SOOC Help please

[BigRuss]

My dad has just bought a 550d, and he's not happy with the images he's getting out of the camera.

They do seem very lacking in contrast, and not very sharp.

I know they can be adjusted pp, but he'd rather get them much closer to something like from the word go

I've had a look , and notice he'd used spot metering on some where he'd be better with evaluation, but even on the one he's took in landscape mode still aren't right.And also he's left the WB on auto, which again I know is not great, but i've took quick snaps on mine that are coming out 100% better than the best he's getting.

They all look a little over exposed, but that shouldn't be happening should it, especially in landscape mode.

He's comparing it again his old Panasonic prosumer, that he says were pin-sharp and the colour was spot on every time, and thinking about heading back for a refund.

Can anybody have a look, and tell me if there is a setting to adjust on camera which will solve this problem.

Thanks

Russ

BIG

BIG

BIG

 

[squishy]

What lens is it he's got on?
Certainly doesn't look right.

Has he accidentally set the picture styles to reduced contrast/sharpness/saturation?

 

[EOS_JD]

In the camera settings, bump up the sharpening, contrast and saturation - that's what compacts do.

 

[EOS_JD]

I edited these myself to see them - Pretty sharp images (I can read the reception sign on one of the far away buildings!) , exposure is off which doesn't help (a dslr is not like a compact) - a tweak in Ps (or DPP your camera came with) will sort it.

 

[DekHog]

Actually, all of these are taken literally miles away from any subject, on what looks like a slightly hazy, or overcast day - do you have any shots taken at a more normal distance? Back garden; street shots; people shots?

 

[PPalmer]

Also have you thought about a full reset (if possible) just incase a setting has been changed.

 

[HoppyUK]

The main problem there is atmospheric haze - they're shot at distance with a longer lens, with a lot of moisture in the air. Try it on something closer.

If still not happy, then maybe he's got the picture styles wrong. Adjust them as suggested above - one click at a time on sharpness, contast and saturation.

Edit: crossed post with Dek!

 

[AndyWest]

Take a pic of your car or house using a tripod. The above images are not really good enough to make a judgment due to what does indeed look like haze.

 

[cuthbert]

the foreground elements in the top picture look pretty good to me. i also suspect it's just haze.

but looking at full size image, it looks like the jpeg compression is pretty high - do you have your camera set on the highest quality?

exif seems to suggest that you've got the ef-s 55-250, which isn't a bad lens... does your dad have in-camera noise reduction ramped up? it just looks so smudged to me...i think the loss of detail in the areas expected to be sharp is due to compression or noise reduction or both.

 

[BigRuss]

Thanks for your replies guys

pics were taken with 55-250mmIS at 250mm, he says it was a lot clearer a day than it looks on the pics, i'll check which....stops in his tracks.....

Picture style settings 'user defined1'......hmmmm

 

[cuthbert]

i'd definitely check to see he hasn't been fiddling with noise reduction, compression settings and i'd also check to see things like highlight tone priority and automatic lighting optimiser aren't enabled in the custom functions.

these settings can result in degraded sharpness and contrast.

 

[BigRuss]

i'd definitely check to see he hasn't been fiddling with noise reduction, compression settings and i'd also check to see things like highlight tone priority and automatic lighting optimiser aren't enabled in the custom functions.

these settings can result in degraded sharpness and contrast.

Cheers Mark , ive suggested he does a full reset just to make sure.

I do think it's the picture style that is out, because the top pic is set to landscape setting and landscape picture style and is better, that said, there is foreground in that one where as there isn't in the others