Canon Eos 450D no colour

[daisychain]

Hi my first time on here. I have just purchased a Canon 450D but am really dissappointed with the colour in the photographs, it seems totally washed out and a lot less colourful than my old Canon Ixus. Please can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? Please dont tell me this is how it is going to be.
Ta Lynne:cry:

[Merran]

We really need a couple of shots with the EXIF data.

[daisychain]

Not sure I'm doing this right but here goes!
Is there a help or guide to tell you how to load photographs etc?
Lynne

[SAB_Click]

Hi my first time on here. I have just purchased a Canon 450D but am really dissappointed with the colour in the photographs, it seems totally washed out and a lot less colourful than my old Canon Ixus. Please can anyone tell me what I am doing wrong? Please dont tell me this is how it is going to be.
Ta Lynne:cry:

Lynne - the good news is that this is not how it is going to be! ;)

You can't exclude the British weather as a contributor, but there is probably a bit more to it than that. I look forward to seeing some of your pictures.

[Flo]

Lynne, are you using a photo uploader ie" Flicker or Photobucket?

You can attach them here as well..

[DerekSimon]

just post a few shots that you feel as washed out and leave the exif data attached so we can see.

[SamClarkPhotography]

What mode are you shooting in (Auto, P, Av, Tv, M)? If you're shooting in M: when you create your exposure, are you watching the exp meter prior to shooting or chimping afterwards? If you're chimping, your LCD may be off. If you're shooting in Av or Tv; make sure you're not asking more of the camera (or more so, lens) than it can do (e.g. 1/1000th with f/5.6 indoors). If shooting in P or Auto... we'll definitely need to see some photos.

[daisychain]

I dont find this site very easy and cannot find a guide to load some photographs to show people please help! I went back into Jessops and he looked at the camera and told me to go into metering mode and change it to spot metering instead of evaluative metering. He said that it gives better colour but is not for novices which I thought was a bit strange as if it gives better colour why would everyone not use it!
thanks everyone for your help
Lynne

[TomMessenger:Photo]

Go to photobucket.com, create an account and it'll tell you how to upload your pictures. Then it'll give you some codes under each picture when you move your mouse over it. You want to copy the IMG Code to here, and your picture should appear here.

[Anke]

Lynne, there are some image posting rules here (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=51022) and how-to's here. (http://photography-on-the.net/forum/showthread.php?t=290249)

[masterwillems]

I know how you feel, the first time I shot with my 450D I found the colours a little "Flat."

But you can change that! In the menu (under pre-sets if I'm correct, don't have the camera with me at the moment, I know I must be ashamed:cool:.)
So search through the menu until you get to pre-sets and you can change the saturation, gamma, and so on.

[daisychain]

have looked through the menu but cannot find presets, Ive also looked through the booklet with no joy so wonder if you would mind when you are by your camera giving me an idiots guide to how to get there please?
Many thanks
Lynne:???:

[Flo]

Try "Functions"

[tonydee]

Taking a step back to the original query: your compact will just be adding some saturation, vibrance, perhaps local contrast, sharpening etc. before it saves the JPEGs. The Canon can be configured to do the same: each of the automatic preset modes simply varies the amount of these things that are done in a way that tends to flatter that type of image, so you may like to use those modes rather than leave the camera on the "Green Box" automatic mode. When you get more experience, you'll want to use a manual mode (even P), set the camera to save RAW images that simply record what the camera actually detected, then control the extent of all these tuning aspects yourself when converting to JPEG or preparing to print. You can vary saturation etc. for RAW images in the Canon Photo Professional software supplied with your camera. So, long story short, don't worry - almost certainly nothing wrong with the camera. Cheers, Tony

[Bob_A]

Taking a step back to the original query: your compact will just be adding some saturation, vibrance, perhaps local contrast, sharpening etc. before it saves the JPEGs. The Canon can be configured to do the same: each of the automatic preset modes simply varies the amount of these things that are done in a way that tends to flatter that type of image, so you may like to use those modes rather than leave the camera on the "Green Box" automatic mode. When you get more experience, you'll want to use a manual mode (even P), set the camera to save RAW images that simply record what the camera actually detected, then control the extent of all these tuning aspects yourself when converting to JPEG or preparing to print. You can vary saturation etc. for RAW images in the Canon Photo Professional software supplied with your camera. So, long story short, don't worry - almost certainly nothing wrong with the camera. Cheers, Tony

Agree.

The reason that the camera is configured out of the box to give what you feel are "washed out" colours is that those colours are actually much more faithful to the scene than what you are used to with your P&S. Most consumers want pumped up/unrealistic saturation and contrast.

Read page 26 of the following document from Canon (it's a few years old, but everything still applies):

http://www.usa.canon.com/content/Handling/EOS_Digital.pdf

[Bob_A]

By the way, I downloaded the 450D manual and the settings you want to change along with instructions on how to do it are on page 78. The electronic version is easier to use since you can search by word (i.e., saturation). You can get it here then selecting "Drivers and Downloads":

http://www.usa.canon.com/consumer/controller?act=ModelInfoAct&fcategoryid=139&modelid=14257

It's the last document in the list under Guides and Manuals.