OT: Colours on digital camera

Pete Biggs

naked_draughtsman wrote:
> I've just got back from a shortish ride which conveniently took me to
> the top of one of the local hills just in time for sunset.
>
> I've got a Canon Powershot A40 camera which I've had for about 5
> years and I'm looking to replace it soon as it has a habit of making
> all my pictures pink for no reason at all.
>
> I had the camera with me today so took a couple of photos of the
> lovely red sun as it was going down behind the hills, but the image
> recorded by the camera had the sun (and sky) as a golden yellow
> rather than the beautiful red that it really was. I tried it on a
> few different settings (different colour balance, 'exposures',
> special effects but to no avail).
>
> I also took a picture of the sunset with my mobile phone (to send to a
> friend who was stuck indoors!) and even though the quality of pictures
> taken on it are usually awful, the colours look a lot more realistic.
>
> Does anyone know why my camera doesn't capture colours properly in
> some situations? Is there a feature I should look out for on more
> modern cameras which stops this happening?

I don't know your particular camera, but usually the colour balance or
"white balance" settings on a digital camera do make a difference to the hue
of colours. It also helps to prevent over-exposure. Probably your shot was
too highly exposed for the sunset to look red. Trouble is that if the sky
did look right, then the rest of the scene may then have been very dark
(which can be worth accepting). It's a limitation of the dynamic range. No
camera can reproduce what the human eyes and brain see entirely.

I'm not up-to-date enough with compact cameras to recommend a better one.
Look for one that provides easy exposure compensation, so you can make the
shot darker or lighter than the camera would do automatically otherwise
without too much fiddling around. Manual white balance can be useful, but
wouldn't necessarily provide the warm look you may like for sunset.

Meanwhile, you could have a go at post-processing your with a software
program to adjust the colour.

A camera that can record in RAW as well as JPEG allows the ultimate control
over colour, because the white balance is separate from the image data. It
can be changed afterwards without spoiling the picture at all.

~PB

naked_draughtsman

I've just got back from a shortish ride which conveniently took me to the
top of one of the local hills just in time for sunset.

I've got a Canon Powershot A40 camera which I've had for about 5 years and
I'm looking to replace it soon as it has a habit of making all my pictures
pink for no reason at all.

I had the camera with me today so took a couple of photos of the lovely red
sun as it was going down behind the hills, but the image recorded by the
camera had the sun (and sky) as a golden yellow rather than the beautiful
red that it really was. I tried it on a few different settings (different
colour balance, 'exposures', special effects but to no avail).

I also took a picture of the sunset with my mobile phone (to send to a
friend who was stuck indoors!) and even though the quality of pictures
taken on it are usually awful, the colours look a lot more realistic.

Does anyone know why my camera doesn't capture colours properly in some
situations? Is there a feature I should look out for on more modern cameras
which stops this happening?

peter

Chris Malcolm

Pete Biggs <p@pomegranateremovehighlyimpracticalfruitbiggs.tc> wrote:
> naked_draughtsman wrote:
>> I've just got back from a shortish ride which conveniently took me to
>> the top of one of the local hills just in time for sunset.
>>
>> I've got a Canon Powershot A40 camera which I've had for about 5
>> years and I'm looking to replace it soon as it has a habit of making
>> all my pictures pink for no reason at all.
>>
>> I had the camera with me today so took a couple of photos of the
>> lovely red sun as it was going down behind the hills, but the image
>> recorded by the camera had the sun (and sky) as a golden yellow
>> rather than the beautiful red that it really was. I tried it on a
>> few different settings (different colour balance, 'exposures',
>> special effects but to no avail).
>>
>> I also took a picture of the sunset with my mobile phone (to send to a
>> friend who was stuck indoors!) and even though the quality of pictures
>> taken on it are usually awful, the colours look a lot more realistic.
>>
>> Does anyone know why my camera doesn't capture colours properly in
>> some situations? Is there a feature I should look out for on more
>> modern cameras which stops this happening?

> I don't know your particular camera, but usually the colour balance or
> "white balance" settings on a digital camera do make a difference to the hue
> of colours. It also helps to prevent over-exposure. Probably your shot was
> too highly exposed for the sunset to look red. Trouble is that if the sky
> did look right, then the rest of the scene may then have been very dark
> (which can be worth accepting). It's a limitation of the dynamic range. No
> camera can reproduce what the human eyes and brain see entirely.

> I'm not up-to-date enough with compact cameras to recommend a better one.
> Look for one that provides easy exposure compensation, so you can make the
> shot darker or lighter than the camera would do automatically otherwise
> without too much fiddling around. Manual white balance can be useful, but
> wouldn't necessarily provide the warm look you may like for sunset.

> Meanwhile, you could have a go at post-processing your with a software
> program to adjust the colour.

> A camera that can record in RAW as well as JPEG allows the ultimate control
> over colour, because the white balance is separate from the image data. It
> can be changed afterwards without spoiling the picture at all.

Most photo editors, including most of the free ones, allow very simple
adjustment of colour balance, e.g. Picasa offers you a "this bit
should be white" pointer plus a colour temperature slider plus an auto
correct "this button will fix it if you're lucky" button, and
more. Unless extreme corrections are required jpeg colour balance
correction works well.

If you haven't been using an editor to improve your pictures I suggest
you start -- the improvements easily possible are the equivalent of
getting a new camera.

But I'd first check your camera's white balance settings. It may have
inadvertently become set to an option you don't want.

--
Chris Malcolm cam@infirmatics.ed.ac.uk DoD #205
IPAB, Informatics, JCMB, King's Buildings, Edinburgh, EH9 3JZ, UK
[http://www.dai.ed.ac.uk/homes/cam/]

Ian Smith

On Sat, 31 May 2008, naked_draughtsman <usenet3@petereverett.co.uk> wrote:

> Does anyone know why my camera doesn't capture colours properly in some
> situations? Is there a feature I should look out for on more modern cameras
> which stops this happening?

I find some colours upset some cameras. There was one particular
shade of duplo (lego) brick that my previous camera couldn't manage,
but my current one does (both Nikons, as it happens). There was
something else I tried to photograph recently with the current one
that it made a pigs-ear of, but I can't remember what it was.

So, I can't offer a solution, but I can confiorm you are not alone in
noticing it.

regards, Ian SMith
--
|\ /| no .sig
|o o|
|/ \|

Rob Morley

On Sat, 31 May 2008 16:50:56 -0500
naked_draughtsman <usenet3@petereverett.co.uk> wrote:

> I've just got back from a shortish ride which conveniently took me to
> the top of one of the local hills just in time for sunset.
>
> I've got a Canon Powershot A40 camera which I've had for about 5
> years and I'm looking to replace it soon as it has a habit of making
> all my pictures pink for no reason at all.
>
> I had the camera with me today so took a couple of photos of the
> lovely red sun as it was going down behind the hills, but the image
> recorded by the camera had the sun (and sky) as a golden yellow
> rather than the beautiful red that it really was. I tried it on a
> few different settings (different colour balance, 'exposures',
> special effects but to no avail).
>
If the camera has a raw option then use it - it's lossless so gives
you the best chance of producing the results you want with an image
editor. Also if it has automatic exposure bracketing use that for a
better chance of getting a good exposure without having to manually
apply compensation for difficult subjects. Using both these techniques
together will eat storage, but memory is so cheap these days it really
doesn't cost much to carry a spare card or two.

Doki

"naked_draughtsman" <usenet3@petereverett.co.uk> wrote in message
news:EK-dnbBCuOHdVdzVnZ2dnUVZ8vednZ2d@pipex.net...
> I've just got back from a shortish ride which conveniently took me to the
> top of one of the local hills just in time for sunset.
>
> I've got a Canon Powershot A40 camera which I've had for about 5 years and
> I'm looking to replace it soon as it has a habit of making all my pictures
> pink for no reason at all.
>
> I had the camera with me today so took a couple of photos of the lovely
> red
> sun as it was going down behind the hills, but the image recorded by the
> camera had the sun (and sky) as a golden yellow rather than the beautiful
> red that it really was. I tried it on a few different settings (different
> colour balance, 'exposures', special effects but to no avail).
>
> I also took a picture of the sunset with my mobile phone (to send to a
> friend who was stuck indoors!) and even though the quality of pictures
> taken on it are usually awful, the colours look a lot more realistic.
>
> Does anyone know why my camera doesn't capture colours properly in some
> situations? Is there a feature I should look out for on more modern
> cameras
> which stops this happening?

No idea, but if you do end up swapping it, I've been mightily impressed by a
mate's Lumix digicam. Big image stablised zoom and there are some older
models with the same lense but with fewer megapixels going very cheaply.

Colin McKenzie

naked_draughtsman wrote:

> I've just got back from a shortish ride which conveniently took me to the
> top of one of the local hills just in time for sunset.
>
> I've got a Canon Powershot A40 camera which I've had for about 5 years and
> I'm looking to replace it soon as it has a habit of making all my pictures
> pink for no reason at all.
....
> Does anyone know why my camera doesn't capture colours properly in some
> situations? Is there a feature I should look out for on more modern cameras
> which stops this happening?

Some Canon cameras develop a fault with their CCDs which results in
poor image capture. When this happened to my A75 the pictures went
pink with lines over them. If you have this fault Canon will fix it
free. Check their website.

Colin McKenzie

--
No-one has ever proved that cycle helmets make cycling any safer at
the population level, and anyway cycling is about as safe per mile as
walking.
Make an informed choice - visit www.cyclehelmets.org.

kimble

Pete Biggs wrote:
> A camera that can record in RAW as well as JPEG allows the ultimate control
> over colour, because the white balance is separate from the image data. It
> can be changed afterwards without spoiling the picture at all.

There's an alternative firmware for the Canon Powershot series that
gives this (and other) capabilities:

http://chdk.wikia.com/wiki/CHDK

From the list on the front page, it looks like the A40 isn't supported,
but if you're considering upgrading to a newer Powershot, it's well
worth bearing in mind. The ability to record RAW could make something
like an S3 IS an affordable alternative to a DSLR.


Kim.

naked_draughtsman

On Sun, 01 Jun 2008 12:36:52 +0100, Colin McKenzie wrote:

> Some Canon cameras develop a fault with their CCDs which results in
> poor image capture. When this happened to my A75 the pictures went
> pink with lines over them. If you have this fault Canon will fix it
> free. Check their website.

That's exactly the fault I've been getting, although it's not done it
recently. Thanks for the info about getting it fixed - I'll look into it!

peter