Canon Colors

Five cameras from five different manufacturers, one of which is an M series camera.  All images are out of camera JPEGs with all image parameters reset to default.  Focal lengths and apertures were set to be roughly equivalent, but white balance, ISO, shutter speed, and exposure were all auto.  Basically, if the camera was new out of the box, this is what you would get with the factory settings.

Which one is your favorite image?

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

nnowak wrote:

Five cameras from five different manufacturers, one of which is an M series camera. All images are out of camera JPEGs with all image parameters reset to default. Focal lengths and apertures were set to be roughly equivalent, but white balance, ISO, shutter speed, and exposure were all auto. Basically, if the camera was new out of the box, this is what you would get with the factory settings.

Which one is your favorite image?

D

So when are you going to disclose the cameras?

Alastair Norcross wrote:

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

Simply an attempt to pass off a survey as a scientific proof. This test only works if the monitors are properly calibrated because otherwise each person sees a different image. Professionals have posted videos and articles discussing Canon’s color accuracy or lack thereof (since Canon is simply more pleasing, not more accurate).

For color critical work I always shoot a profile shot using colorchecker. That’s mainly for artwork or products where you can tell a customer “calibrate your monitor and you’ll know exactly what the colors look like.” “Exactly” is an exaggeration, but close enough without huge expense. For everything else the starting point of Canon colors eliminates a lot of rebalancing and messing about.

nnowak wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

The default appears to be "auto" picture style for the Canon sample. I did factory resets and left the cameras to their own devices.

Thanks. So what was the mode dial set to? Was it a green box mode, P, or something else?

Edit: I see you said the apertures were roughly equivalent, but everything else was auto. Does that mean you used Av mode, and auto ISO? If the picture style was "auto", it would be interesting to know whether the camera selected landscape or portrait (or something else) for that shot. I don't suppose there's anyway to tell?

B and D are great...

C looks like smartphone pic...

rest is blah....

Color test is always fun. Thank you. 
The favorite color is different than Canon color, isn't it?

D and B are the best in that order. * For this particular scene.

B's 4:3 native aspect ratio reveals it could come from a high end smartphone or a m4/3 camera.

IMHO D is superior to B because skin tones are not blown out.

Under challenging light conditions the renditions could be totally different among these cameras.

Alastair Norcross wrote:

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

That is not how it works. The Auto picture style does not select one of the other picture styles. It works independently and the color tone will be adjusted automatically to suit the scene. My experience when shooting landscapes is that "Auto" is a little bit more vivid than "Standard" but not as vivid as "Landscape".

MyM3 wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

That is not how it works. The Auto picture style does not select one of the other picture styles. It works independently and the color tone will be adjusted automatically to suit the scene. My experience when shooting landscapes is that "Auto" is a little bit more vivid than "Standard" but not as vivid as "Landscape".

Thanks for the clarification. I've never used auto. I mostly shoot RAW, so the picture style is irrelevant to most of what I do. I use a tweaked version of fine detail for my JPEG shooting. In this scene, I wonder whether the camera interpreted it as a portrait or a landscape? Also, presumably, auto adjusts the other parameters as well as saturation. Contrast would be the most obvious parameter for adjustment. It's interesting to see how these five shots use different levels of contrast. C looks almost like it has fill flash, whereas B and D both seem to have fairly high contrast.

I like and appreciate the idea, but find it a little creepy to discuss the skin tones of a Disney princess bust.

With that said, how is the light metering impacting this? There seems to be a huge difference in how the scene is captured based on if the shadow on the left is "brought up or not" (A and C are blowing things out). Should all of the cameras be in some sort of "spot mode" or "evaluative mode" so they aren't metering the scene differently? Or maybe that is part of the secret decoder ring: if some of these are camera phones, they might not have the choices for metering?

FWIW: I recognize these exercises are tricky. I also struggle with how to take comparison photos e.g. do you lock down all exposure settings, or do you try to let the camera do its thing? My guess is the likely answer relates to how does one usually shoot? If you are an Av/Tv shooter, try that, and if you are an M shooter, lock it all down.

Alastair Norcross wrote:

MyM3 wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

That is not how it works. The Auto picture style does not select one of the other picture styles. It works independently and the color tone will be adjusted automatically to suit the scene. My experience when shooting landscapes is that "Auto" is a little bit more vivid than "Standard" but not as vivid as "Landscape".

Thanks for the clarification. I've never used auto. I mostly shoot RAW, so the picture style is irrelevant to most of what I do. I use a tweaked version of fine detail for my JPEG shooting. In this scene, I wonder whether the camera interpreted it as a portrait or a landscape? Also, presumably, auto adjusts the other parameters as well as saturation. Contrast would be the most obvious parameter for adjustment. It's interesting to see how these five shots use different levels of contrast. C looks almost like it has fill flash, whereas B and D both seem to have fairly high contrast.

the exposure differences suck

the subject mater sucks

a total waste of time from the Fuji owner - who is a top poster in the canon forum - it's a trap...

Alastair Norcross wrote:

MyM3 wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

That is not how it works. The Auto picture style does not select one of the other picture styles. It works independently and the color tone will be adjusted automatically to suit the scene. My experience when shooting landscapes is that "Auto" is a little bit more vivid than "Standard" but not as vivid as "Landscape".

Thanks for the clarification. I've never used auto. I mostly shoot RAW, so the picture style is irrelevant to most of what I do. I use a tweaked version of fine detail for my JPEG shooting. In this scene, I wonder whether the camera interpreted it as a portrait or a landscape? Also, presumably, auto adjusts the other parameters as well as saturation. Contrast would be the most obvious parameter for adjustment. It's interesting to see how these five shots use different levels of contrast. C looks almost like it has fill flash, whereas B and D both seem to have fairly high contrast.

I shoot mostly RAW, too. So I have no idea on how the "Auto" works in detail. I have just played a little with it, and found that it looks a little "different" than all the other Picture Styles. It must have some form of intelligence.

About the poll. It can not be B or C because they are 4:3 and M cameras have a default 3:2 aspect ratio. So we have A, D and E. A does not look good. Neither do E. But E is overexposed (or too much highlight) and I think it looks rather good with a little help. There is something familiar about it. I wonder ....

MAC wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

MyM3 wrote:

Alastair Norcross wrote:

What is "default" for a Canon? My M6 has "auto" and "standard" picture styles, among others. I can't remember which one was set "out of the box". In the old days, it would have been the standard one, but now, I suspect that it's auto. Or at least, it's probably auto in some settings and standard in others. But I can't remember what position the mode selector dial was in when I took the camera out of the box, so I don't know which picture style it would have set. As far as I know, on "auto" the picture style the camera uses depends on what kind of scene it thinks it's shooting. So, in your example, auto might have given the landscape style, or it might have given the portrait style.

That is not how it works. The Auto picture style does not select one of the other picture styles. It works independently and the color tone will be adjusted automatically to suit the scene. My experience when shooting landscapes is that "Auto" is a little bit more vivid than "Standard" but not as vivid as "Landscape".

Thanks for the clarification. I've never used auto. I mostly shoot RAW, so the picture style is irrelevant to most of what I do. I use a tweaked version of fine detail for my JPEG shooting. In this scene, I wonder whether the camera interpreted it as a portrait or a landscape? Also, presumably, auto adjusts the other parameters as well as saturation. Contrast would be the most obvious parameter for adjustment. It's interesting to see how these five shots use different levels of contrast. C looks almost like it has fill flash, whereas B and D (Canon) both seem to have fairly high contrast.

the exposure differences suck

the subject mater sucks

a total waste of time from the Fuji owner - who is a top poster in the canon forum - it's a trap...

And I suppose the reason for the severed head is to demonstrate skin tones for which Canon is widely lauded. Trouble is it’s plastic. Skin would be required to compare skin tones.

D and B.

Picture E. What is wrong with it? Fill flash or deliberately manipulated? The only adjustment I did here is -100 highlight in Lightroom. Before and after pics:

Before

After -100 highlight in LR