Need some help on setting up 350XT

arroyoshark

Got my rebel xt and am trying to get it set up for use. I process images on PS CS2 and will use both jpegs and, now, camera raw.

I have been looking at the camera settings...Parameter 1, Parameter 2, settings and don't know what to set. I did a casual search here but did not come up with much. So, thump me for being lazy about searches, but what do people recommend for camera settings. I like to photograph landscape and will be taking photos under available light at daughter's ballet performance this weekend.

Also, when recording images in camera raw, do the camera parameter settings have any effect? Still trying to get the grasp of raw.

Thanks in advance.

ysr612

arroyoshark wrote:

Got my rebel xt and am trying to get it set up for use. I process images on PS CS2 and will use both jpegs and, now, camera raw.

I have been looking at the camera settings...Parameter 1, Parameter 2, settings and don't know what to set. I did a casual search here but did not come up with much. So, thump me for being lazy about searches, but what do people recommend for camera settings. I like to photograph landscape and will be taking photos under available light at daughter's ballet performance this weekend.

Also, when recording images in camera raw, do the camera parameter settings have any effect? Still trying to get the grasp of raw.

Thanks in advance.

well Chuck you are beyond my knowledge but I have noted that in raw the parameters seem to have an effect. Raw gives about 2f stops of additional latitude to the exposure.


others know much more here then I

I don't use much raw, I shoot a lot of bike races and raw slows down the write to the cards.

cmason

My recommendation is to try them both, see which you prefer. I prefer Parameter 1, 2 looked a bit 'muddy' to me. Haven't had time to mess with custom parameters, since at that pt I just prefer to do it later on my PC with RAW processing.

These Parameters control in-camera processing, which essentially means how the camera processes RAW to create a JPEG. Therefore, these settings do not impact RAW. Instead, software on your PC replaces the Parameters when doing RAW conversion on a PC.

Scott_Quier

If you are only concerned about RAW, then the parameters will have little impact on your life as these values are applied only to JPG image generation.

That being said, I don't remember if you have the option of generating only RAW (the original dRebel generated RAW + JPG). The parameters will impact the JPG thumb that is embedded in the RAW data.

Now then, if you do shoot JPG from time to time, then you will need to pay attention these parameters. My first suggestion, for what it may be worth, is to shot some test shots, varying one parameter at a time and keeping notes of what you did for each image. Then take all these, with your notes, to your computer (your monitor is calibrated, right?) and take a look at the images. Which combination parameter settings appeal to you the most.

My second suggestion addresses the fact that the above will take some time to accomplish and you don't have a lot of time between now and the week-end. So, I would set the parameters to the "middle value" and fire off a couple of shots in lighing similar to what you expect at ballet performance and tweak them to suit. One thing to keep in mind, these settings are not going to change the course of your life. If you are off just a bit, you can usually recover in PP.

ysr612 wrote:

Raw gives about 2f stops of additional latitude to the exposure.

This is, strictly speaking, not exactly true. The lattitude of the sensor is what it is. I think (and I'm just a likely to be wrong here) what was meant is that you have more data to manipulate in RAW and can, therefore, more easily recover from exposure problems. RAW (in the dRebel, XT, 20D and others) is 12 bits per channel whereas the JPG image data is only 8 bits per channel. That provides a huge amount of additional information to work with.

cmason wrote:

Instead, software on your PC replaces the Parameters when doing RAW conversion on a PC.

This is true. In addition, some software will use the parameters as a starting point.

For more on RAW, you might find this thread of interst

http://www.dgrin.com/showthread.php?t=2592

I hope this helps some.

arroyoshark

Thanks Scott. Will try to test camera settings on Saturday before the performance. I seem to recall some previous discussion on canon camera settings for tone, contrast, sharpening etc.....just could not locate it. The rebel xt can record in raw + jpeg. After reading Rutt's comments about using raw to get low light performance images that may apply also to me tomorrow evening. Also thanks for clarifying that settings have little effect on raw images.

Didn't want images that looked too punchy, and parmeter 1 seemed like it might go in that direction.

Hi Glen Good to hear from you. I am eager to start photographing in raw. Even taking a class this summer on the subject.

firedancing4life

arroyoshark wrote:

Thanks Scott. Will try to test camera settings on Saturday before the performance. I seem to recall some previous discussion on canon camera settings for tone, contrast, sharpening etc.....just could not locate it. The rebel xt can record in raw + jpeg. After reading Rutt's comments about using raw to get low light performance images that may apply also to me tomorrow evening. Also thanks for clarifying that settings have little effect on raw images.

Didn't want images that looked too punchy, and parmeter 1 seemed like it might go in that direction.

Hi Glen Good to hear from you. I am eager to start photographing in raw. Even taking a class this summer on the subject.

Parameter 1 is default. I guess it's preference...you can even customize it. check your manual page.....63. I've never really tweaked it since I shoot the RAW.

ian408

If you're not trying to squeeze off 5 frames, write speed won't be too much
of a concern. I'd shoot RAW and maybe a small JPG. But I've given the small
jpegs up myself--more room on the card.

LuckyBob

Parameter 1 is the equivilant of turning contrast, saturation, and sharpness up by 1 point under one of the custom modes if you're shooting JPEG. Parameter 2 is technically more "accurate"; the first ~6000 shots I took with my 300D I shot in Parameter 2 mode (and the RAW files were processed with conservative curves to match) because I subscribed to the school of "don't touch the photo - it's no good unless it's exactly what the camera saw". Granted I used Photoshop to up the saturation and whatnot but I figgured I should be starting with an "accurate" photo.

I experimented one day with Parameter 1 (as RAW files) and the difference was immediately noticable in the camera's LCD - I can get a better feel for how the final shot could look like. Now just about everything I shoot is Parameter 1 and more than half the time I use the Film High Contrast mode in Capture One DSLR to "punch" the photo to match what I see on the LCD.

Experiment to see what you like, but Parameter 1 will give you more "punchy" photos. Have fun!

arroyoshark

Thanks for your counsel, Bob.

Have much experimenting to do. I did shoot the ballet performance all in Raw at ISO 800 & 1600, depending on lighting conditions on stage. Will work with some of these images this week.

Have to admit, that once you use controls for a bit and get used to them, for my shooting at least, the controls are quite easy to use, even in a dark theatre. Am enjoying this new camera a bunch.

mercphoto

arroyoshark wrote:

I have been looking at the camera settings...Parameter 1, Parameter 2, settings and don't know what to set... Also, when recording images in camera raw, do the camera parameter settings have any effect?

If you want your in-camera JPG's to be nearly print-ready then use Parameters 1 and the sRGB color space. As per paramters and RAW, the parameters will impact the "default" RAW conversion if you are using Canon's Digital Photo Professional converter. Note that you can over-ride the default, but it is handy to have a default that you set as you take pictures. Other RAW converters, however, are ignorant of this part of the RAW file. So if you are using ACR, for example, the paramters have no impact on you.

arroyoshark

mercphoto wrote:

If you want your in-camera JPG's to be nearly print-ready then use Parameters 1 and the sRGB color space. As per paramters and RAW, the parameters will impact the "default" RAW conversion if you are using Canon's Digital Photo Professional converter. Note that you can over-ride the default, but it is handy to have a default that you set as you take pictures. Other RAW converters, however, are ignorant of this part of the RAW file. So if you are using ACR, for example, the paramters have no impact on you.

That's very good to know. I have downloaded the ACR 3.4 upgrage and was planning to use that. May load the Canon software and try that also, now. There certainly a lot of nuances to recording and processing in raw.

Much to learn!