Is my Camera at its end?

[C_Dave45]

I have an old Canon Rebel 350. I bought it used, so didn't know how many actuations it had. I've probably put on 20,000...but my pictures just don't seem to have "POP". No where near tack sharp, no matter what I do. A lot don't even look much better than a P&S. It's a little better when I use my "L" lens...but not what I am happy with. My walk around lens is a cheaper EF-S 17-85mm f/4-5.6 IS.

What happens when a camera reaches its life expectancy? Is that what my problem is? Just not happy with almost all of my shots.

Here's some examples.


http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/Eau%20Claire%20camping%20Aug%202010/IMG_1637.jpg

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/Fish%20Creek%20Nov%202010/P1010400-1.jpg

Low light, with a tripod.

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/IMG_2702.jpg


shot with the F4L:

http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/Fish%20Creek%20Nov%202010/IMG_2621.jpg

Night shot, again with tripod and timer
http://i123.photobucket.com/albums/o312/CalgaryDave/IMG_2685-1.jpg

[Pollywog]

Keep in mind that most P+S's these days have a ton of built-in mumbo jumbo that processes photos with a bunch of sharpening and saturation boost. DSLR's give you the flexibility to control how JPEG's are processed in-camera (unless you are shooting RAW, in which the processing is up to you), however most built-in user profiles are very lack-luster.

I am assuming (correct me if I am wrong) that you have not set your own user profile on your canon. As most Canon shooters know, the cameras default to a very unsharp and unsaturated profile which can cause a lack of "pop". Create your own, starting with a bit of sat. and sharpness boost and play around untill you find what you like.

Your photos look absolutely fine on my screen btw. Good glass makes a huge difference btw, as well as a bit of post-processing.

Edit: Despite being drunk while writing all of this, I also wanted to add that the sensor in your camera will far outlast your shutter. Photos taken with a camera with 80,000 releases under its shutter's belt should look identical to those of a brand new camera of the same model, sans dust on the sensor etc.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by Pollywog
Keep in mind that most P+S's these days have a ton of built-in mumbo jumbo that processes photos with a bunch of sharpening and saturation boost. DSLR's give you the flexibility to control how JPEG's are processed in-camera (unless you are shooting RAW, in which the processing is up to you), however most built-in user profiles are very lack-luster.

I am assuming (correct me if I am wrong) that you have not set your own user profile on your canon. As most Canon shooters know, the cameras default to a very unsharp and unsaturated profile which can cause a lack of "pop". Create your own, starting with a bit of sat. and sharpness boost and play around untill you find what you like.

Your photos look absolutely fine on my screen btw. You are correct. I DO have a couple of user profiles...but I really don't know what I'm doing with those. My second shot there (the winter scene) looks like shit to me. All fuzzy and blury. And it was shot on tripod. But I'll read up on those profiles and see if I can't tweak them to get better results. I was shooting RAW for a while...but I suck at PS, and it just took me way too long to do PP. So I ended up going back to jpg.

[msommers]

You can use free software by Opanda to see how many actuations your camera has.

[BerserkerCatSplat]

Originally posted by msommers
You can use free software by Opanda to see how many actuations your camera has.

You sure? I know Nikon encodes actuations into EXIF, but I was under the impression that Canon did not.

[msommers]

Trev you're probably right. It worked with my Nikon so I made the assumption, oops!

[Pollywog]

Originally posted by BerserkerCatSplat


You sure? I know Nikon encodes actuations into EXIF, but I was under the impression that Canon did not.

Every day I find another reason to switch to Nikon. However, I am still living in denial...

[C_Dave45]

Thanks for the suggestion, msommers....I d/l'ed and tried that Opanda and yup...doesn't work for the Canon. I searched around and found AstroJargon's "EOSinfo" and tried that....nope, doesn't work for the 350D.

[Pollywog]

For checking shutter count on Canon's...

http://astrojargon.net/40dshuttercount.aspx?AspxAutoDetectCookieSupport=1

...however I do not believe it works for either your 350D nor my 1D. I'm just throwing it out there for anybody who happens to fall upon this thread in the future.

[Pollywog]

Also found this for any Canon 1D users. Found out that my 1D mkii only has 36,591 actuations! :D No download required for this one, and I am curious as to whether or not this works for other Canon bodies...

http://www.foxbat.me.uk/2.0/index.php#/1dcount

[AccentAE86]

Your camera is fine. Most of the issues you see are operator problems and not the camera.

First thing you want to do is create your own user defined image parameters. The 350D uses the old Parameter system, which predates the current Picture Style system. It's less flexible but it still works.

It's been a long time since I've used the Parameter system so bear with me. Pick a User Profile slot to edit. I can't remember if you have to base your User Profile off of an existing profile. If this is the case, then select Neutral as the base. If you want to set your camera up for ZERO post processing and use the images straight off the camera, then try this...

Contrast: +2
Saturation: +2
Tone: +1
Sharpness: +2

Start with that and adjust from there by observing your photos. If that seems too aggressive, go +1/+1/0/+2.

Side note: If anyone is interested in my Picture Style settings for perfect zero-PP jpegs, I use Sharpness 5, Contrast +2, Sat +2, Tone 0, based off the Neutral Picture Style. The Canon Picture Style Editor software is VERY POWERFUL and you can create many of your own styles with all kinds of effects. You basically have control over almost all of the RAW parameters that Lightroom would give you, except you can have it done in-camera rather that in post. So you can create a picture style to match all your Lightroom presets if you wish. If you get good enough at shooting, you can deliver perfect jpegs straight off the CF card. The Nikon software, unfortunately, isn't anywhere NEAR as powerful. :(

Back to the OP...

The second order of business is to address your shooting technique. If you want to have great jpegs with no PP, you gotta master exposure and white balance. White balance is the tricky one, but once you got it, then it's not that bad at all! I always use K white balance mode, which is totally manual and gives you full control. But your camera doesn't support K mode... first I'd start off with the preset white balance settings.... you know.... the tiny icons of the sun, cloud, shade, tungsten, flash, fluorescent, etc... that you see on your LCD info panel on the back of your camera, right underneath the shutter speed. Use it! If you're shooting in direct sun, use the Sun, if you are shooting on a cloudy day, use the cloud etc.... it makes a HUGE difference in the colour and tone of your images! Especially when it's overcast, shady, or under artificial light in the night/evening.

If you REALLY want to stick to Auto white balance (AWB) then as a minimum, use the WB SHIFT/BKT setting to do a bit of compensation. It's under menu 2 on your camera. Here's a super basic rule of thumb if you want to do it this way.... If you are outdoors (or indoors under natural light), set it to A4,G1/0, if you are indoors under artificial light, set it to B9,M1/0

Side note: If any of you are brave and want to venture into K white balance mode, then here are some starting points....

outdoors under full sun:
5500K
outdoors slight overcast:
6300K
outdoors heavy overcast:
7000K
indoors daytime no artificial light:
4900K
indoors daytime mixed with non fluorescent artificial light:
4000K
indoors daytime mixed with fluorescent artificial light:
4700K 0,M3/0
indoors evening with bright non fluorescent lights:
3200K
indoors evening with very dim non fluorescent lights:
2500K B1,G1/0
indoors evening with fluorescent lighting
4100K 0,M5/0

If you are using flash, then you have to experiment; it all depends on your chosen ratio of ambient : flash that you have chosen.

Back to OP...
Taking a look at your photos, image 1 is nice. It would have definitely benefited from the custom Parameters. The exposure is good, but the white balance is too cool. The A4,G1/0 white balance shift would have definitely helped... as would setting the WB to "cloud". It is a light overcast scene. If it's heavy overcast, I would even set the WB to "shade".

Image 2 is kinda rough, but it was taken on an Olympus point and shoot so isn't quite valid for this discussion.

Image 3 would benefit from a higher exposure. You seem to like to shoot in Av mode, and you never adjusted the exposure compensation (EC) in any of your posted photos. This photo would probably benefit from +1 EC. To adjust EC, you hold down the Av+/- button on the back of your camera and spin the wheel until the meter on the info LCD display on your camera points to +1. It'll stay at +1 once you set it there so be sure you re-adjust it if you are going to do a different shot.

The second problem is white balance. For this scene, set your white balance to Tungsten. If it's still too yellow for your taste, adjust the WB shift to B3,0/0 and see how it looks. Adjust it along the B axis until you get the colour you want. If it looks too reddish, you can tweak your custom Parameter and increase the Tone value to +1 or +2. You'll probably have to adjust your SHIFT value a notch towards B to compensate too. Don't forget to adjust this back down after you take the shot. This should get rid of some of the redness that seems to come alive in very low lighting.

Image 4 is nice and looks like it shows good details. But the exposure and white balance are off. Snow is white and fools your meter into underexposing. Your camera tries to turn everything into a mid gray tone. Because snow is so darn bright, it underexposes your photo trying to get the snow to look greyish. So when you are shooting with lots of snow in the scene, set your EC to +1. Your white balance is also too cool in this pic. Try setting it to "cloud" or "shade". That combined with a higher exposure value and custom Parameters would make the shot rock.

Image 5, in terms of exposure and stuff isn't that bad. I'd prefer it a little bit brighter and cooler, but to each their own. The custom Parameter would really help this image pop. I'd also make it a little bit cooler, I'd probably try setting it to the "tungsten" white balance mode and adjust the shift along the B/A axis. And probably experiment with the EC, setting it from -1 to +1 to see how it looks, and choose the one you like best.

So really, I don't see anything wrong with your camera. They definitely CAN be a bit of a bear to learn and master... but once you do then the possibilities are almost endless. Your little 350D is capable of producing professional-grade work so shoot with confidence.

Hope that helps a bit.

[C_Dave45]

Accent: yes that helps a lot. Thank you. I'll start playing with the WB and parameters. I've been using the Canon pre-set parameter 1 all the time. And always using AWB.

As for image #2: doh :facepalm: here I thought I had my Canon with me that day. It was the wifes P&S. explains the shitty quality lol. whew...

[Mitsu3000gt]

If you don't feel like screwing around with WB just buy a cheap grey card. It takes no more than a few seconds to set a custom WB setting for whatever light you're in.

[C_Dave45]

Originally posted by Mitsu3000gt
If you don't feel like screwing around with WB just buy a cheap grey card. It takes no more than a few seconds to set a custom WB setting for whatever light you're in. huh...didn't think of that. I'll have to try it. Thanks.

[sxtasy]

I learned a lot about white balance and exposure shooting in raw and making adjustments in lightroom. It is user friendly and I believe there are free trial versions. You can easily see what adjustments you like and make those changes in camera.

[diamondedge]

Holy crap Accent, I never realized, I've always been sharpening quite a bit in post.

Thanks for the tips everyone!

[Go4Long]

Holy crap, someone got told it wasn't their equipment it was them and didn't fly off the handle about it or make some sort of excuse...this place has really changed.