350D - What parameters in Sets 1-3?

What have you folks come up with for processing parameters for your 350D, XT?

In Michael Guncheon's Digital Rebel XT Guide, he suggests a neat one to mimic Fuji's Velvia slide film with a little more color and 'punch'.

Contrast +2
Sharpness +1
Saturation +2
Color Tone neutral

He also has a portrait suggestion

Contrast -1
Color Tone -1 (left - toward red)

What parameters have you tried?

John

I shoot in RAW format with mine so the Parameters don't really apply.

i've maxed everything and it looks nice to me most of the time.

Is that a pretty good book? I'm in the market for a guide for my XT since I'm basically clueless right now.

Gale

Yes, I thought it was good. It's basically a more detailed manual with a lot of "why" and suggestions. I wrote a review of it at Amazon.com, if you search for it, you can read my review.

at Amazon.com, search: lantern guide digital rebel xt

That should do it. I thought it was extremely helpful.

John

Hi,

Good topic this, shame not many are adding their views.

I dont shot RAW (did it for a month or so but went back to JPG) as I tend to do manual WB with indoor stuff and then have two sets...set!!! this I find give me the images I want without using RAW. If I was going to do something major I would use RAW+JPG mode anyway (but this mode is still not used very much with myself)

For me I dont have hours to do PP with RAW files. If I go on a shot I can rattle of 200-300 easy. If I shot a wedding it can be 1000 plus shots. I know a few pro people doing weddings in the UK who have done RAW but now shot all JPG.

But for everyday use JPG is all I need. I can always use PhotoShop for most stuff.


Set 1
Everything in the middle apart from sharp +1

Set 2
Everything in the middle apart from sharp +2

I tend to shot everything with "set 1" this helps me reduce my time with PhotoShop, not played much with contrast and saturation, may have a go over the weekend. I to have that book, not fully read it yet.

R

Hi

Though I started off using the 'Parameter' 2 presets, I have now adopted the approach that I want control over the processing not the camera, so I have setup:-
Contrast -2
Sharpness -2
Saturation 0

For me that means that most of my images need a little gentle PPing i.e. some levels or curves and some sharpening by either USM (Low Contrast Enhancement) or now Smart Sharpen.

IMHO if you leave it all up to the camera and something is not quite right your PPing options are limited but by using the settings above you keep (some) control over the most common PP.

Something to think about - in the 350D the scale of -2 to +2 is misleading in that it implies that 0 is neutral. It is not, Canon in a sense dumbed down these in that you should think of the scale as 0 to 5 then it makes more sense because -2 is really minimal in camera processing not as -2 implies some 'negative' influence/processing.

By using the settings above you are getting closer to RAW in the JPEG.

Having said that if you want P&S out of camera results then yes, Parameter 1 or custom settings set to +2;+2;+2 will give you the visual boost that a lot of folk like.

HTH

Thanks for the replies! I thought it was a good thread, but then, I might be a little biased in that regard.

John

I came across those settings for the Velvia a couple of weeks ago, tried it out and really like it.
I don't like to spend a lot of time in PP and I find these settings give me better pictures than others I have tried. Haven't tried the portrait settings but will give it a shot.
I shoot in JPEG and RAW so I have the best of both worlds but the JPEG shots are perfectly acceptable.
Have been looking for a good book to help me improve so will look at this one to-night.

Wayne

Box Brownie wrote:
Something to think about - in the 350D the scale of -2 to +2 is misleading in that it implies that 0 is neutral. It is not, Canon in a sense dumbed down these in that you should think of the scale as 0 to 5 then it makes more sense because -2 is really minimal in camera processing not as -2 implies some 'negative' influence/processing.

By using the settings above you are getting closer to RAW in the JPEG.

Having said that if you want P&S out of camera results then yes, Parameter 1 or custom settings set to +2;+2;+2 will give you the visual boost that a lot of folk like.

HTH

thanks for that. I was wondering why so many people set their cameras to -2 sharpening which I thought would be really blurry. lol. Now it's more clear (no pun intended).