Advice on 50D

[Brazius]

Hello, everyone.

Just got 50D, I like the feel in hand and controls so much, coming from 1000D.

Don't seem to be impressed alot with ISO performance, was expecting to much I guess. Or maybe I just need to practice more, since I got the camera just yesterday. Any advice on ISO setting? The other thing, person that sold me the camera, told me that on picture profile, lets say standard he puts sharpness on highest, he says it's best with canon, any suggestion on with profile is best for family pictures? Any other tricks and tips with 50D would be appreciated.

 

[Malcolm_Stewart]

I've had my 50D since last July - I already have a 30D(now retired, I expect!), 5D and 1D MkIII. I normally record in jpeg using the Standard Picture Style, and have the sharpness set to 1 below the default. This allows more sharpening in Photoshop should I need it, and probably helps to keep noise under control. I'm quite happy to use ISOs of 400 & 800 for birds, and much higher if necessary when the light fades. Noiseware (free download) does a good job if I need it.

I'd be very wary of using the highest jpeg sharpness setting as a default - it might make the LCD look better, but what if you need to do some post processing?

However, when I have occasionally compared shots of the same scene against those shot on my 5D, the 5D is subtly better, but I prefer the 50D for viewing 5D files on its LCD.
--
.

Malcolm Stewart
Milton Keynes, UK

 

[Andreas-AM]

I have the 50D since one year now.

I never shoot RAW, so I can't comment on that one really other than: You should try learning RAW. This makes your results so much better.

While I work in ACR normally, in critical subjects like high ISO I convert usuing Canon DPP. Denoise Luminance 0, 1 in worst case, coplor 5, up to 15 in worst case.

The rest of noise management depends on the scene (and personal prefferene). Up top 1600 - no problem, 3200 most of the times very good. All above that is questionable.

Sharpness: No sharpening in DPP, careful sharpening in PS bringts best results (for me, again it is very personal)

 

[jsanch08]

OPTIMAL settings for high ISO, for 50D, which will impress the most critical noise analyst are:

1. Shoot in sRaw1.
2. Purchase Adobe CS5 and update to the latest ACR 6.x version.3.

3. Load into ACR and turn sharpening to zero, leave NR at default (none for luminance, 25 for chroma).
4. Set ACR to load in the 7.1 MP image.

When you load this image in at ISO 3200 it will be essentially noise free except in the darkest of areas.

If you are really hung up on full resolution, then sub in Raw above, but, more noise will appear. The process of constructing the image from the oversampled 15MP image, but, downsampling to 7.1MP substantially improves noise performance, and, in most cases of indoor shooting, is all the resolution needed.

 

[R2D2]

Don't seem to be impressed alot with ISO performance, was expecting to much I guess.

That's never been the strength of the 50D.

Or maybe I just need to practice more, since I got the camera just yesterday.

First impressions are usually off by quite a bit. I usually reserve judgement until I get at least a few thousand pics under my belt.

Any advice on ISO setting?

As with any system, shoot at as low an ISO as you can bear (until blur becomes an issue).

Learn to use your favorite Noise Reduction software well.

The other thing, person that sold me the camera, told me that on picture profile, lets say standard he puts sharpness on highest

That's personal preference of course. I don't use any in-camera sharpening and prefer to do my sharpening at the very end (and my noise reduction at the very beginning) of PP.

he says it's best with canon

Likely due to Canon's use of fairly strong AA filters.

any suggestion on with profile is best for family pictures?

Standard is my standard.

Any other tricks and tips with 50D would be appreciated.

Family shots indoors (if you aren't using flash): Prime lens (near wide open). Or IS lens when applicable. ISO high enough to get you over 1/60 shutter speed (preferably up near 1/125). Timing Timing Timing. Shoot in RAW (full-sized). Turn on a lot of lights (use powerful bulbs). Center point AF (back button with AI Servo). If you're quite close to your subject, use the most appropriate peripheral AF point and don't recompose. Set your WB manually (or use custom). Don't underexpose.

I make initial adjustments in DPP (no noise reduction and no sharpening though), then save as a 16-bit TIFF in aRGB. If image is noisy, then I process with Noise Ninja (selectively). Sometimes depending on the image, I'll let Noise Ninja do some sharpening. Then it's off to Photoshop for final editing. Save the full-sized unsharpened image as a PSD (this is now kept as a "Master").

Then crop or resize to whatever the Output requirements are. And Sharpen last. Save as a .PSD, and print. Or if posting to WEB: resize/crop at 72 PPI, sharpen, convert to 8-bit sRGB, and save as .JPG.

Might seem like a lot of work, but high ISO images sometimes demand it.

I was out shooting eagles yesterday at the very limits of the system (cloudy conditions, high ISO, distant birds, not much contrast to AF on). Ran some images through as described above. Still barely adequate IQ...



I've got tons of indoors family shots, and once you've got all your setting down, the key element really turns out to be Timing IMHO.

Good luck, and have fun with your new toy!

R2

--
*
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries

 

[Doug Gabler]

Hello, everyone.

Just got 50D, I like the feel in hand and controls so much, coming from 1000D.

Don't seem to be impressed alot with ISO performance, was expecting to much I guess. Or maybe I just need to practice more, since I got the camera just yesterday. Any advice on ISO setting? The other thing, person that sold me the camera, told me that on picture profile, lets say standard he puts sharpness on highest, he says it's best with canon, any suggestion on with profile is best for family pictures? Any other tricks and tips with 50D would be appreciated.

I started shooting RAW back when I had a Pro1 and never looked back. Learn to use the histogram and bias exposure to the right without clipping, turn blinky's on (exposure highlight warning). The 50d can display RGB and Luminance Histograms. That way you can see if you are clipping one of the color channels. I've used DPP and it works well. I've started using LR3 and like it a lot. The ACR works well with Canon RAW files and is the same as the one used in CS5 but that product is a lot cheaper. I use CS5 also but just if I really want to work on an image. PSE works well too but it's ACR has limited tools but if they aren't enough use DPP 1st and move the image into PSE as a tiff and go from there. Good camera, I still have mine but has moved to backup status. Hope you enjoy it and yes time and playing with it will help a lot. You may want to get the book David Busch has out on it. He does a very good job with his books. http://www.amazon.com/David-Buschs-Canon-Digital-Photography/dp/1598639048/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1296312125&sr=1-1

--
Doug

http://douginoviedo.smugmug.com/

 

[Brazius]

Thank for advice so far.

i love everything about this camera so far except two thing.

The firs and biggest one is picture sharpness. The shot with the guy was taken with 1000D in the evening with flash, with 50mm f1.8 lens at 1/60 f4 iso400.

the other one same settings same lens during the day (cloudy). The sharpness of shot with 1000D is much better then with 50D an a took a lot of test shot today, and this is the best one. No PP done on shot with the guy, the other one just pressed auto in LR3. Worse with my 15-85 IS USM, sharpness of faces are terrible, compared to shots taken with my 1000D.









The second thing is iso noise, I know 50D have more picsels, but then whats the hype of 550D iso performens, 50D beying a little bit worse then 550D, but I thought after my 1000D I would see improvement not other way as I see now.

 

[Bigbob Irwin]

I dont think the 50D is too noisy I use lightroom 3 to process and finish in Photoshop here a picture taken at 1600 ISO

 

[R2D2]

The sharpness of shot with 1000D is much better then with 50D

Can't really tell from the size you posted what the pixel-level sharpness difference is. At this size, the 50D shot looks good.

Maybe you're experiencing some Autofocus inconsistencies? The 50mm f1.8 can be somewhat inconsistent.

Or is the lens front-focusing or back-focusing? Do some tests to see if that's the case. My 50mm f1.8 II needs a whopping -18 MFA on my 50D.

Or perhaps you are talking about the Depth of Field difference between these two shots? Since the second shot was taken from a much closer distance, there will certainly be much less DOF. Be sure not to confuse these.

No PP done on shot with the guy, the other one just pressed auto in LR3.

Get to know what settings/PP is needed to produce the types of shots you're after with this camera. It certainly appears that your equipment is up to the task IMHO.

R2

--
*
Good judgment comes from experience.
Experience comes from bad judgment.

http://www.pbase.com/jekyll_and_hyde/galleries

 

[KevinRA]

I own two 50D's a 5D1 and a 20D, also owned 400D, 350D and 300D previously.

A couple of things:

1. Shoot raw and process in lightroom 3. This is a great converter. For high iso, have zero sharpening, adjust the "colour" slider in the noise reduction box to +40 (from 25) keep all else off. Do an edge sharpen then in photoshop. DPP is crap in comparison to LR3 at high ios IMO. If you must shoot jpeg then keep sharpening low in camera- you can add sharpening but not remove it.

2. The Canon 50D will look softer per pixel than the 1000D will al bar L lenses and some very good primes. The 50 1.8 will struggle with the 50D wide open for resolution and contrast.

3. The 50D will magnify camera shake when compared at 100% view on screen. You need a faster shutter speed to expect pixel sharp images.

4. Any focus errors will be seen more on a higher pixel density camera.

5. Avoid underexposing at higher isos.

I have found my 50D to be as good as the other crop cameras that I have owned, slightly superior for a same size print as the 20D. The 5D is better noise-wise and is much easier on the central lens resolution- for example my 85 1.8 is amazing wide open on the 5D, the small pixels make is necessary to stop down to f/2.2 to get a pixel-oefect image.

 

[Peter 13]

The 5D is better noise-wise and is much easier on the central lens resolution- for example my 85 1.8 is amazing wide open on the 5D, the small pixels make is necessary to stop down to f/2.2 to get a pixel-oefect image.

It is not the small pixels - it is the small sensor.