For our latest listing we have three sets of photographs, one set from the owner, and one from each of the above cameras. It was interesting to have three photos on the screen to compare the results from each. The owner's camera was a "normal" lens where the other two had wide angles to different degrees - we did not use the owner's as they showed less of the room.
Kodak DC-4800
Kodak V-705
Both of these were taken from the same spot, with the same lighting, just seconds apart.
As you can see, the wide angle lens of the V-705 did give a wider view, but the colors weren't as warm and inviting as those from the CD-4800. No adjustments were made to either photo.
Without having to go into a photo editing program, any suggestions for a setting change on the 705 to enhance the colors?
Why, oh why, when a product improves one aspect, does it degrade another aspect?
Here's a thought- there are three types of light in each of these photos. You have natural daylight coming from the window, incandescent light coming from the ceiling fan and fluorescent light coming from the kitchen. Most digital cameras are by default set to capture images in daylight. There may be a setting on your V-705 that is color correcting for a certain type or "color temperature" of light. This would be separate from controls for the actual exposure of the image.
In traditional photography:
Fluorescent lights give a greenish quality to film that is corrected by adding magenta during printing (or using a magenta filter on camera).
Incandescent lights give a yellowish quality to film that is corrected by subtracting yellow during printing (or using a blue filter on camera).
Daylight and flash photos come out with properly balanced color.
In digital photography:
Many cameras do the thinking for you!
Examples of color temp:
p.s. the wider angle could be throwing you off- notice the glow coming from the windows and the halo around the ceiling fan lights in the second image. I also suspect image one used a flash and image two did not. Look at the chairs at the table in both images and notice that image two has shadows under the table on the seats. These would be gone if you had used a flash like in image one.
Jeannette - I'll have to check that. Both were on "automatic" but that may be different in the two cameras.
Linda - good thought. Tami took the photos, so I'll ask her.
Darrel - what an analysis! Thanks so much.
Danny - that's always an after-the-fact solution.
Missy - it's great when we can all learn together from experts willing to share.
Sharon,
It seems like the second photo has more glare or there was more sunlight coming in. The first one seemed to pick up more of the details and colors much clearer and less light glare from the window.
Lee - We plan to read the instruction book when we're flying to Phoenix this week.
Susan - unfortunately, no. The Kodak DC4800 is a fixed lens camera.
Neal - they were taken just seconds apart. We found that the v705 had a similar color range to the photo taken by the seller at a totally different time, so only the 4800 had the color depth. That was a consistent finding in other compared pictures also.
Frank - agreed. We need to do some experimenting.
Angie - thanks. Photos always help the explanation. In the staging group I like when they show both before and after photos.
Sharon, great first photo. Love the information from this group. I have an SLR which takes great photos and a cute little Sony that takes good photos. I do like the first one you took. I also have a wide angle lens for my SLR, but typically like the way the photos turn out without it better. I love photography and only wish I had more time to spend learning better. I'll drop by the group posts and try and learn something.
It looks to me (mostly from seeing how the light coming in from the window and lights completely wash out those parts of the image) like the exposure on the second was a bit longer.
A suggestion I was given by someone in a camera store was to treat digital picture-taking similar to the old 35mm slides: go into the setup menu and set the camera to under-expose by 1/3 to 1/2 stop. This will help avoid over-exposure and give richer colors. (If you have a really nice camera that takes pictures in the "Raw" mode, this is probably not necessary.) The man who told me this trick said it's basically what they do for the pictures in the Reiman Publications (Country, Taste Of Home, and Reminisce) magazines.
Many of the Kodaks have a settings menu that allows you to set machine for normal of VIVID color.
I'd try the VIVID setting - will probably do what you want