Pros and Cons of Using Settings on DSLR

wamguy89 · May 21, 2009

Hi, everyone. I was wondering if there were any reasons not to increase the sharpness and saturation levels on the menu of my camera (Canon Rebel Xsi).

For those who don't understand what I'm talking about: Under Picture Style - where you select "Standard," Portrait," "Landscape," etc. - for each style there are several options with bars which you can increase or decrease, two of which are sharpness and saturation.

Thanks for your help!

Overread · May 21, 2009

Generally speaking the con is that what ever setting you boost is going to be applied to the whole image - so sharpening will be applied to subject and background - noise reduction etc...
That means you could end up oversharpening your main subject or removing finer details through heavier noise removal. Its far easier to do this in editing on the computer (ok its boring but still). Also many here shoot in RAW where these settings have no effect on the end image (though they are applied tothe LCD preview on the camera just not to the final image you get out).

benhasajeep · May 21, 2009

The problem with using the in camera "adjustments" is you really can't tell what its doing to the fine details on that small lcd . Yes you can zoom in and move around to see. But to do that, your taking the time away from taking pics to verify that you like or dislike the results. For me that would seem like a pain. For people that do direct printing it may be a nice feature to have. But for those who like to tweak the shots on a computer. It's probably a waste of time.

Garbz · May 21, 2009

The big con is there is no control. Basic sharpening algorithms should give you sharpening radius and amount to get a truly customisable result, and even then you may not wish to apply it to the whole image. With in camera settings you are at the mercy of the camera, a result that may look fine on your little LCD but rather crap when you get home and realise it looks nasty and should have been toned down a little. Ideally shoot RAW and adjust images on a case by case, or as a batch when you get them to the computer.

That said the Pros are obvious too. When I take photos at the race track I don't bother with RAW because I know the settings which give great results work in that circumstance and additionally reduce the time it takes to process 1000+ images.

wamguy89 · May 21, 2009

Oh yeah... I guess that is true, because I'm shooting in RAW so it will have absolutely no effect on the image that I transfer on to the computer... Thanks! Everyone is so helpful on this website!

Sachphotography · Jun 19, 2009

Any Pro will tell you to shoot on the Manual settings. Take time to learn about how your camera will do. All the different settings, like mentioned above, will produce unpredictable results leaving you with pictures that may not be what you wanted.

Daniel Sach
Sachphotography Fine Art Photography The homepage of Daniel Sach and his photography Company

Overread · Jun 19, 2009

yes and no. Most people advise that others do move out of the full auto modes (sports, portrait etc..) and start using the more controled settings on the camera. These days many though recomend people to start in aperture priority mode or even programed mode and from what I have seen many "pros" are often found shooting a majority of their work in modes such as aperture and shutter priority.

farmerj · Jun 19, 2009

Because you could cause more headache than what it's worth.

http://www.thephotoforum.com/forum/...66105-camera-noise-lens-what.html#post1610367

My end result was that the "custom" adjustment I made increasing the Saturation and Sharpness and the use of Active D-Lighting on my D90 was just too much.

Once I returned to the factory Default settings, my images got a LOT sharper and clear again.

Enough so at 300mm on my 70-300VR, I can read the logo and name at about 50 feet on my daughters Clarinet in Marching band. If I can discern the texture of her uniform and trim as well, I'd say I have a pretty sharp image.

Remember, this image has been reduced from 300 DPI to 72 DPI and also been "compressed" further by picassa just by putting it up on the web.