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Shoud I keep my f707 -- Neon/Flouracent color

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shaha90

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Hi All,
First time poster long time reader...

I know the answer to my question is it depends and its a personal decision, but I would value feedback from the community... didn't some great lady say 'It takes a village'...ohh wait it was Hillary nevermind :)

I just bought an f707 for $500 (open box)... I did quite a bit of research and the price was right. Now as I've experiemented with the camera (I'm a novice) my pictures just seem to have too much color (I'm not an artist or a photographer, I'm just a computer geek)... The reds are very red, things look neonish... I understand the calibration of printer/monitor and some of those concepts, but my bottom line question is will I be able to do things to the camera/printer/monitor/computer (mess around w/whitebalance, exposure,photoshop etc.) to make the picture come out clean. I mainly take pics of the kids and wife, so I want to make sure that their skin tones, the color of their cloths, etc. come out well... Todate, I'm impressed with the camera overall, but I'm not overly impressed with the color correctness of the pics I've seen... I have read through this forums with others who have had similar issues, but I haven't really seen any resolution to the issue.

If you don't think you can help me answer this question then perhaps, you can give me some simple guidance on the settings I should use to take the best pictures in the house and outdoor (clear and cloudy days). I have my ISO set 100, because I think i read somewhere that ISO 100 should get the best color.

The main reason for my asking is I can return for a full refund until this tuesday. And I can't seem to make up my mind...

Thank you for the help...
 
Welcome to STF. Congratulations on getting the 707 fro such a great price.

I used the 707 for over 10 months before "upgrading" to the 717. I really enjoyed the camera and got some good pics out of it. Your complaint is well founded as the 707 will have problems with reds and greens under some conditions. I always found this easily handed in PSE using the saturation controls.

Most users of DCs tweak their shots. I think very few are completely satisfied with the shot right out of the camera. Doing some tweaking of the 707's colors is a small trade off for the resolution and quality of its shots, IMHO.

You can check out some of my amateur shots on the link below. I'm anything but a great photographer but I've gotten some decent results with the 707.

Harry

http://www.pbase.com/hpb
 
Thank you Harry for your comments -

I also bought Photoshop Elements just for that purpose. I value your comments re:PSE becuase I thought I read somewhere that PSE might not be able to correct the issue. I agree (and I don't expect) the pics to be great right off the bat, so I'm reading the PSE manual.. thank you for the advice...

Would you have any thoughts on specific settings (Either on the camera or in PSE) I should use (beyond the saturation correction in PSE)... Thank you

3 Girls oh my .. I have 2 and I'm cleaning my shotgun on the porch to keep those nasty boys away :-)
Harry Behret said:
Welcome to STF. Congratulations on getting the 707 fro such a great
price.

I used the 707 for over 10 months before "upgrading" to the 717. I
really enjoyed the camera and got some good pics out of it. Your
complaint is well founded as the 707 will have problems with reds
and greens under some conditions. I always found this easily handed
in PSE using the saturation controls.

Most users of DCs tweak their shots. I think very few are
completely satisfied with the shot right out of the camera. Doing
some tweaking of the 707's colors is a small trade off for the
resolution and quality of its shots, IMHO.

You can check out some of my amateur shots on the link below. I'm
anything but a great photographer but I've gotten some decent
results with the 707.

Harry

http://www.pbase.com/hpb
Click to expand...
 
shaha90,

In my personal opinion, true to life colors are boring. I use photoshop to add even more saturation to my Sony colors.

$500 is a bargain basement price for your camera. Keep it, you won't find any camera for $500 that's going to be as good as the F707.
shaha90 said:
Hi All,
First time poster long time reader...

I know the answer to my question is it depends and its a personal
decision, but I would value feedback from the community... didn't
some great lady say 'It takes a village'...ohh wait it was Hillary
nevermind :)

I just bought an f707 for $500 (open box)... I did quite a bit of
research and the price was right. Now as I've experiemented with
the camera (I'm a novice) my pictures just seem to have too much
color (I'm not an artist or a photographer, I'm just a computer
geek)... The reds are very red, things look neonish... I understand
the calibration of printer/monitor and some of those concepts, but
my bottom line question is will I be able to do things to the
camera/printer/monitor/computer (mess around w/whitebalance,
exposure,photoshop etc.) to make the picture come out clean. I
mainly take pics of the kids and wife, so I want to make sure that
their skin tones, the color of their cloths, etc. come out well...
Todate, I'm impressed with the camera overall, but I'm not overly
impressed with the color correctness of the pics I've seen... I
have read through this forums with others who have had similar
issues, but I haven't really seen any resolution to the issue.

If you don't think you can help me answer this question then
perhaps, you can give me some simple guidance on the settings I
should use to take the best pictures in the house and outdoor
(clear and cloudy days). I have my ISO set 100, because I think i
read somewhere that ISO 100 should get the best color.

The main reason for my asking is I can return for a full refund
until this tuesday. And I can't seem to make up my mind...

Thank you for the help...
Click to expand...
--
John
http://www.pbase.com/johnrweb/
 
In PSE its just a matter of experimentation. Each shot is different so there's no one answer. The most basic way is to use the saturation control, set it to the offending color channel (usually red sometimes green) and move the slider bar until you get a result you like. If there are lots of areas with the same color you might want to select just the offending area with the wand tool so that you are not affecting the color throughout the whole shot.

I haven't found an in camera solution to the "problem". If I was taking a shot with bright red underexposing the shot a tad helped keeping the red from getting blown out.

Good luck and enjoy the 707, its really a great camera.

Harry
 
It is highly unlikely that any computer, monitor, printer arrangement is going to provide absolute accuracy.

I would print your file and compare it to your monitor. Most of the time you will find far more detail in the shadow areas of the print than you will ever see on your monitor. When the monitor is adjusted to show the actual shadow detail the overall image will look too washed out.

You might simply print direct from the camera to see if reds are a problem in the real world.

The 707 generate exceptional files in the areas that I work in. I do not need perfect color fidelity since I do not do product photography for fashion magazine.

I think that the automatic enhancement features of Paint Shop Pro can be trusted to yield acceptable phto quality prints in most cases.

I also have several other graphic programs including PhotoShop. (overkill and clumsy to use.)

Photo Brush has some extremely useful features if you want to generate outstanding black and white prints.

Desaturatimg the red channel a trifle is a small price to pay to get the sharp images and amazing features of the 707.

Cheers,

Bob
 
For all the reasons the previous posters mentioned. It's easy to adjust the color to your taste/liking and you won't find a better $500 camera anywhere. I'm not crazy about "neon" or "Disney" colors, either. But I do love the images that come out of that 707.

I have both and I find myself saturating and amping the contrast and color of my 717 shots. So that they more closely ressemble 707 images. It's up to you. Color accuracy aside, that's one hellava camera.

Steve
shaha90 said:
Hi All,
First time poster long time reader...

I know the answer to my question is it depends and its a personal
decision, but I would value feedback from the community... didn't
some great lady say 'It takes a village'...ohh wait it was Hillary
nevermind :)

I just bought an f707 for $500 (open box)... I did quite a bit of
research and the price was right. Now as I've experiemented with
the camera (I'm a novice) my pictures just seem to have too much
color (I'm not an artist or a photographer, I'm just a computer
geek)... The reds are very red, things look neonish... I understand
the calibration of printer/monitor and some of those concepts, but
my bottom line question is will I be able to do things to the
camera/printer/monitor/computer (mess around w/whitebalance,
exposure,photoshop etc.) to make the picture come out clean. I
mainly take pics of the kids and wife, so I want to make sure that
their skin tones, the color of their cloths, etc. come out well...
Todate, I'm impressed with the camera overall, but I'm not overly
impressed with the color correctness of the pics I've seen... I
have read through this forums with others who have had similar
issues, but I haven't really seen any resolution to the issue.

If you don't think you can help me answer this question then
perhaps, you can give me some simple guidance on the settings I
should use to take the best pictures in the house and outdoor
(clear and cloudy days). I have my ISO set 100, because I think i
read somewhere that ISO 100 should get the best color.

The main reason for my asking is I can return for a full refund
until this tuesday. And I can't seem to make up my mind...

Thank you for the help...
Click to expand...
--
http://www.pbase.com/slo2k

'If one really wishes to be master of an art, technical knowledge of it is not enough. One has to transcend technique so that the art becomes an 'artless art' growing out of the Unconscious.'
 
shaha90 said:
Hi All,
First time poster long time reader...

I know the answer to my question is it depends and its a personal
decision, but I would value feedback from the community... didn't
some great lady say 'It takes a village'...ohh wait it was Hillary
nevermind :)

I just bought an f707 for $500 (open box)... I did quite a bit of
research and the price was right. Now as I've experiemented with
the camera (I'm a novice) my pictures just seem to have too much
color (I'm not an artist or a photographer, I'm just a computer
geek)... The reds are very red, things look neonish... I understand
the calibration of printer/monitor and some of those concepts, but
my bottom line question is will I be able to do things to the
camera/printer/monitor/computer (mess around w/whitebalance,
exposure,photoshop etc.) to make the picture come out clean. I
mainly take pics of the kids and wife, so I want to make sure that
their skin tones, the color of their cloths, etc. come out well...
Todate, I'm impressed with the camera overall, but I'm not overly
impressed with the color correctness of the pics I've seen... I
have read through this forums with others who have had similar
issues, but I haven't really seen any resolution to the issue.

If you don't think you can help me answer this question then
perhaps, you can give me some simple guidance on the settings I
should use to take the best pictures in the house and outdoor
(clear and cloudy days). I have my ISO set 100, because I think i
read somewhere that ISO 100 should get the best color.

The main reason for my asking is I can return for a full refund
until this tuesday. And I can't seem to make up my mind...

Thank you for the help...
Click to expand...
I've used my 707 for over a year and thousands of exposures and it is only rarely that I find the color to be such that i need to bother with destat. And usually that is in greens on sunny days and then only rarely. But some like rich color some don't. It's up to what you like. Personally I do not have any problem with the colors of the 707. Take it out on a cloudy day and be prepared to be amazed. If I had a 717 I am sure i would be OK with those colors too. I learn whatever camera/film I am using and shoot to get what I like.

That is a great price for the camera. I'd keep it.
--
Anorfir
http://www.anorfir.imntb.com
 
I just bought my 707 last Saturday as this was the camera that I wanted last year when it came out but I couldn't get it due to the expenses of everthing else that was necessary when getting a digicam especially a Sony with its proprietary accessories.

So I bought the Oly-C4040 (4meg) which is a nice digicam but it wasn't the 707 :)

When I had sold my Oly-C4040 last week to a work friend I went looking for a 717 or a 707, after searching every stinking digicam-web-site I really couldnt find the 717 to cheap ;)

so I went looking for the 707 and I found one at a local store near where I live. I bought it and never looked back. I have already purchased the Sony
wide-angle lens and a set of filters for my new baby.

I have taken about 250 pictures already and almost all were very good to excellent the ones that were bad was due to me not knowing the camera, that comes in time.

My suggestion is keep your camera and use it, use it, use it, use it, so you will understand it and your photo editing software as they go hand and hand. Of course this is just my humble opinion, trust me you will love your camera its awesome.

BTW, I am new to this Sony just like you are so we can learn together, if you have any questions just fire away.

Heres a shot with my new camera and wide angle lens taken with no flash just natural lighting..



heres one behind my work and the grass is this green as the recent rains made the area very very green.



--
http://www.pbase.com/saint_jake/root
 
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