines
So we want to shoot these landscape shots at smaller aperture (larger f-number) to get sharper pictures? The pictures I took had f/9 and f/10.

Usually, lenses perform best in f/8. Once it goes it over it, the quality decreases.

Anyway, your Picture Style was set at sharpness level of 3. Use 6, possilby 7.
Again, if you want P&S like images, use Landscape Picture Style with a high value of sharpness.

 

[angry hampster]

I'm bad at this game. please delete

 

[angry hampster]

Originally posted by: BehindEnemyLines
So we want to shoot these landscape shots at smaller aperture (larger f-number) to get sharper pictures? The pictures I took had f/9 and f/10.

Got a bit mixed up, meant to say small aperture. That is as sharp as they will get with that lens.


Why are you not shooting RAW and them editing them later?