Camera Adjustments?

[lschaaf]

Do you use in-camera adjustments, or do all post editing. I'm talking about sharpness, color enhancements, etc....Just wondering what settings you typically keep your camera at. Thanks!

Lisa

 

[ShutterSpeed]

i've used color saturation before. i like strong colors, so it provides an effect that I like, but so far, i prefer post color saturation as opposed to setting the camera to do it. But the few times i actually intentionally saturated a picture before taking it, wasn't where it had much impact. my wife had been wearing a bright red shirt anyway, so the shirt just happened to over saturate in a poorly lit room. so, i don't use it a lot, but that was with her camera ... didn't change my own settings .. ;D

 

[LiveWave]

In camera adjustments are too limited, You have much greater control over your work when done on the computer.

 

[Overread19 7]

I Agree with Livewave - In camera adjustments are decent enough, but you don't have the control that is possible with editing programs outside the camera. Also edits applied in camera are appied to the whole image, when you might only need certain areas to be adjusted to get the view that you want.

Many people shift to shooting in RAW mode where the in camera adjustments are not made to the final image leaving pretty much all the editing in the hands of the photographer and the computer. I recomend that people first get used to basic editing of a JPEG before moving to RAW - if your concerned then you can shoot RAW+JPEG to have both files - though this will eat into camera memory card space

 

[ksmattfish]

I shoot raw, and usually leave the in camera processing parameters set to as neutral as possible. Sometimes I do adjust them to reflect my intended processing though. For instance sometimes when I know I'm shooting BW, I'll switch the camera to BW too so I can see it. On the other hand, I've found that in-camera contrast and saturation adjustments can throw off the accuracy of the histogram (since it's based on a small jpeg processed in camera). I have much more control over processing with Lightroom or Photoshop than the simple software Canon provided in the cameras.

 

[Samanax]

I don't use in-camera adjustments either, but I shoot in RAW so it really doesn't matter. I do all my adjustments during the post processing (PP) process.

 

[mrodgers]

I can only shoot JPEG. What I have been wondering is if it would be best to leave sharpening in my camera as soft, normal, or hard of which are my 3 choices. I post process (even though I shouldn't be able to....) and sharpen anyways. I wasn't sure if it would be better to have a camera set at hard sharpening when the photo will be processed no matter what in camera or if it should be left as soft. I have mine set at hard sharpening as I figured it's already being processed and compressed as a JPEG and I am editing anyways, it shouldn't hurt anything.

I mainly crop, adjust levels, mildly adjust curves, resize then sharpen again.

The thoughts Overread mentions with "Also edits applied in camera are appied to the whole image, when you might only need certain areas to be adjusted to get the view that you want. " makes me wonder once again if I should stay with the hard sharpen setting or go with the soft sharpen with my camera. I never thought of the fact that it sharpens everything and I may not want something in the background sharpened. I've thought of it in post, but never with the in-camera setting.

Any thoughts for JPEG shooters who either want to shoot JPEG or have no choice but to shoot JPEG? These always turn out to be "I shoot in RAW" replies in these threads. Us JPEG shooters never really do get the answer we are looking for due to this.

Overread, are you stating your reply above in the sense of shooting JPEG or assuming moving to RAW to do that?

 

[Samanax]

I can only shoot JPEG. What I have been wondering is if it would be best to leave sharpening in my camera as soft, normal, or hard of which are my 3 choices. I post process (even though I shouldn't be able to....)

What do you mean you shouldn't be able to? You can PP JPEG images, you just don't have as much latitude and forgiveness as you would a RAW image. Just be sure you're PPing a copy of your original file and not the original file itself. Heavy PP work tends to degrade JPEG images and if it gets real bad you won't be able to return it to it's original state like you can a RAW or TIFF image.

and sharpen anyways. I wasn't sure if it would be better to have a camera set at hard sharpening when the photo will be processed no matter what in camera or if it should be left as soft. I have mine set at hard sharpening as I figured it's already being processed and compressed as a JPEG and I am editing anyways, it shouldn't hurt anything.

I mainly crop, adjust levels, mildly adjust curves, resize then sharpen again.

The thoughts Overread mentions with "Also edits applied in camera are appied to the whole image, when you might only need certain areas to be adjusted to get the view that you want. " makes me wonder once again if I should stay with the hard sharpen setting or go with the soft sharpen with my camera. I never thought of the fact that it sharpens everything and I may not want something in the background sharpened. I've thought of it in post, but never with the in-camera setting.

Any thoughts for JPEG shooters who either want to shoot JPEG or have no choice but to shoot JPEG? These always turn out to be "I shoot in RAW" replies in these threads. Us JPEG shooters never really do get the answer we are looking for due to this.

One thing to remember is that sharpening (whether in-camera or during PP) will exaggerate any noise the image has. If you're using hard sharpening in-camera and then sharpening again on the computer you may be making any noise in your image to show up more and possibly cause JPEG artifacts to become more pronounced too.

Since you're sharpening during PP work my suggestions is to set the sharpening in camera to soft. If you didn't do any PP work on your pictures then I think normal or hard sharpness would be necessary.

 

[mrodgers]

What do you mean you should be able to?

Eh, just getting ahead of the game for the inevitable post that someone makes saying that you can't edit JPEG. It's a pet peeve of mine here. Just ignore....

One thing to remember is that sharpening (whether in-camera or during PP) will exaggerate any noise the image has. If you're using hard sharpening in-camera and then sharpening again on the computer you may be making any noise in your image to show up more and possibly cause JPEG artifacts to become more pronounced too.

Hmm, that's a good thought too, and something I hadn't thought of with in-camera settings. I should have though because I do think of noise when I sharpen in PP. I always do noise reduction first when I am going to PP an image. Now that I think about it, I think I am getting a bit more noise since I set the camera to the hard setting for sharpening, even at the lower ISO numbers.

I'll have to do some checking tonight now as I do get a good bit of noise in ISO400, enough to dislike it a lot but tolerable considering the camera that I get rid of it with NR in PP. Perhaps I can reduce some of that higher ISO noise SOOC before I do any processing.

One thing I'm not sure of is if the SOFT setting in my camera equals zero or if it just means very little sharpening.

These thoughts are quite helpful (Samanax's and Overread's posts.) Thanks for them.

 

[DRoberts]

IMO...its always better to try and capture the most accurate image of the original scene as possible with the camera, and then make all adjustments in PP. Of course there could be some play with this depending on the shot and the setup...is it a composed still that can be shot over and over, or is it a dynamic subject that has constant changing lighting, content...etc.

 

[lockwood81]

I don't use in-camera adjustments either, but I shoot in RAW so it really doesn't matter. I do all my adjustments during the post processing (PP) process.

:thumbup: I agree. A camera's internal computer is no match for my desktop.

 

[lschaaf]

Thanks for all the input! I'll just leave everything alone in my camera and practice my pp Photoshop skills!