I've been testing both my 20D and D30 today and although there are a few hours difference in time when the shots were taken, I seem to consitently get the same difference in color scheme. Both cameras are on factory direct settings and I used the same lens on both cameras. Both cameras were set to full auto mode.
Any ideas?
It looks like the one on the bottom is about a stop or so brighter. Different exposure will give you different looking colors. Try shoting both in manual with identical exposure settings.
Yes the D30 has a tendency to underexpose. It also has very rich colors.
The light looks a little different too, more overcast on the 20D image. It seems the WB is different too.
If I did my math right, your 20D image is over-exposed by 1 1/3 stops. According to the EXIF data attached to your images, it was shot at f/5 1/250, while the D30 picture was shot at f/9.6 1/200.
It could also be that for some reason the Flash Exposure Compensation is set to over-expose on the 20D (or the AF points were over the dog's nose, which is black hence making the flash want to use more power), since it looks like you tried some fill-flash.
I've never touched a 20D, so I'm not sure how to change the settings on it regarding fill-flash, AF points, etc. Maybe dial in some negative exposure adjustment on the camera before taking the picture (although it should meter correctly with no adjustment)? Cheers.
Simple answer - dump the 20D, keep the D30! I have a 10D and a D30 and find myself reaching for the D30 more that I thought I would. Even with all of its faults, it can still capture great images. Here is a recent one of my dog, taken with D30 and Tamron 28-75 at 75/f4, ISO 800, no flash.
Wow, no flash! Nice shot.
I do happen to like the photos that come out of my D30. Maybe if I work more with settings as suggested above, I'll be able to get better exposed shots.
The 20D shot is overexposed. Plus, if you want to make a good comparison, you should make both shots in quick succession in manual mode, so you can guarantee you have the same exposure. Comparisons of color and/or contrast are not valid if the lighting or settings are different.
I upgraded to 20D from D30 just a couple of weeks ago. I immediately noticed same thing as you did. I also compared my 20D pictures to 10D pictures after a outing last week on very similar scenes, I saw same difference. Overall my 20D tends to over expose a little, and with less contrast. But I don't think it a big deal. If you adjust either level or curve of your picture 2, you can get almost exactly same result your pixture 1.
Randy Roy's suggest to dump 20D seems to be a bold suggestion to me. I've found 20D is a much better camera in every aspects so I dumped my D30 instead. I also felt the look of 20D picture maybe related to the fact that 20D can capture larger dymatic range than D30. The more DR, the less contrasy the picture looks simple because the larger DR has to be squeezed in same grey scale range of the monitor. It doens't mean the camera is bad, a simple curve adjust can do the trick.
Your frames are a good example of why I've kept the D30. It certainly has its faults, but underexposure (as an earlier poster mistakenly mentioned) is not one of them. I'm looking forward to your follow up with identical manual settings.
If there's a choice of answers then usually the simplest solution is the correct one.
First before doing any analysis on your problem -- when you say "Full Auto Mode" did you mean this or was the camera on 'P' (Program mode).
If you want the camera to do everything in "Automatic mode" 'P' is the best setting (you can also shoot in RAW of course with this setting).
I've found when I used the D60 (not too unlike the D30) AWB was by far the best setting as well -- Even now on series1 cameras (1D2, 1Ds2) I still use AWB 98% of the time i.e nearly always.
2 other things to check -- 1) on the D60 and D30 too I suspect it's easy to accidentally set the exposure compensation even when you don't need to and it doesn't automatically re-set either, and 2) check the ISO is the same --it's easy to change to say 200 and forget about it.
Both cams *should* yield similar pic with same glass, exposure settings , iso and light.
Finally there's still something about the pictures taken with D30/D60 that I can't define -- the 10D and 20D just don't (IMO at least) have the "wow" factor that the D30 and D60 had --even though of course the 20D is for the price a magnificent machine --I never liked the 10D BTW.
Here's a D60 shot --although hand held and not the best by any means that I got with this cam I still like it.
It's still dark outside, so I took some test shots indoors.
Both cameras handheld, Manual mode 125 shutter 1.8 at 400 ISO w/onboard flash. Lens used was a 85mm 1.8
The difference in the flash may have something to do with the overexposed look of the top photo, which is why I will do an outdoor test with no flash within the hour.
I'm just surprised so far at the difference in the photos....although there would be no comparison when taking action shots....the 20D can certainly focus on lickety split. For stationary items, I'm liking the D30 so far.
lisa, did you try to shoot RAW in manual mode and post-process both shots to the best of your abilities and then compare the final results ?
This is what I would do. If I want a nice shot, I use all possible means to get it and do most choices by myself (exposure, contrast, WB, levels, USM...).
Clearly, the pictures of the D30 I see here have a nice look, but the 20D pictures you show seem very badly overexposed compared to what most 20D users show.
lisa, did you try to shoot RAW in manual mode and post-process both shots to the best of your abilities and then compare the final results ?
This is what I would do. If I want a nice shot, I use all possible means to get it and do most choices by myself (exposure, contrast, WB, levels, USM...).
Clearly, the pictures of the D30 I see here have a nice look, but the 20D pictures you show seem very badly overexposed compared to what most 20D users show.
I have a 10D and a D30 and find myself reaching for the D30 more that I thought I would. Even with all of its faults, it can still capture great images. Here is a recent one of my dog, taken with D30 and Tamron 28-75 at 75/f4, ISO 800, no flash.