comparison

[J___]

hey guys!

i have a powershot A70... it's a decent camera for the price.. but the pictures never turn out as "sharp" or professional looking as the canon G-series or the sony 717 higher end cameras...

is this cuz of the cheaper camera? or does it have something to do with the lense etc etc.

their picutres seem more vibrant and... ya what u see in a magazine.. but the pics that come from my camera always seem amateur. or can it be the lighting?

if its the camera. then looks like i gotta get me a new toy =)
thnx!

[PacAce]

J___ wrote:
hey guys!

i have a powershot A70... it's a decent camera for the price.. but the pictures never turn out as "sharp" or professional looking as the canon G-series or the sony 717 higher end cameras...

is this cuz of the cheaper camera? or does it have something to do with the lense etc etc.

their picutres seem more vibrant and... ya what u see in a magazine.. but the pics that come from my camera always seem amateur. or can it be the lighting?

if its the camera. then looks like i gotta get me a new toy =)
thnx!


Just be aware that some of the pictures you are comparing with may have been post processed to make them look a lot better than what came out of the camera.

Also, some photographers have a better eye than others for making good pictures. For some, this comes naturally while for others it's a skilled that's acquired and honed with lots of practice.

[J___]

thnx for ur reply.
no matter how much editing i do in photoshop the pics still dont look as good as the pros.
their pic seem so "sharp" and detailed while mine seems a lil fuzzy and less detailed.. i set my resolution to 1024x768 but even with the highest res it's not as good... although better

thnx

[PacAce]

Can you post an example of what you are referring to? Maybe after seeing a sample picture, someone can offer a suggestion on how you can improve on it.

To be honest with your, almost none of my original pictures look as good as they do when they go through a session or two of Photoshop editing.

[stopbath]

J___ wrote:
hey guys!

i have a powershot A70... it's a decent camera for the price.. but the pictures never turn out as "sharp" or professional looking as the canon G-series or the sony 717 higher end cameras...

is this cuz of the cheaper camera? or does it have something to do with the lense etc etc.

their picutres seem more vibrant and... ya what u see in a magazine.. but the pics that come from my camera always seem amateur. or can it be the lighting?

if its the camera. then looks like i gotta get me a new toy =)
thnx!


What you may be experiencing is the camera has not locked on focus when you take the photo, or perhaps you shake the camera a tad when squeezing off the photo.

Do you have any sample photo on the Internet you could link to?

[J___]

sure

ok heres an image i took with my camera macro

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=983448&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1

compared to this
http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=485&exhibition=7&varlist=a%3A13%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A 1%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo.ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A2%3B s%3A4%3A%22DESC%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo. ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A0%3A%22%22%3Bi%3A5%3B s%3A1%3A%221%22%3Bi%3A6%3Bs%3A6%3A%22thumbs%22%3Bi %3A7%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A8%3Bs%3A6%3A%22public %22%3Bi%3A9%3Bs%3A7%3A%22default%22%3Bi%3A10%3Bs%3 A1%3A%227%22%3Bi%3A11%3Bs%3A2%3A%2220%22%3Bi%3A12% 3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3B%7D

this is so clear and pro looking, lotta depth, very sharp too, mine still looks fuzzy after photoshop

and this one is so sharp as well

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=482&exhibition=7&varlist=a%3A13%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A 1%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo.ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A2%3B s%3A4%3A%22DESC%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo. ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A0%3A%22%22%3Bi%3A5%3B s%3A1%3A%221%22%3Bi%3A6%3Bs%3A6%3A%22thumbs%22%3Bi %3A7%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A8%3Bs%3A6%3A%22public %22%3Bi%3A9%3Bs%3A7%3A%22default%22%3Bi%3A10%3Bs%3 A1%3A%227%22%3Bi%3A11%3Bs%3A2%3A%2220%22%3Bi%3A12% 3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3B%7D

and mine...

http://images.fotopic.net/?id=983444&outx=600&noresize=1&nostamp=1
compared to...

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=481&exhibition=7&varlist=a%3A13%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A 1%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo.ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A2%3B s%3A4%3A%22DESC%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo. ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A0%3A%22%22%3Bi%3A5%3B s%3A1%3A%221%22%3Bi%3A6%3Bs%3A6%3A%22thumbs%22%3Bi %3A7%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A8%3Bs%3A6%3A%22public %22%3Bi%3A9%3Bs%3A7%3A%22default%22%3Bi%3A10%3Bs%3 A1%3A%227%22%3Bi%3A11%3Bs%3A2%3A%2220%22%3Bi%3A12% 3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3B%7D

[PacAce]

J___ wrote:
sure

ok heres an image i took with my camera macro

{img}

compared to this
http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=485&exhibition=7&varlist=a%3A13%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A 1%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo.ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A2%3B s%3A4%3A%22DESC%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo. ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A0%3A%22%22%3Bi%3A5%3B s%3A1%3A%221%22%3Bi%3A6%3Bs%3A6%3A%22thumbs%22%3Bi %3A7%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A8%3Bs%3A6%3A%22public %22%3Bi%3A9%3Bs%3A7%3A%22default%22%3Bi%3A10%3Bs%3 A1%3A%227%22%3Bi%3A11%3Bs%3A2%3A%2220%22%3Bi%3A12% 3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3B%7D

this is so clear and pro looking, lotta depth, very sharp too, mine still looks fuzzy after photoshop

and this one is so sharp as well

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=482&exhibition=7&varlist=a%3A13%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A 1%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo.ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A2%3B s%3A4%3A%22DESC%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo. ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A0%3A%22%22%3Bi%3A5%3B s%3A1%3A%221%22%3Bi%3A6%3Bs%3A6%3A%22thumbs%22%3Bi %3A7%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A8%3Bs%3A6%3A%22public %22%3Bi%3A9%3Bs%3A7%3A%22default%22%3Bi%3A10%3Bs%3 A1%3A%227%22%3Bi%3A11%3Bs%3A2%3A%2220%22%3Bi%3A12% 3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3B%7D

and mine...

{img}
compared to...

http://photography-on-the.net/gallery/photo.php?photo=481&exhibition=7&varlist=a%3A13%3A%7Bi%3A0%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A 1%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo.ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A2%3B s%3A4%3A%22DESC%22%3Bi%3A3%3Bs%3A20%3A%22ee_photo. ee_photo_id%22%3Bi%3A4%3Bs%3A0%3A%22%22%3Bi%3A5%3B s%3A1%3A%221%22%3Bi%3A6%3Bs%3A6%3A%22thumbs%22%3Bi %3A7%3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3Bi%3A8%3Bs%3A6%3A%22public %22%3Bi%3A9%3Bs%3A7%3A%22default%22%3Bi%3A10%3Bs%3 A1%3A%227%22%3Bi%3A11%3Bs%3A2%3A%2220%22%3Bi%3A12% 3Bs%3A1%3A%220%22%3B%7D

Ok, on the first one you might have overdone the color saturation and the sharpening. Tone them both down and I'm sure you'll see a big improvement. (Or maybe this is a case of too much level adjustment as well.)

As far as the second picture is concerned, it looks pretty good to me. Maybe a little bit of "curve" adjustment might brighten up the areas in the shadows a little more. A little cropping to remove some of the distracting sky might help, too, to keep the focus (no pun intended) on the license plate.

[stopbath]

It is interesting that your samples have been taken in direct sunlight, whereas the compare to samples are in duffused lighting.

Your leaf shot could have been improved with a tad more depth of field (higher f-stop number) More depth of field would have had the lower left of the leave in focus too. At macro mode you have have extremely small depth of field, try closing down the lens a few more stops.

The license plate is in shadow, use a reflective surface to bring it up in value (or use curves.) This would have made it easier to see the plate (likely to be the subject.)

It does not look like there is anything wrong with your camera, nor your photo choices.

[J___]

hmmm looks like it's all about the photographer and not the camera =)

thnx guys! I was wondering if its me or the camera thats causing the "amateur" look
guess gotta keep playing with it till i sharpen up my skills. thnx!

[rakyat]

You can take a look at Richard's album below. Great photographs taken with the A70.


http://www.pbase.com/dickie/a70_tests

[stopbath]

Keep shooting and having fun.