Raw + Jpeg...exposure sucks in Jpeg

I would sometimes like to take photos in jpeg instead of RAW...why? Because some events need recording but I'm not trying to turn our masterpieces so prefer them not to take up huge amounts of space on my hard drive.

The trouble is, when I shoot jpeg or raw plus jpeg, the jpeg colours are shocking. Especially peoples faces...they are always over exposed.
Now I know that the 40D has been critisized for the crappy photos it takes on the green box, but I am using manual. When I shoot raw plus jpeg, the raws are kay but the jpegs look kinda 'nuclear'.

I know the settings in camera can be adjusted to produce better jpegs but am unsure where to start.

Will some of your share your in camera jpeg settings..pretty please?

IMO, forget the jpg. It just takes up space.
This shows how the subject can affect the exposure:
Post #47

For a good starting point, first set the f-stop & shutter speed you need. Then adjust the ISO.
Need an exposure crutch?

I find this difficult to understand, can you post an example? The jpg and RAW should, before correction, be essentially the same; except for the adjustments made by the "picture style" setting which shouldn't have a huge effect on exposure unless you've got something set funny. If you use DPP they should be identical before manual adjustments as DPP will apply picture settigs as default or starting point.

Is your RAW software somehow applying an automatic correction to fix overexposure?

I think he is just noticing the excessive contrast and saturation in the JPG files. Like Mark said, check your "picture style" settings in the menus. You can choose something more natural like "neutral" or make your own custom style. Start with it zero'ed out and see where you want it to go with a few tests.

Hazey,
Of course adjust to your like
I personally find as a starter to use Faithful setting instead of the standard setting helps with colors.
You can adjust the saturation, tone, sharpness to your liking, try a few out to get what you like

Sorry for the delay in replying...we are all in different time zones.
The Picture Style is set at Standard...all are at factory settings as I have not changed anything.
Photosguy....I do prefer to use raw...but there are times when you just know you are not goig to fiddle with the pics afterwards and so it makes more sense to shoot jpeg if they aren't that important. Also...I know for a fact that many pro photographers do shoot jpeg...regardless of what we think...so they must be turning out reasonable photos or they would toss it. I have read the links you posted before...and for the most part, I will shoot raw...but I also want to set my camera up so I can achieve a decent jpeg without having to PP after.

Lungdoc...I will post some samples in the next hour. My raw converter isn't even seeing them at the stage I am talking about...they are just viewed one after the other in Picasa...and are chalk and cheeze. The only thing that the picture styles seems to add is sharpening...which shouldn't really affect the exposure...and the photos are very contrasty too.

TheHoff and John B...I will switch to faithful or neutral and see what the difference is..thanks.

At the risk of getting shot down...I will expalin what the true reason for me wanting to get the jpegs reasonably correct is.....although I am still trying to decide if I will go down the same path.

I have just spent a weekend in a neigbouring city with a friend who is a pro photographer...has been for 7 years. He started with a pro...worked through years of weddings and shooting 'correctly'. He now has his own very successful photography business shooting 0-12's....so popular that he is booked months in advance and his prices made my eyes pop out of my head. I saw a great opportunity to pick his brain because I have been wanting to get into children's portraiture. What amazed me is....he shoots exclusively in P mode....period......an​d all jpeg.
His reasoning is that it works fine and that he has a 30min slot to get all the keepers he needs and P mode gets them without losing shots whilst fiddling with camera settings etc. He gets good DOF and looking at his portfolio, he's getting beautiful shots. When I asked why he doesn't shoot Manual, he said why bother when he gets good enough results faster using P mode. He takes all photos outside under shady trees and the most he ever does is boost the ISO if necessary. He rarely uses flash.
I commented that my Canon takes crap jpegs......and of course he shoots with a Nikon. He said it's a known fact that Nikon shoots better colours in the jepg modes and I was in no position to argue.
I'm not saying I want to start a business shooting only jpeg...but I would like to get the settings right in camera for jpeg so I can at least give it a go whilst I practice. Why make life tougher than it needs to be?
I know you can get more creative shots using manual, av and tv....but I'm just asking about jpeg at this stage.
Sorry to be so long winded. I will post some samples soon.

You can create your own Picture Styles -- start with one of the pre-defined ones and adjust the settings to your taste. The manual explains all of this. You may want more than one custom setting for different types of shots. For example, a landscape photo will often benefit from different contrast/saturation/sh​arpness settings than a portrait shot.

Also, I'd turn on Highlight Tone Priority for shooting jpegs as well as High ISO Noise Reduction. When you are shooting RAW, you have more latitude for highlight recovery and noise reduction than you do with jpeg. You won't "Shoot For The Right" -- you will need to ensure that your shadows are properly exposed, and HTP will help to keep you from blowing those highlights.

Personally, I never bother with jpeg shooting -- I recently tried RAW+jpeg and it just cluttered my hard drive -- but, hey, to each his/her own!

Nikon doesn't 'shoot' better colours in JPEG. The cameras processor is set so that it converts RAWs to JPEGs with higher saturation. You can set your Canon to do this.

As for your JPEGs when shooting on RAW+JPEG capture, the only thing that could be effecting the JPEGs are the Picture Styles. The JPEG is created from the RAW file, so whatevers wrong with the JPEG should also be wrong with the RAW. If the RAW is fine, then it's you who is doing something wrong. Or your camera has an exotic problem, but thats pretty unlikely.
Look at the picture styles menu again. It can be pretty confusing. Triple check that it is indeed set to neutral, and read the manual carefully.

Watchtherocks.....the picture style has always been on standard..not neutral...so the only thing separating the raw and jpeg that I can see is the +3 sharpening in standard picture style, which is the factory setting.
I guess I was hoping somone would just say "I take great jpeg portraits and these are my settings', so I would have more of a starting point.
BTW...I had the exact same issue with my 400D with the jpeg colours...same factory settings.
Pics hopefully still coming...I'm just trying to find one with the raw and jpeg as I initially just delelted all the jpegs because they looked so bad. Hope I still have some.
Tony...if I switch on HTP and ISO noise reduction...will I have to switch those off each time I take RAW or are they just attached to jpeg settings?
I have switched to neutral setting now so will see if there is any diffence today and report back.

Hazey wrote in post #6095755
Tony...if I switch on HTP and ISO noise reduction...will I have to switch those off each time I take RAW or are they just attached to jpeg settings?
I have switched to neutral setting now so will see if there is any diffence today and report back.

Hazey, the HTP function does affect RAW files. The High ISO NR, from what I've seen, does not. Whether you should turn off HTP when shooting RAW depends on how useful you find it, I'd say. Definitely useful for jpegs, though.

I would also verify that it isn't somehow a software viewing thing with something being done to RAW in Picasa that isn't done to jpg - no way they should be this far apart and picture style shouldn't give huge difference. Try opening in DPP as the jpg and RAW should be exactly the same and you can directly view the effects of different picture styles on the RAW to see if that explains much of it.

I just did this in DPP with a CR2 and the differences between all except monochrome are all fairly mild and in no way could moving from any one of them to another be described as "shocking" or "nuclear"

Okay...it seems I have deleted all the Raw plus jpegs I have taken on the 40D but I found some from the 400D.
The problem isn't an obvious in these shots....and a white horse is not the best for showing highlights anyways...
So I guess that the RAW before processing really doesn't look that different in CS2 after all....it seems more obvious in Picasa when you are seeing them one after another in a slideshow format. I think the HTP is a big part of it though...what I am seeing in the white horse in the slideshow is that the horse is more blown out in the straight jpegs and the detail suffers..and although it's off in the RAW as well, I know I can get most of it back with PP.
So, I will switch to neutral and add HTP and ISO noise reduction and see how I go.
Here are the two pics..no PP, just resized.
1. Jpeg to Jpeg and 2. CR2 to Jpeg

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BTW...before anyone picks on my exposure stuff up with the white horse....these were taken back when I wasn't in the know about how to expose correctly. I have more of a clue now.

One thing I still don't understand though is why the jpegs are more saturated when the saturation marker is on 0.

Because CR2's RAW processing is different from the camera's in-house RAW processor -> JPG. There are many different ways for software to interpret a RAW file, not just one. You could try bringing in the RAWs through DPP and see if you get closer results.

I got a good laugh out of P-mode story up there. I won't argue with her success and methods but that is really a sign of someone who is better with people than the equipment. I shoot 90% M and 10% Av, and I don't have to fiddle with settings to get the camera to do what I want.